Sport Martial Arts - Pros and Cons

You first must ask yourself why you are training in the martial arts. Many people begin martial arts training after being inspired by a specific sporting event or athlete; it is their intention to compete in this sport. Boxing is a type of martial art, but not a complete one by itself; alone it is just a sport and a way to practice your striking skills. Even within striking itself, the rules of the actual sport make it incomplete as a self defense art. So you have to ask yourself whether you are an athlete first or a martial artist first. If you are a martial artist first, you will view sports as training tools for specific types of fighting. In that case, it will not be necessary for you to chase after medals or trophies at tournaments, simply practicing in that sportive manner at the school or dojo will be enough for you to enhance your training.
Pros
For all martial artists, sportive versions of any martial style have their benefits. As a Jiu-jitsu teacher, I can tell you that the sport of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu is an excellent instructional tool for beginners because it teaches them the importance of position and places a value on each movement. It will also promote safe daily practice that allows you to train more and get better faster. Let’s face it, you can’t go 100% all of the time, so sport (sportive practice) is a nice happy medium between going nuts and unrealistic cooperative training.
Cons
The biggest problem with sport martial arts is that quite often, people who do them feel as if they are a complete martial artist and ‘street ready’. Even in a sport like Mixed Martial Arts fighting, where it is as close as it gets to reality, it still isn’t ‘real’ fighting. If you do not balance your training, you are apt to become delusional and not realize that you are not as prepared as a well-rounded martial artist. An 80 year old woman with a gun can easily take out the current Ultimate Fighting Champion if he doesn’t have one, so even “Reality Fighting” is still a sport. In some cases, the rules may cause what was once a martial art to become more of a sport. We can see this with Judo, where it began as a collection of Jiu-jitsu styles and was quite effective in all ranges of unarmed combat; addressing strikes, throws and groundwork. Now, it has become known as primarily a throwing sport and not taken as seriously as a complete and well rounded self defense system. When too many rules are added to a martial art in its practice, it will become more of a sport and lose much of its value as a martial art.
Ideology
A True Martial Artist is humble and without ego, does into boast or brag and is generally unassuming. In an ideal and perfect world, a true competitor should have some of these qualities, but the reality is that most do not and it is the nature of sports in general to be associated with just the opposite. This has always been the problem with sports and martial arts; getting oil and water to mix. The greatest hypocrisy in the Martial Arts instructional industry is when a teacher asks you to leave your ego at the door, but prominently displays his competition record for all to see.
The question you have to ask yourself is, “are you are martial artist or an athlete first?”, then train accordingly. If you are a “Self Defense” guy, realize that a little sportive training (not necessarily tournament, but at least opening yourself up to practicing that way) can accelerate your skills and if you are a “Sport Guy”, know that its not for everyone and make sure you are balancing your training with real martial arts; don’t get carried away with an ego or the 80 year old woman with the gun might disagree.

Article written by Gene Simco