Martial Arts has always had a old age tussle with itself and the participants and spectators through the martial art media.

The so-called 'traditional group' and the 'sports group'. The arguments for martial arts to be segmented into one or the other camp is wrong. Nearly every martial arts has embraced the sports side when and if it could and without doubt many would hope for the recognition of the highest sporting order, the 'IOC' or International Olympic Commitee.

The idea of martial arts being a 'sport' goes against many martial artists ideals and maybe their ego's. For many of us it is very easy to seperate martial arts in two aspects at different times with the most prevalent being fighting/self-defence/combat.

A sporting arena is just that whether their is one rule or a 50 page rule book it does not matter. Once you put rules in then it becomes a sport for that period of time when rules apply whether in the Dojo or a indoor stadium. But that does not mean that you cannot have any art with both.

Martial Arts in their purest form are there to provide yourself with the necessary skills to protect yourself or your loved ones if you find yourself in those circumstances.

Once you move from rules and sport then ti becomes 'anything goes' self-defence or fighting (can be completely different) it is not comparable but does allow for similar characteristics for an indivdual to have a successful outcome in self-defence or combat sport. These being;

Mental focus, toughness, sensory alertness, physical focus, determination with will, physcial fitness etc etc.....

You need these in varying degree's dependent on the level of competency of the opponent whether that be as a sport or defence situation.

The forms of the sport's side of Martial Arts is in one word 'Massive'. You have points (semi/full), light and full, leg kicking no leg kicks, sweeping and throwing/no throwing...types of throws, elbow and knees (no elbow and knees), Hitting allowed on the floor- no hitting on the floor. Locks and holds - no locks and holds etc.

Link into this various world and european bodies then you can see that you can choose to compete and a number of events and tournaments with a completely different test of your martial art skills.

All that needs to be remember is that they are all sports and can be very like a self-defence situation but also very different.

What the sporting part of martial arts allows is that someone with similar skills can test themselves against each other under certain rules.

One of the greatest changes in this environment is the new sport of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts), well not new really as MMA was in the media's eyes with Bruce Lee over 30 years ago. Also, many martial artists practice mixed martial arts as many martial arts such as Karate have trained in Ju-jitsu and open and closes stand up combat striking since its inception.

Also, many of us have mixed from floor or grappling since we were 8 years old with the popularity of Judo in the 80's. What has changed is competition where both can be utilised and tested in a tournament environment. From this what you have is more and more Martial Artist becoming champions in a cross section of combat sports;

Obviously again this is not new; Benny 'the jet' was a points karate fighter turned Kickboxers in the 70's as was Bill Wallace, Chuck Norris and Dominic Valerie of France. (some of the greats!)

In more modern times some mix competing in many codes all at once and one example is my friend and colleague Craig Burke who was British Heavyweight Karate Champion, K1 Fighter, Current British Super-Heavyweight ISKA Thai Boxing Champion, and MMA Fighter. Is just making a comeback as England Karate Team Member.

So what this shows you is that martial arts is something different to everyone and there is a place for the sport and art side. Pressure points, certain striking and some techniques are not placed for competition but many need to be tested in some combative environment which is safe and safe is avoiding a fatality (which happens alot less in combat sports than many other popular sports).

So competing has always been good for martial arts because without it many people would have never become involved and it become such a global family even if there has been many seperations in that family unit.