7th
Annual Uechi-ryu Karate
Championships Article for Immediate Release:
7th
Annual Uechi-ryu Karate
Championships
As George announced from the rooftops following the Championships Saturday, ". . . my reputation as a tournament promoter has been vindicated! This tournament was the best I've ever been associated with!"
Yes George, this tournament was a good one. Everyone I spoke with enjoyed the spirited competition and fair officiating. This is what everyone expected you to deliver last year! You have been apologizing all year for last year's problems and redeemed yourself by working very hard to make the '96 tournament a success. I believe, as do many others, that next year's tournament will be supported by the many teachers who took a "wait and see" attitude this year.
As the oldest and longest running Brown Belt in Sensei George Mattson's organization, I'm probably not the right person to be writing about a world class Karate tournament. However, as a tournament "junkie", I've probably watched as many Karate matches as anyone in the martial arts.
Sensei Mattson published one of the
earliest set of Karate tournament rules, way back in the early
60's, when he organized what I believe was the first tournament
in North America. When he recognized the problems associated with
officiating, he organized the first referee's association (NEKRA)
which eventually evolved into KRANE, a popular New England
ratings and training organization for tournament officials.
Mattson ran the popular North East Karate Championships for a number of years, but became disillusioned with the direction tournaments in the mid to late 70's were headed. He finally called it quits after attending a New York event where the Referees wore sidearms. This was during a particularly sad period in karate's history. The racial issue in our country was particularly sensitive and would occasionally rear its ugly head in large city tournaments. Troublemakers would show up at events, daring the officials to disqualify them for rules violations, while taunting and abusing fellow competitors. One can only wonder at how the first time competitor reacted to this treatment when attending their first big city karate championships!
Then an astounding thing happened. All the militant groups moved on to other causes and the tournaments returned to the traditionally minded students. Official training was taken more seriously and rules were enforced. The result was that tournaments became big business throughout the world. Even though the press long ago abandoned any notion of karate matches being a recognized sport or entertainment, tournaments flourished as never before.
As a remedy to overcome the reputation of the "old-time" tournaments with poor officiating and unclear rules, the new events stressed safety and well trained officials. Most of the martial arts community welcomed the new tournament conditions and accepted the evolving rules enthusiastically. However, in spite of the positive direction that the tournament scene was taking, many of the "traditional" schools were finding the events lacking realism. These schools argued that although the tournaments were indeed safer, the rules tended to reward techniques not used by many traditional styles. Although everyone liked the direction tournaments were taking, some traditional schools believed most of the points being called in matches, were awarded for poorly executed techniques. The age old problem of how to make a tournament safe while stressing good martial arts technique reappeared.
When, three years ago, I asked Sensei Mattson whether or not he was ever going to sponsor another tournament, he replied that "..the time might be right". Apparently, the seed I planted grew, because last June he organized and directed the first "Uechi-ryu World Karate Championships". Not content with running just another tournament, Mattson decided to go all out and create a whole new set of rules for the "traditional" karate world. As he put it, "Since I helped with the creation of the original set of rules over 35 years ago, why shouldn't I be able to wipe the slate clean and redefine what a traditional tournament should emphasis".
What evolved through a year's worth of work was a near perfect event. There were a few matches that got out of hand, but on the whole, it was a great tournament. The rules are simple and effective: No points, two minute running time, winner determined based on who fought the best fight! In the first event, the referee did not get involved as much as they should, hence a few matches escalated into a lot more grappling and ground work than originally intended. Since the tournament was limited to Uechi-ryu practitioners, limited throws and use of strong techniques were allowed. This year, Mattson has refined the rules slightly, to have the referee become more involved in the matches. . . breaking up the competitors after well executed techniques and before a full scale clash is able to occur. Limited takedowns, with follow-through techniques are allowed, as are sweeps and other leg kicks as long as these moves are part of a follow-through attack.
Because points are not being called, competitors are not encouraged to escalate techniques to include excessive contact and other dangerous moves. The sparring takes on the appearance of the kind of training one does in the dojo. The officials are looking for all the same fighting attributes as the instructor does while in class. The winner is the fighter that shows the best form while executing superior attacking and defensive techniques. And the theory works in actual practice.
Sensei Mattson will be presenting his 2nd Annual Uechi-ryu Karate Championships on Saturday, June 1st, 1996 at the Walter Brown Arena in Boston, Massachusetts. This tournament will be held in conjunction with Richard Baptista's 20th Annual New England Open National Karate Championships.
Uechi-ryu students who would like more information and an application may contact Sensei George Mattson at POB 1867, Brockton, MA 02303
Tel: 508-586-3969
Fax: 508-559-8913
eMail: gmattson@uechi-ryu.com
website: www.uechi-ryu.com
In addition to 45 divisions for men, women and children of all
ages and ranks, a World's Championship Belt will be awarded to
the adult male black belt winning the freefighting Grand
Championship, the adult black belt Kata Championship and a belt
each to the team winning the Dan Kumite Championship.
END OF ARTICLE
Copyright © 1996 George E. Mattson. All rights reserved.
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Mattson with questions regarding this web site or to submit
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