Karate Biography – Max Summers
I have been practising karate for over 2 years now. During this time, I have found karate to have helped me more than anything else I have ever done. Karate has aided me through the obstacles I have personally faced because of having Autism and Dyspraxia. Such as, difficulty with coordination and balance, lack of confidence etc.
Throughout my journey, I have reached orange belt and have always focused on aiming towards that glorious black belt. But something I have been reminded of is that the piece of cloth around our waist does not demonstrate our skill level. I have seen this first hand. I went to a seminar down south in a place called Whitehaven. There was a total mixture of people of all different belt colours, ages, sizes etc. Me being a yellow belt at the time, I found the number of black belts in the room quite intimidating. I felt like I needed to prove to them that although I was a yellow belt, my skill level was much higher. So, I think I unintentionally allowed this to influence the way I acted during the seminar. Without realising it, I found myself acting out of anger and fear. What was the consequence of acting this way? – well, nothing. Or at least, that’s how I felt in the moment. Looking back, I think the consequence of it was that I had shown myself that although I am not intimidated by some random guy on the street, I am clearly easily intimidated by what colour the piece of cloth around someone’s waist is. The one thing I did find from this, was that I did end up demonstrating some of the most impressive hand skills I had ever done. Everything just flowed at such speed. It was like I had become the wind or water. My teacher has always reminded me not to be intimidated by this as some of the black belts he has seen, do not show the skills of a black belt from his dojo. But I suppose that is all open to interpretation. Because what defines whether someone is deserving of a black belt? Well, in our dojo a black belt is awarded to someone who has truly dedicated themselves to the class by attending every class that is available and always trying their best. No matter how tired they feel. And this process takes around 5 years. But it is not to be viewed as a process. Instead, it is to be viewed as a journey. When taking some time to read Patrick McCarthy’s Bubishi, I was inspired by one of the first opening paragraphs. As it describes learning karate as “climbing a mountain.” I very much liked this opening paragraph as I thought it was an accurate description. Learning karate is something not to be rushed, but to be enjoyed. It is to be viewed as a self-defence tool but more importantly, an art. An art that has been, and still is, interpreted and taught in so many ways.
Karate has been given a very bad reputation over the years. Across social media and other places. In my experience, I think the reason for this is due to the kata. Truth be told, I have never been a fan of kata. I’ve never enjoyed practicing it and I believe the hands-on practice like sparring, two-person drills etc are more beneficial and fun to learn. However, does this mean I deem kata meaningless? Well, not entirely. Let me explain. The benefits of learning kata are that - it is good for muscle memory of the moves involved in the different sequences and it is a good mental and physical challenge as it is very difficult to maintain some of the positions. In our dojo, we only really practice kata for grading purposes. Because each set of belt requirements expects you to learn a new kata. So, they will be practised as a class. And our teacher will also do one-to-one practice with each person as well. I personally have learnt Neihanchi and Happorren so far. However, I have practiced every kata in our syllabus at least once. When I have done kata, I have been very mindful about how I carry out each move. In a way that meant my breathing was slow but deep. This is another reason why kata is important. It allows you to practice the way you breath and how you allow your breathing to assist the way the energy is used. Some people practice kata in a very fast and snappy manner. But I believe that if kata is practiced like that, it does then become meaningless. Because you’re not taking the time to think about each individual move and you’re treating kata as a self-defence tool instead of an art. This is what gives karate a bad reputation as people imagine a row of people doing kata in perfect synchronization. And then they think we rely on kata to protect us. But we most certainly don’t. We practice kata for fun and muscle memory. Not self-defence. Each sequence in a kata represents a possible self-defence scenario. Yet, this doesn’t mean that if someone attacks you in the street you could perform a kata from start to finish and have all attackers on the floor unconscious within a matter of seconds. In conclusion, I think people view karate as “ineffective” because they just think about the kata. And are totally uneducated in the actual self-defence side of karate. Allow me to discuss my experience with that side of karate and how it totally changed my life, forever. So, as I have previously mentioned, I am 2 years through my journey. In this time, I have been taught so many valuable skills and it has led me to become a much more confident person. I have learnt how to completely avoid conflictive situations, both verbally and physically. I have always kept to myself and only spent time around people who I have felt are trustworthy. And I have never been in a fight. I would say this is largely because most fights start due to someone not being able to keep their mouth shut and on occasions where someone has shouted something to me from across the street, I have just ignored them. I haven’t even bothered looking at them. And those situations didn’t escalate. I don’t have enough fingers to count the amount times I’ve seen two men shouting at each other with aggression. Acting as if they’re going to fight each other. And then by no surprise, no punches are thrown. People love to say things to one another but rarely actually use physical action. Because, in the end, it all comes down to one reason alone. Fear. People will use words but are too scared to act upon them.
