It's all good in my book. Go ahead - challenge the status quo. At the very least, you'll find out that folks aren't quite getting the concepts, or need to do things differently to get the most benefit.
Lately I've seen too strong a pattern associated with the use of the Uechi prearranged kumite exercises for me not to mention it. Allow me to share my thoughts.
First... Before people get all worked up about these exercises, let me tell you MY approach. What I do and what others do are apples and oranges. I don't like the way most people do these exercises, but I don't lie awake in bed at night worrying about it. I just do my thing. These are useful to me, and that's all that really matters. I'd be doing them - or something like them - whether or not they were "requirements" of the style.
Here's my approach.
1) The dreaded "stepping back" is not something we do. My students know this. They just don't bother to get on these threads and talk about it for fear they will get drowned out in volumes of protest.
We do what we do. Others do what they do.
We manage the line(s) of force. Occasionally we bait the partner by stepping straight back. Occasionally we step back because in the real world, our low-road response IS to step back away from danger. But for the most part, I teach people to get off the line of force, or to pre-empt the force (within the bounds of the exercise). It is what it is.
2) To us, this is just an exercise. It's no different to me than doing a bench press. When I bench, I don't worry about the fact that my elbows are going out and I'm exposing my ribs. I don't worry about the fact that I'm not stepping into the weight. I just bench.
These are NOT self-defense exercises. Period. End of story. They are means to an end. To me, it's like the scientist who takes phenomena into the lab and studies them under controlled conditions. As such, we hold some things constant, or create a scenario where we can control certain things. That allows us to focus in on what interests us at that point in time.
3) Following with item number 2 above, I don't care much about what people are doing so much as I care about HOW they are doing it.
In any case, this thread is about teaching people to control their bodies so they are better partners in the dojo.
I've had more than a few "beasts" through the years. Now and then I get a talented one who is like a bull in a china shop. My friend Tony easily could have been an NFL lineman if he had lost a few pounds...
The fellow I'm thinking about now also is a big, strong guy.What happens often when you get these beasts in the dojo is that sometimes they end up hurting people. They don't mean it... It's just that they are there to learn to fight, and they sort of kind of do it. And when their body overextends or whatever, people break. Then at the very least, we lose students. I have feared much, much more. But in spite of thousands of students through the years, I haven't had one injury result in a lawsuit. I don't believe that's an accident.
A few students in particular were challenge cases for me. I knew I had diamonds in the rough, but they were roughing up too many students. So I needed to find ways to have them do their thing in top gear without hurting people. When people get hurt in class, ultimately nobody is learning. We can never get down and dirty and do the fun stuff if all our talented students are out of control.
This past year has given me yet another example of a very strong, talented, level-headed, but dangerously out-of-control student that I (we) managed to reign in via the prearranged kumites. The way I accomplish that is by setting high standards for my students in terms of technique placement and extension.
As I constantly tell my students, "I want you to do what you mean, and mean what you do." So when an attack comes, I want them to end up exactly in the perfect place where they maximize their ability to exploit the openings that the artificial attack creates. I want the counter-attack to be exactly where it is supposed to be, with the perfect extension and contact. When I'm working with them, I mess with their heads a lot. If I sense they aren't attacking me where they are supposed to, I sometimes will drop my hands in mid-kumite. It's very telling when I'm staring at them with hands by my side, and I am not even being touched. Sometimes that's a matter of body positioning. Sometimes it's a matter of improper extension or targeting. Sometimes it's a matter of "attacking the block." In any case, I often can read it, and I "call" them on it.
On the flip side... I use these exercises for my advanced students as well. I find that it's really good to have them do the routines with athletic people who don't know the sequences very well. I fully expect my advanced students to respond to what their partner does, and NOT to what they are SUPPOSED to do. Corrections can be made after the fact; first you CYA. And the routine should always be about perfectly adapting to the partner the way the tea falls inside a tea cup.
Easier said than done...
But if you have high standards, a method, a purpose, and good execution, results usually follow.
For what it's worth...
In any case, I am now happy to report that one more of my "bulls" can safely work in the china shop.
And the more opportunities they get to work with more different kinds of people in the many freeform scenarios we play with - without people getting hurt - the more learning that happens.- Bill
