Why Are There So Many Irritating Men In Karate? There Goes Another Olympic Bid!

Controversial title and I'm not picking on men, it's just that there's so many more of them in martial arts than women - they stand out. I should define 'irritating' further. It has a variety of forms that you may recognize. For example, those with the idea that there is only one way of doing something - their way. For example, after move x in kata y the right hand should finish in a fist facing upwards. While it's quite reasonable to teach one way for simplicity, good teachers appreciate this is not the only way. It exemplifies the total failure to understand that the point of move x. If it was to, for example, block a strike to the face and the issue of importance is it's effectiveness as a block rather than where the limb ends up! This resolute adherence to the poorly thought out exemplifies 'irritating'. A further example would be the ability to disagree with your Sensei and set up your own (slightly different) club. So that over time, more and more, slightly different clubs emerge. Granted, some may be well thought through developments that are well run and adhere to strong principals, but most are founded on ego alone and second rate. The Sensei is the one who shows the way, not the one in it for themselves. This sort of irritating behavior is much more dangerous to karate since it turns the sport into an amateur shambles that has just got knocked back (again) from being accepted as an Olympic Sport. Worse, it exposes novices to bad teaching and this is much more unacceptable, particularly since to the man in the street it appears to teach violence. It's a bit like the building trade, you only need one or two cowboys to make the rest look bad.

So why is this? In part it's human nature - none of us are perfect, we all want it to be about us, our success and our importance. Ironically, this is the very opposite to the very founding principals of karate - humility and respect. There is however another truism about karate - it can be a solitary practice and solitary practices always attract those who could never succeed in team sports ie those with restricted social skills. I don't mean to imply that everyone choosing to practice a martial art is on the autistic spectrum, far from it, look at you and me, we're extremely sociable! But, it does have a higher proportion than say football. Although, on the plus side karate has avoided drugs, drink and sex scandals so far and can only look on with envy as cricketers and footballers keep making the tabloids. Anyway, back to the point, what can be done? Regulate, regulate, regulate! This is getting better, slowly and those at the top know this of course - the problem is, getting all those 'irritating men' to agree to follow one coherent plan! Catch 22.