Ph.D., Honoured Coach of Russia S.L. Konikov
Dr. Hab., Elite Coach A.A. Peredel'skiy
Russian State University of Physical Culture, Sport, Youth and Tourism (GTsOLIFK), Moscow

Keywords: martial arts, service martial arts, sport applicability.

Introduction. There are many martial arts in the modern sport world, and most of the relevant sport communities take persistent efforts to have their systems recognized as formal sport disciplines. With this object in view they adjust their martial arts [the first group] so as to meet the standards and qualification requirements of the target sport disciplines and take other adaptation and specialization initiatives. A few other martial arts [the second group] that have successfully qualified as sport disciplines strive to find application areas for themselves and for this purpose universalize their techniques so as to adjust them to the specific conditions of the target applied practices. And rated with the third group may be the martial arts that originate from different special applied practices and, as such, may be considered integral additions to these practices; and they normally have no aspirations to evolve to applied practices or become universal popular sports; they rather stay and progress strictly within the frame of their service/ combat mission. It should be noted that the first, second and third groups of martial arts may (and often do) bear the same name of “applied martial arts” despite the fact that they may have totally different social statuses, different behavioral and action models and specifics and different degrees of involvement in the sport process [1, 5].

The purpose of the study was to explore the specifics of different approaches to and solutions of the sport applicability issues.

Results and discussion

We would start from identification and logical solution of the following three main tasks:

– Identify and prioritize the key approaches to and solutions of the sport applicability problem by the modern martial arts;

– Analyse the performance specifics of the applied practices and areas of special interest for the certain martial arts;

– Compare the desires with reality, i.e. “the martial art supply” with the “application system demand”, since it appears to be the only way to understand whether or not the different martial art cultures are applicable within the frame of the existing application system.

If we now use the term “sport genesis” to concisely verbalize the process of special sports adaptation and transformation of any martial art culture that we inherited from our forefathers, it would be easy to note that this sport-adaptation process goes through the following three main phases:

– Pre-sports universality phase;

– Sport-focused specialization phase; and

– Post-sports application phase.

Therefore, it may be mentioned that the traditional martial arts viewed as the socio-cultural systems subject to historical evolution normally enter the sport application period in the third phase of the sport genesis process when the major ascension period of the subject martial art as a sport discipline is mostly over and looming in front are the prospects of the public interest to the sport being largely lost with its social support base being seriously shrunk and with other manifestations of a coming crisis. It may be pertinent to emphasize in this context that the subject martial art culture on the whole and its sports community in particular may be far from understanding that they are in crisis; and they may even present the crisis to their social support base as a good chance for creativity and innovations. These attempts, however, will never change things to the better. What are the most frequently chosen application areas in such situation? And what are the real benefits if any that can be offered to them by the martial art culture entering the last sport genesis phase?

Of the highest interest in terms of promises of the application phase of the martial art development are normally the applications that generate cash flows; these flows may be either modest enough although reasonably guaranteed and permanent (and particularly important when duly supported by the relevant budgeting provisions) or high and beneficial in the long run, even if they are associated with high health risks or even life risks. It is the different law-enforcement and defence ministries and institutions that are usually capable of securing the first of the above options, whilst the second option may be supported by the commercial sport system and the associating sport gambling business. As a matter of fact, any martial art modernization program is always designed within the frame of the selected application development option.

It may be stated with certain reservations that it is the combat sambo that may be considered herein as a typical case of a multisided application approach. But first of all it would be fair to confess that the history of combat sambo shows that this martial art system has accumulated serious experience of the first and second type developments; but this progress has failed to open further prospects to the sport system since sambo has failed to become a monopolistic combat system for application by the special services, for instance; and moreover, it has failed to win a wide international recognition, despite the serious efforts taken towards this goal. Why so? Probably for the simple reason that combat sambo could never accept serious revisions of its basic techniques and tactics, otherwise it could evolve to something different from sambo – that was initially designed as an unarmed combat system for application in the Soviet Russia and USSR. It may be important to emphasize that this unarmed combat system was designed rather for a broad-based civil applications as a popular sport system than for the military/ special service needs. Special services of the USSR, including the NKVD [People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs], by the way, have always applied a different martial art system for combat training of their officers; and the system was developed based mostly on Japanese martial arts with top priority being given to jujitsu-based techniques. It is not a problem for a specialist to track this historical development path. Generally, sambo was made a myth of in the Soviet times in a fast-handed manner, and it happened on the rise of the Soviet physical culture and sports large-scale promotion campaign. In addition, there was one more (even more serious) reason to promote sambo as an efficient self-defence system – that was to distract the public attention from the really highly-efficient martial art system that was widely applied for combat training of SMERSH (military counterintelligence service) officers. It may be interesting to mention for the purposes of this study that the SMERSH officers’ combat training system has never been subject neither to sport applications nor to natural sport genesis, and for this reason it has preserved all the key application contents and values characteristic of jujitsu as a medieval unarmed combat system.