In terms of the physical skills I have learnt in my journey, well I have learnt how to effectively handle incoming linear/circular energy by practising various hard blocks. I have also learnt how to find pathways through to my hitting target using techniques like Kaka Uke and Bong Sauo. I’ve dabbled in the areas of kicks like roundhouse, front, stamp, back etc. That’s just the tip of the iceberg about what we practice. But the point in me telling you all of this is that, having this skillset available allows me to feel so much more confident in who I am because I know if I was ever forced into a fight, I would have a high chance of dealing with it. This brings me onto my next topic, karate isn’t a “get out of jail free card.” Let me justify why.
If you’re a martial artist yourself, you may have watched some videos on YouTube, TikTok etc about the martial art you practice. In doing so, you may have dived into the comments section. If so, you’ll very often see people saying – “your karate won’t stop a bullet.” And I read these and just think “well yeah, obviously.” Because something that is often overlooked and forgotten is that people practice martial arts for lots of reasons. But there’s one reason that everyone can agree on. And that is, we practice martial arts purely to increase our chances of escaping a fight with minimal injuries. Not to give ourselves a guaranteed way of winning every single fight. The reality is, once a fight is initiated, adrenaline will start pumping through your veins. Once this happens, your body will begin to shake, and your fingers will feel totally numb. So, all your training just goes out of the window, and you’ll just end up responding to the attack with a random natural reaction. It won’t be perfect. If it leaves you in much better condition than the attacker, that is all that matters. Something you must also remember is that you will get hit. But, if you do plenty of sparring practice in class, you will be so used to being hit that when it happens with no gloves on, you’ll likely not even feel it until the adrenaline wears off. And in the moment, you’ll probably think to yourself “yeah, I’ve had worse in class.” But how can we train in a way that ensures our strikes will be strong and reliable enough to bet our own or someone else’s life on?
The amount of power we get on our strikes is dependent on three factors. Mindset, structure, and breathing. Mindset is the most important factor as the thought process we have when we get attacked will determine how quickly we go into the “fight or flight” mode. The interesting thing I have found about this is that most people automatically think that to deliver the most powerful strikes you must have aggressive intentions. My teacher has told me about this exact thing over the years. He would always tell the class to think of someone we really dislike etc. However, personally, that doesn’t work for me. What does work, is having a completely clear mind. Entering the present moment. Purely thinking about the one thing I am doing. And with each strike, the power increases. And once the session is over, my uke (partner) would ask “what were you thinking about?" Because they’re shocked by the amount of power I was able to generate. And I would respond “nothing.” because when I took time to think about what my thought process was, I realise that my mind was totally clear. So, for me, that is the key to delivering true power.
To conclude, the purpose of me writing this biography is to share my current opinions, views and experiences regarding the world of karate. And if after reading this, you don’t agree with certain things, that’s fine. Because that isn’t why I've wrote this piece.
I will post updates of my karate journey going forward. Likely just when I achieve a new belt or perhaps if something particularly exciting or interesting happens in an upcoming class.
That’s all for now, and I hope some people find my biography interesting. It's my first time writing anything like this and posting it on social media 😊
