Places to learn self-defence in Singapore?

Yes, I feel that tournaments are a mockery of the martial arts in general. Tournaments have changed much since the 1970's when I first started going to them. Even then things were not right.

Part of the problem is that most students and instructors are focused on winning, instead of using the tournament as a way to look at their technique and then use that to go back and improve. The traditional concepts are gone from most all training. It is not understood because it was never taught to most of the instructors teaching today.

So the students now can't be taught what their instructors don't know themselves. Another big (and I do mean big) problem is the judging. There are many problems with tournament judges.

Here are only a few of them..... Many of the judges simply are not qualified (Anyone with a black belt, or that claims to have one is allowed to sit and judge) Often one or more than one of the judges is judging their own students Many times the judges will judge styles/ kata/ weapons that they do not know and therefore are not qualified to judge. The scoring is all wrong (The scores are always to high. In the 1970's scoring was from 0 to 10.

The average score was around 5.5. At that time if someone did poorly they would get a low score of less than 5. Any black belt that dropped their weapon, or had to start over in weapons or empty hand kata was given a score of 0, or just disqualified.) The, "Lets make everyone feel good", attitude is just wrong. (Don't get me wrong here.

I'm not for yelling at students and making them feel bad. But giving everyone a minimum score no matter how bad they do is just not right. The world is cruel.

Teaching every child and adult that if you do less than good, you should be rewarded is not helping them learn to cope with failure. When they get in the real world they will not be prepared. Also this attitude of easy come is ruining peoples ability to understand that just going through the motions in life is not enough to succeed.) I'm tired of seeing children be handed black belts, awards, .... This whole concept of becoming a black belt, and winning a trophy is just not what martial arts are or should be.

In the 1960's most black belts could fight. They were serious business, and knew what the martial arts were for. Today it is a day care center.

And it is not only the children that are being treated this way. It is appalling to go into the local McDojo and see grown men and women that can't even tie their belts or do simple basics well, wearing black belts. Most have never even had a fight.

Even those that have are only allowed to touch and wear so much padded gear, that it becomes totally unrealistic. The martial arts are not designed to be a fun activity for kids and families. They are designed to be deadly methods of self-defense that are ONLY to be used in a life threatening situation.

Anything less is a disgrace and a sad joke. Just my opinion. EDIT: David E made some good points.

Martial artists, especially the tournament types, have no control of their techniques. Take the gloves and foot pads off of them and they have no fine distance control. Even at nearly 56, I can still punch full speed and power.

We were taught that we had to have control. We were taught to throw a full speed/full power technique and stop just touching the tiny hairs on someones face, without hurting them. Or we could destroy someone with the same technique if we so decided.

Today, competitors have no distance control. They either hit to hard, or miss the target by inches. Many times they strike with the wrong part of the hand of foot.

Often you will see someone overreach to make contact and win a point. That is lousy karate by any reasonable standards.

I have competed in some tournaments in my area, but nothing on a national scale. In my experience, I do see what I interpret as favoritism and poor judging. This comes into play in both sparring and the kata divisions.

I also have mixed feelings about the very flashy katas. Granted, they require much from the practitioner physically, but I question the flashy kata's practical usage. I have been beaten by people in the sparring division who used tactics that would not work in an unbridled scenario outside the tournament.

In that regard, I do question the quality of certain schools and practitioners. In the way I interpret and live the martial way, victory in combat is the bottom line. Fitness, friendship, and cultivation of spirit are all benefits that surround combat effectiveness and help combat effectiveness grow.

I began honing my ability to fight out of necessity. It was just something that had to be done where I grew up. So when I see practitioners compete at tournaments who seem flashy, or who use tactics built for the sole purpose of tournament fighting, I do believe that is dilutes the quality of martial arts.

At the minimum, it makes the practitioner look bad.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.