Let us now consider chances of combat sambo for success in the area of commercial applications. It should be noted first of all that both the combat and non-combat sambo style is, for all intents and purposes, a typical amateur sport discipline in fact. Furthermore, any professional sport is established on an absolutely different basis that an amateur sport and this fact is a matter of common knowledge for every sport professional. Therefore, even if combat sambo one day wins the desired position among professional sport disciplines, it will unlikely remain the same if any sambo. The only thing left from sambo will be the brand name.

For this reason, the application prospects of combat sambo look very dubious to us in fact. Then what can be said about the other martial art systems that were primarily redesigned in the modern times for commercial sport applications and for the sport gambling business? After all, however paradoxically it may sound, they proudly promote themselves (on unclear grounds) as application systems highly valued by defence agencies and other special services. Why do they need this promotion if their commercial applicability looks quite successful at the first glance? May it mean that they are not very confident in their future?

Let us take as a case in point mixed martial arts (MMA) that have won the virtually monopolistic position in the world of commercial sports. It should be noted, first of all, that nothing is stable and all is transient in the world of business, and this is true, among other things, for the pay-per-view (PPV) portion of the MMA audience highly valued as a top paying client by both organizers of fights and, what is even more important, by the advertising and broadcasting companies plus, of course, the sport gambling business. Second, the competition is getting fiercer in many areas including commercial contact martial arts. And, third, Europe and the USA lately have shown some indications of being increasingly sick and tired of the burden of violence, cruelty, blood and mutilations, with the middle class appearing to be less willing to pay for viewing MMA and alike no-holds-barred fights. MMA fighters are in need of their own devoted social support groups and they find them among the existing sport ultras (including the football ones) communities. The ultras, however, are never happy enough with the “softness” of the MMA fights as they demand much more cruelty and blood from fights in the two-against-two, three-against-three and up to fifty-against-fifty formats. This growing demand for cruelty is indicative of the negative trend on the market of commercial martial arts that appear to go beyond all boundaries acceptable for good traditional sports. Therefore, there are sound grounds to believe that further development of the MMA sport applications will result in either degeneration of their sports values as such or in the MMA fights being pushed beyond the competitive sport system, and such development would go in line with the sport genesis theory in application to martial arts.

It is the third group of martial arts that seems most interesting, in our opinion, for the sport applicability oriented ideas and developments, since these arts were designed and fostered based on the most extreme combat/ special service practices of real fights. The applications are possible with the only serious reservation that this specific area and the relevant combat system it gave rise to will be considered a primary martial area; whilst the sport designed based on and adjusted to the combat/ special service martial art system (wherein it actually performs) will be ranked second, with the relevant applied system being developed in a reduced, humanistic, specialized and strictly regulated format. We mean in this context the first phase of the martial art sport genesis when the martial art turns (or tries to turn) to a sport discipline. This scenario of a sport application development appears to be, in our opinion, both the most clear (in the context of the available traditional combat systems including karate, taekwondo, judo, muay thai, capoeira etc.) and the most practical and scientifically grounded. It is true that, on the one hand, there is a variety of practical combat and special service situations (accessible for scientific studies) that virtually dictate the window of opportunities and arsenals of core techniques and tactics applicable by the relevant combat system; furthermore, on the other hand, there exist general standards and requirements of the sport regulations and the relevant social and educational systems. The application system designer should only merge both of the two systems and offer the relevant transition technology to meet the requirement of these two “coordinate systems”. This kind of development comprises a core element of our studies focused on the system of applied combat techniques [2, 3].

Let us come back to the above stated problem in the context of psychology, physiology and physics.

It should be noted that a fighter will never give up facing a real extreme situation of full contract power fight only if he is made mentally fit by the special training and conditioning system and learns to accept such situation as normal. There is no other way to achieve that kind of excellent mental fitness than through regular and personal training and real fights. The one who wants to master fighting must fight, and the one who wants to learn full contact sparring must spar, as simple as that.

Real effects and damaging actions of blows will largely depend on where the blows land. Kidney, liver, heart and other critical organs, biologically active points and vulnerable zones comprise the top priority targets that may be damaged by relatively weak blow, light push or even by pressure of a fist, palm or finger. Therefore, the martial artist fighting for big damage must be knowledgeable in the vulnerable body spots and skilful in the spots targeting techniques.

Actual specifics of the holds/ kicks applied (including force, weight, movement curve, speed, acceleration etc.) critical for their real effectiveness largely depend on how knowledgeable and skilful the fighter is in applying the natural physical (mechanical, optical etc.) laws, and this is the reason why many existing martial art methodologies need to be revised on a consistent basis to give this knowledge.

