Another one of my pet peeves is—touching gloves. The non martial art sport of boxing use glove touching as a sign of respect toward the opponent, and it was probably the modern times originator of the gesture. The sport of MMA use glove touching, but then, since the only thing in MMA related to the martial arts is its name, it is appropriate. However, in the martial arts, we bow toward our opponents as a sign of respect. The glove touch is nontraditional, not needed, and repetitious. Bowing to an opponent and then touching gloves is similar to meeting someone and saying “Hello! How are you?” “Hello! How are you?”
I have seen the use of glove touching increasing in the martial arts since the popularity of MMA on television. It appears that, because of seeing the gesture used so much on television, new students think it is the way things are supposed to be done. As martial artists, it is our responsibility to correct the behavior.
What do you think about the use of glove touching in the martial arts?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I think we do bow to show respect, but I think touching gloves is just a sign of good sportsmanship. Just like the occasional handshake/hug thing. You've already shaken the person's hand to show a good-match, why hug them? I think of it as the same principle. I also think touching gloves dictates a decent amount of honesty and trust, as to say you are letting your guard down just for a second, to show good sportsmanship.
I think with a lot of students the "bow" becomes a standard, becomes almost like an instinct. They are so used to bowing they just do it, but touching gloves is learned, not just because they see it on tv, but because it shows they are ready to have a good, clean, and fair match.
The reasons you give for glove touching are valid; however, they are the same reasons why we perform the bow. If the bow has become instinctive and meaningless, then it is because of a failure of instructors to instill its true meaning of the bow into their students, and it is a failure of the students to uphold the basic principles of their arts.
All behavior is learned. We learned to perform the bow; we learned how to touch gloves. If the bow has become meaningless since we have performed it so much, then, after a period of time, the glove touching will also become meaningless. Then what happens; do we bow, touch gloves, and then hug?
People are attracted to a martial art because of the “martial” part of the martial art, usually because they want to learn to protect themselves; but self-defense may be learned in relatively short time. The reason that most people stay in a martial art for a most of their lives is because of the ”art” part of a martial art; the part that is steeped in tradition and ritual. We spend countless hours practicing patterns, whose movements and techniques are practically useless in a self-defense situation. We train for years to perfect using weapons that are useless against modern weapons. We do all this, not because of the usefulness of what we learn, but because of the mental and physical demands it places upon us to achieve this perfection of an art form. If you eliminate the “art” part of a martial art, then you are left with the “martial” part, which is simply two people fighting, as with the MMA. Fighting and self-defense is instinctive in all animals, what makes humans different is the world of fighting is our perfection of it as an art form. Without the art, we are just—animals fighting each other.
If you stop using the bow because it serves no useful purpose, then why replace it with the glove touch that serves the same purpose. If the bow no longer serves its original purpose, then why keep it and add the glove touch to serve that same purpose. It is better to start teaching students the true purpose of the bow and stressing that purpose at every usage than it is to introduce some new ritual that is foreign to the martial arts.
Note: In UFC 91 in November 2008, Nate Quarry lost a fight against Demian Maia. After the fight, they hugged and kissed on the lips. The kiss appeared to be an accident while they were trying to do cheek kisses, but maybe it will also become a new sign of respect to use in the MMA instead of the traditional martial arts bow.
Cool post you got here. I'd like to read a bit more concerning that theme. Thanx for posting this data.
Joan Stepsen
Tech gadget
Post a Comment