This is a handy term. It conveys an idea that is useful for us in the martial arts and it is what I call a Universal Principle. Unfortunately it has become a "catch-all" term.
Torque, as a term, is a catch-all. Too often we quiz a student on a power principle and when they don't know they respond with "Torque!". If they truly understand body momentum they know there is torque in everything, so they're not really wrong when they just throw out the term. I see "category completion" being used in the same manner. There are arguments for it, and, like torque, a student may be just familiar enough to build a case to support it. But they usually miss the point.
Now don't get me wrong. I don't have a problem with the term. I have a problem with what is becoming its general use.
I recently did a seminar they titled Category Completion at which they expected me, I think, to show them all the categories and how the right side matched the left in this technique and that technique. Or this was the reverse of that. (Loud buzzer goes off.)
Ed Parker sometimes had two terms of the same thing and usually more than one approach to help you "get it". I relate this term to "associated moves" and "family groupings". "Related techniques" comes to mind as well.
I'm working on a paper addressing the subject and it will be in my Members section on my site, www.leewedlake.com or http://leewedlake.com/index.asp?PageID=29.
There is a lot of other material in there I'm told is useful and insightful, so get yourself a membership and check it out.
No comments:
Post a Comment