GKR Karate (Again!)


Jamie123
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The bashing of GKR is a sport enjoyed by every other martial arts school in the world.

Case in point: last Sunday I arrived early at the church hall to start setting up for the after-church coffees. As soon as I arrived, we were descended on by dozens of aikido kids - mostly white belts, one very large fierce-looking sensei, and a bunch of mums and dads come to see their kids get graded. None of them were (I'm told) meant to be there until 3pm (which is when they had hired the hall from) but they arrived en-mass around 9 and started setting up. They also took all our parking spaces.

Anyway, the large fierce-looking sensei came up to me at the coffee bar and I got into a bit of a chat with him. I said that we used to have GKR Karate in the hall, but I'd never seen any of his crew here before. He immediately pulled a face and said "GKR?? That's not proper karate". I told him I was a member of GKR myself, and I had no complaints with it, and I found the senseis to be very good. He made "disgusted faces" (you know the kind of thing) at me, whereupon I said "Well they're good enough for me. They're sufficiently better than I am to teach me something."

He then started blathering on about how the GKR reps never try to talk to him after they learned what rank he was. (Like its so very surprising that a GKR brown belt should NOT think he has anything to teach a 4th dan aikido!)

In the end I said to him "OK, if you think GKR is so rubbish, what do you recommend instead?" He said "Well that's up to you: if you feel you're learning something from GKR, stick with that." Which is pretty much the thing I'd told him which had set off his "disgusted faces" act.

It's not the first time I've heard this. GKR is...well you know what a "sacred cow" is? If there's an opposite to a sacred cow...something you must NOT say anything good about EVER (does anyone know if a term exists?) that's what GKR is.

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5 hours ago, Jamie123 said:

 

The bashing of GKR is a sport enjoyed by every other martial arts school in the world.

 

 

TKD black belt here. I know very little about GKR Karate, but I studied Ed Parker karate for about three years. 
 

One thing all martial artists seem have in common is the ability to whine and play victim. Taekwando does this. Karate does this. Krav Maga does this. I have yet to meet a practitioner in any style who doesn’t play the persecuted victim card. “No one likes my style.” “They say it doesn’t work in real life.” “Poor me.” It’s the martial arts equal to “No one likes me, everyone hates me I think I’ll go eat worms.” 
 

Sorry bro, but it’s a huge pet peeve of mine to hear this in the combat sports world. And I hear it all the time. 
 

Just let it go, enjoy your style and let the haters hate. They are almost always out of shape pork chops who lack the backbone to do what we do. Most practitioners of martial arts have great respect for others, no matter what style they do. A good sign of a phony os when they badmouth other styles. Just let it go. 
 

@Jamie123-One more thing. My beloved TKD does this too. We’re not innocent either. 

Edited by LDSGator
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I studied Karate a bit in Japan when I was there.  They only had two different forms that I know of or was taught about while I was there.  Kempo and Shotokan.  The first is a hard style, the second the soft style.

Other Martial arts were around (Judo, Jujitsu, etc), but I didn't study either of those.

I have no idea what GKR, TKD, or other things mean. 

Edited by JohnsonJones
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10 hours ago, Jamie123 said:

It's not the first time I've heard this. GKR is...well you know what a "sacred cow" is? If there's an opposite to a sacred cow...something you must NOT say anything good about EVER (does anyone know if a term exists?) that's what GKR is.

I believe something similar may be

Pariah
Outcast
Abomination
Anathema

 I kind of like the advice you gave.  Here's what I've found in the four systems I've been involved in.

Most mainstream martial arts have something to them.  But people get this impression that they'll somehow get magically adept at fighting because of it.  No.  A large person will still beat a small person as long as both of them are at some minimum level of physical capacity.  A quick person will still beat a slow person.

A large fast yellow belt will still beat a small, slow black belt.

And within similar levels of training and natural ability, there will be some individual students who just get a feel for it better than others and are able to make maximum use out of the methods they've been trained in.  And you can tell the difference between a black belt who is really good and a black belt who just rose up because they put in enough time (and money) into the system.

All four of the systems I was in were like this.  It seemed no different than seeing a "College Degree" from someone who got straight C's vs someone with a 4.0.  They both got the diploma.  But one was obviously a lot better for the experience than the other.

Edited by Carborendum
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I have read through this thread.  I have never been much for martial art as a sport. Many years ago I joined the army (Vietnam era) because I was concerned about war and being in combat without training.   I took advantage as much as I could to develop combat skills.  I learned a lot.  Especially I learned that there is a great difference between sport and actual combat.  I am glad that I never was put into combat while in the army.  One thing I learned is that individual skill is meaningless against a well trained team.  I also believe this is true in team sports as well.  The other point - at least for me - is that I really do not like talking about how to effectively win battles.  It is because winning means destroying one's enemy and this is 180 degrees from what Jesus taught and what "Christians" were sent out to do.

 

The Traveler

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10 hours ago, Traveler said:

is because winning means destroying one's enemy and this is 180 degrees from what Jesus taught and what "Christians" were sent out to do.

In warfare, I agree with you completely. 
 

In combat sports, I disagree strongly. 99.9% of the time in tournaments you don’t even know the other people you are competing against. You don’t want to hurt them, you just want to win. Also, in sparring, the other guy is there because he choose this. No one forced him. 

Edited by LDSGator
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1 hour ago, LDSGator said:

In warfare, I agree with you completely. 
 

In combat sports, I disagree strongly. 99.9% of the time in tournaments you don’t even know the other people you are competing against. You don’t want to hurt them, you just want to win. Also, in sparring, the other guy is there because he choose this. No one forced him. 

I may not understand the full extent of "combat" sports.  It has been years for me.  A short story if you do not mind.  I had a friend while in the military that was a paramedic trained to go behind enemy lines to get downed piolets.  He was very skilled and we often spared - which was about pre determined move and counter move.  Without explaining a lot this guy was LDS but with serious PTSD.  He came to visit me when I was in college.  He was somewhat of a celebrity and the head guy at a local martial art club (black belt and some kind of champion) challenged my buddy to a match.  Of course my friend refused but the guy kept at it and finely got him to agree.

I do not know a much about the sport but as I understand certain moves (kill moves for example) are not legal - or so I was told.  As I understand - during the match the black belt guy attempted an illegal move.  My buddy's training immediately took over and in what seemed less than a second he broke an arm and leg of his opponent and finely pulled the final move that likely would of killed the other guy.  My friend broke down and wept - we immediately left together and talked briefly.  It was the last time I saw or communicated with my friend.

For those the love and appreciate the rigors of discipline that comes with martial arts and competition - I can respect and appreciate and support that.  But I have no desire for it myself.

 

The Traveler

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5 minutes ago, Traveler said:

For those the love and appreciate the rigors of discipline that comes with martial arts and competition - I can respect and appreciate and support that

Thanks for the kind words. Like a lot of other martial arts geeks it’s part of who we are. I can’t imagine my life without it. 

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