Sports Karate and developing forms (just wondering out loud)

OK , I watch the martial arts on espn when i get to catch them ( cause man they have some irregular times, whats up?), anyway, they apparently support the US OPEN Karate tournament,
I see tradiditional kata being represented there, and some wushu guys every now and then, but ...What is Sports Karate , is this taught anywhere or is this just developed by individual teams such as paul mitchell? Also ..sports karate seems to have a strong kungfu influence well, wushu at least , imho. Has anybody gone to the us open? Is it any good , it seems interesting entertainment. How practical is it , do you think to invent your own forms , or add your own "flavour" spice to your art-form? has anybody here tried to develop thier own routine , used it , or shown your sifu /sensei or anybody else?

"everything is everything"_W.Rodney

You create your own routines. Each routine must have certain standard movements in it, for instance a "capoeria" kick. The emphasis is on difficulty of movement so I guess in that respect it is like wushu. Sport Karate has a sharper darting flavor than wushu though, you can usually see a big difference when a wushu guy competes with them. Some of the stuff on those shows can be real corny though, like how each person introduces themselves to the judge but that isn't as bad as the music they pic and when there are some words in the song they "mouth" them and look like a dog with peanutbutter on their mouth. Overall some of that stuff is entertaining though.


www.shaolindynasty.cjb.net

I particularly enjoy when they kiai for no appearent reason or pause dramatically with their fists shaking.

But it's cool, and really American.

When I was practicing wushu, I enjoyed creating my own routines. Freestylin' is always fun. And it's interesting to see what happens when you let your mind and body run free.

Yeah I forgot about the kiai. They come down from one of the various acrobatic moves bust a dramatic pose and turn their head and KIAI! Aren't you supposed to kiai during a movement usually? I really hate it wen they try to throw in some dance moves though, I didn't know you were supposed to shake your @$$ to jailhouse rock in Karate :eek:


www.shaolindynasty.cjb.net

I hate that stuff. Ay least Wushu competitors have REALLY strong basics, and *gasps* they're competing in forms competitions and they actually have good form. :eek:

saw one of these a while ago on espn326 or something. i thought the acrobatic stuff was impressive, but the stuff i saw was nowhere near useable in a fight. even jackie chan would shake his head at some of the things at that competition.

plus the whole thing was sponsored by paul mitchel hair products. i can tolerate that for beach volleyball, but a martial art demonstration?

was it just me, or did i hear funakoshi just turn over?

-rtb

Alright , how about the creative/power breaking, I know people in tcma ( not my school) and also tkd who develop thier own forms for training. I myself have been trying to compile my own routine just for the sake of my own purpouses based on techniques ive learnt outside of the curriculum or stuff that ive used in sparring or fighting , that has worked . But anyway enough about me and my weird kungfu skills: theres another aspect to the open creative breaking and power breaking.
Ive seen those fancy pants guys try to break boards doing 720 degree tornado kicks , personally i wouldnt try this in a fight even if I could do a 720. And in the power breaking its usually some big 'roid looking dude that breaks stuff. Any kungfu guys experiment with any breaking techniques here. I know its not as popular in cma as in the jma or kma ?

"everything is everything"_W.Rodney

the only time i've ever seen or heard of anything at my school involving breaking that was directly related to wing tsun were the pictures of gm leung ting when he punched a brick into teensie-weensie pieces with a single chain punch a few years back.

-rtb

yep. my first post. sport karate. here's a good example: click me

I really like the "drop and play dead" thing he did towards the end. WTF was he doing, japanese capoeira angola? THAT's a big part of why traditional MA gets such a bad rap...

"Just because I joke around sometimes doesn't mean I'm serious about kung-fu.
" - nightair

dude you haven't heard of the devistating narcolepsy attack? :D

I would much rather watch any of the new young guys doing there Sport Karate forms then any of those fat a$$ Kenpo guys waving their hands around like a bad rerun episode 'Kung Fu'. :D