Mistakes

4-24-2001

 

   Hi Everyone,



Needless to say, but the following is a private discussion for Bunaki Unlimited alone.  It involves a number of issues that I trust you alone to consider.



I just had an interesting weekend with Ernie Rothrock.  We did spend some more time on my Wu Tai Chi Chaun studies and I picked up quite a bit more information on my study.  However, in our seemingly non-stop discussions a topic came up which might be of interest for all.



Now Ernie rarely enters the karate world as his studies take up too much of his time, except for those times when I drag him into my studies or discussion.  Likewise the Chinese approach to application potential is quite different from what we attempt at Bunkai Unlimited.  They do not study the range of application potential in their movements, instead only learning one per technique. But with so many forms (in the Northern Systems he’s studied) and so many movements, they do get an extremely vast study of the potential in their formats.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUe5An1h9kU

In order to place this in context I need to give you some information about Ernie.  In many senses, he has an exceptional mind for forms study. About 25 years ago when I began training with him, he had already studied in excess of 200 forms from a multitude of Chinese systems, and his study didn’t end there.  In the interceding years he has received the entire Northern Eagle Claw system and Wu Tai Chi Chaun from Sheum Leung and I can’t begin to imagine how many forms he has studied total.



Long ago he did a dedicated regime of training to try and keep everything he studied in his mind.  Of course, as time passed he had to make choices, and without doubt he no longer knows everything he has studied, as he has made concrete choices to concentrate in Eagle Claw. Yet, his knowledge is probably why he can learn and retain forms so well.

 

In those long ago years, he discovered he could craft competition forms that nobody could separate from traditional ones.  He really knew literally all the basics and from his studies, knew how to combine any of them.  His ex wife, Cindy Rothrock, became a National competitor with a form that was his creation. Why would he do so with so much knowledge at his fingers, well in those days I imagine most of the judges were Karateka, with little knowledge of traditional Chinese systems, and he chose to craft forms using the student’s strengths to their fullest. The difference, between his efforts and today’s custom crafted tournament kata was he didn’t add gymnastics, instead choosing only traditional Chinese techniques in different formats from the original forms.

With so much knowledge at his tap, he also recognized how complex the traditional Northern systems were, and always wanted to discover a better way to train beginners for advanced training.  His approach for many years was to keep choosing different beginning forms in his schools, trying to find a better mix to develop the student.  On occasion he made other changes with that goal in mind, the better approach to train the beginner.



Another aspect to consider, in those systems, when one moves on to the advanced forms, they discontinue the practice of the basic forms.



Well with that background, I’ll return to the weekend’s discussion.



I began making the observation that long ago I noticed that there was some percentage of errors apparently hardwired into the student brain.  A sizeable percentage of kyu students, regardless of having been taught forms properly, when entering advanced studies, would begin to make the same mistake in the intermediate forms, especially if they weren’t working on them a great deal lately.

    

An example in Isshinryu Kata Seiunchin, where following the 2nd Archers block, the student is to step forward with their right foot into a Seisan Front Stance, and deliver a right hammer fist into the students left open hand.  I have long observed a sizeable number of students working on brown belt forms (and not spending enough time on Seiunchin Kata) would not step forward with the right foot but instead simply adjust from a horse stance into a left front stance and then throw the right hammer fist into the left hand.



While this was not a 100% occurrence, it did occur frequently enough that it has become a standard issue in advanced training, to make sure it did not re-occur.  My current solution begins when the student first learns Seiunchin Kata, I reinforce the correct manner to execute the technique, and explain that normally a sizeable percentage of students make the same mistake.  On occasion I believe this helps the student remember not to fall into this trap.



Ernie then got interesting. He has observed similar issues in the forms he teaches.  His solution was the final realization that he would be better served by changing the form to the ‘mistake’, eliminating this as a future error.



Now another thing about the Northern Chinese systems, advanced practitioners do not spend their time working on basic or beginning forms (unless and until they become instructors).  In those systems once one has advanced to more complex forms, they discontinue the earlier forms study.  But, providing they studied those basics correctly, they feel they don’t need to do so, because all of those technique are contained in the advanced forms.



Ok, vastly different approaches to the arts involved. But, Ernie then challenged me why I didn’t do the same and make the change to eliminate that problem.



Of course that is the interesting question, why not simply change it. Even if I did so I’m sure I can find acceptable application potential in the changed movement, too.



He wasn’t willing to accept the answer, ‘Well we don’t change our arts!’ Instead he would ask, ‘Why not?’



Well why not change it?  My answer (as in the earlier posted example in Seiunchin Kata) rested in the fact I have a quite specific application I really want the students to learn, and that application is less effective if the kata is changed (inadvertently or purposely).



So I thought you might find this something to consider.



Victor