Given hereunder are the science-based technical and tactical elements of an adequate combat system design:

– Body/ motor/ mental stability, good balance;

– Internal source of action/ physical movement;

– Leverage;

– Averse-reverse interaction;

– Lashing action;

– Elliptic movement curve;

– Multi-purposefulness and versatility of attacking actions;

– Hitting the close and distant spots within the target zone; and

– Distance-focused selectivity.

The above elements will be performed within the frame of asymmetric attacking proactive actions followed by counter-attacking elements in the combinations that allow fighting at the “shapeless level” that basically means to attack and avoid the counter blows using the versatile hit curves and to win without serious physical injuries and mutilations [2]. This full contact combat system optimization formula is offered by the system of applied combat techniques, and this formula is implemented through the technical/ tactical/ competitive practice regulating development [2, 3].

Competition rules of the applied combat technique are unparalleled in the world of contact martial arts. Their main difference is that subject for the regulation is the couple interaction rather than single counteraction, and the interaction is based on a well prepared although reasonably free and optimal improvisation. Fight scoring points are given to the interacting couple of fighters rather than to a single fighter. Should somebody unfamiliar with the specifics of the system have slightest doubts in real combat/ special service effectiveness and adequacy of the subject development, the doubts can be easily removed as follows. Let us imagine that a target for a “cannon” blow of a universally trained big puncher is a head of less trained and less universal fighter. Imagine that the full contact punch is made with follow-through movement, very sharp, and almost unnoticeable for the human eye. The opponent has no time and chance to avoid the punch, and the blocking hand will be broken. And this is not the end since it is followed by a flurry of finish-off blows that can hardly be blocked even by the dead defence. This simple example will unlikely give the opportunity to consider the applied combat technique as a variety of a martial art dance; the basic combinatory hand-and-leg movement system forming the basis for this style cannot be found in any other combat style (with the only exclusion of “boibo” [Russian abbreviation for the unarmed combat style] system), and hence the authors could unlikely be blamed for systemic borrowings.

Conclusion

Sport applications of combat styles cannot be used, for a variety of objective reasons, as a basis for an effective applied/ service combat training system for fighters [1].

Sport applicability is governed by a “reverse logic” in fact since the combat/ service/ operation practices are considered a core field of combat activity whilst the derivative sport discipline is viewed as an applied area of the combat system.

It is the core combat/ service/ operation practice that determines the standards and qualification criteria to assess the effectiveness of the applied combat system.

Detailed accounts of the above standards and qualification criteria gave us the means to develop, on good scientific grounds, the applied combat technique readily available for sport applications; it is based on a set of new different principles that are largely unusual for the martial art systems presently popular in the sport world.

For competitions in the new applied combat technique we offered special Regulations (that are also largely unusual for the traditional martial art practices) that give the means to cultivate the technical and tactical base of combat tests within the framework of the sport competitions.

References

1. Bleer, A.N. Problemny nauchny sovet po fizicheskoy kul'ture rossiyskoy akademii obrazovaniya: preemstvennost' i novizna strategicheskogo kursa (Problem Research Council for Physical Culture of the Russian Academy of Education: continuity and novelty of strategic course) / A.N. Bleer, A.A. Peredel'skiy, S.L. Konikov / Teoriya i praktika prikladnykh i ekstremal'nykh vidov sporta. – 2010. – № 1(23). – P. 3–7.
2. Konikov, S.L. FIGHTING MOTION – Mekhanizm optimizatsii podgotovki sportsmenov-edinobortsev (FIGHTING MOTION - method of optimization of training of single combat wrestlers) / S.L. Konikov, A.A. Peredel'skiy // Fizicheskaya kul'tura: vospitanie, obrazovanie, trenirovka. – 2014. – № 3. – P. 51.
3. Konikov, S.L. "Boevoe (prikladnoe) dvizhenie" – akademicheskiy proekt sozdaniya universal'nogo edinoborstva (Combat (applied) motion" - academic project of universal martial arts) / S.L. Konikov // Teoriya i praktika prikladnykh i ekstremal'nykh vidov sporta. – 2010. – № 1(20). – P. 47–48.
4. Peredel'skiy, A.A. Metodologicheskie osnovy i printsipy ekstremal'nykh i prikladnykh vidov sportivnoy deyatel'nosti (Methodological grounds and principles of applied extreme sports activities) / A.A. Peredel'skiy // Teoriya i praktika prikladnykh i ekstremal'nykh vidov sporta. – 2010. – № 1(20).– P. 71–73.
5. Peredel'skiy, A.A. Profil'naya pedagogicheskaya tekhnologiya i ee konkretno-istoricheskiy prikladnoy kharakter (Specialized educational technology and its specific applied historical nature) / A.A. Peredel'skiy // Teoriya i praktika prikladnykh i ekstremal'nykh vidov sporta. – 2013. – № 1. – P. 49–53.

Corresponding author: alexperedelskiya@mail.ru