Never Fall

I was watching a documentary show about people doing a martial art. They were explaining a philosophy about fighting that was sensible enough, until they started to talk about being down on the ground. They said that if you ever go down when fighting an opponent (singular) in real life you will (always) instantly be attacked by a mob (plural) and will be killed. Really? If a drunken brother-in-law pushes you down, ten more brother-in-laws will attack, resulting in your death?

This reminded me of a recent visit to our Dojo by a high-ranking instructor. He spent some time telling about how, “we don’t go to ground.” Never tried to say why, just that we don’t do that.

What is it about many martial arts that makes the ground an intimidating place?

It used to be for scary for me. In Karate we spend endless hours practicing standup fighting. Suddenly, somebody tackles you, and you are pretty much back to square one. Strictly standup fighters don’t last very long in mixed martial arts matches.

The High School where I teach used to have a wonderful wrestling team with a topnotch coach named Clint Fox. For a couple of years I went along to help out. As expected, it was nothing like Karate. Wrestling isn’t about self-defense, but is all about putting people on the ground, or being put on the ground. Rolling around like that gave me a modicum of skill. More importantly, I no longer fear fighting either clinched, or on the dirt.

I’m not saying I’m very good at it, just that I am comfortable.

People sometimes argue, asking if I want to roll around on concrete, or gravel. I do not want to, but I’d be happier there than the other guy.