Great basics makes great kata makes great kumite

Look at a brick - it's a dull, red, oblong of cement and has little value on its own. But without a brick, you can't build a wall, and without walls, you couldn't build the Tower of London, or the Sydney Opera House or the Empire State Building or any of the world's most impressive and beautiful buildings.

It's impossible to perform kata well without a good understanding of the basics. How can you do first kata properly if you can't do a downward block? How can you do second kata if you can't do a front kick? How can you do Sepai if you can't stand in sumo stance properly? You need to understand how to perform the basics in order to perform kata well, and you need to be aware of what all the parts of your body are doing. How often do you see someone doing kata with tons of passion and energy, but each part of their body hasa mind of its own? They do a block, and their legs get pulled out of place. They do a kick and their guards fly wildly in every direction.

To do kata well, you need to take control of your body, and develop strength and control and composure. Guess what? Those are exactly the skills that will also help your kumite! So if you launch an attack, you can keep a compact, tight guard that doesn't expose you too much, and when you defend, you are already practiced in a range of counter-attacks.

Although the basics, and kata may seem boring or repetitive at times, remember that these are the building blocks for kumite. You're training your body to have control, you're filling your mind with options, and you're developing the muscle memory that will mean that your limbs will move automatically in response to various attacks.

So don't groan and whinge about doing the basics or kata - cheer and look for every opportunity to do more, because great kumite, and maybe even life-saving self defence, is honed and strengthened not with flashy moves, but with basics and kata.