Discipline and self-defence skills make martial arts appealing, writes Sean O’Connor
As a five-year old, Hoosain Narker was always getting beaten up at school. Today, he teaches karate to schoolchildren, using lessons from a lifetime spent studying the sport. “Black belt” are two very effective words to say to bullies or belligerent strangers. “Self-defence is just one reason why people want to learn a martial art,” says Hoosain, a softly-spoken fighting machine. “People are attracted by its discipline. Then there are aesthetic reasons. Some people are sent by their parents, and others just want to compete.”
Competitions and grading are a strong feature of martial arts, providing lifetime incentives to improve one’s proficiency. The sports are also intensely social, revolving around membership of a dojo, or school.
As an ex-primary school teacher who left the system to follow his passion, Hoosain is most stimulated when instructing pre-schoolers. He teaches full-contact karate to them as well as in high and primary schools around Cape Town.
He clearly still enjoys being an inspiring part of childhood development. “It’s great when you stay with the kids as they move through school,” he says. “We form our own karate schools, right there in the classrooms.”
There are a least 200 000 karate practitioners nationwide, belonging to a network of over 1 400 dojos, making it one of the country’s most popular sports.
Developed from imported Chinese martial arts in Okinawa, Japan, in the 1600s, when weapons were outlawed on the island, karate means “empty hand”. Although many styles have developed over the years, all include characteristic kicks, punches and blocks. There are about 30 styles practised in South Africa.
Ashihara Karate, Hoosain’s chosen variety, employs methods of weaving, bobbing and absorbing force, reducing differences in physical size. Other forms might emphasise linear or circular styles of attack and defence. Kata (forms) and kumite (sparring) are important in all training.
Although not yet an Olympic sport, such as judo, which emphasises grabbing and throwing and needs mats, karate is likely to become an official school sporting code sometime next year, after further talks with the Union of School Sport of South Africa, according to Hoosain.
Karate is already a common sight in many schools, where parents typically pay extra for the minimum twice-weekly sessions.
Hoosain says a barter system is commonly offered to genuinely enthusiastic people who can’t afford tuition (which is as low as R2 or R5 a month in some places). In his own case, the family he shelters contains three aspiring karatekas, and Hoosain claims that he only asks that they keep his car shining (a scene perhaps inspired by the Karate Kid, a movie that had the impact of a well aimed kick in its day).
During this writer’s time as a primary school teacher, we showed Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon one rainy day. At breaktime, kids flew out of the classroom, flying and kicking all over the playground. The appeal is instant. Hoosain was also heavily influenced by Bruce Lee films, where, like last year’s hit Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, kung fu is the martial art of choice. This Chinese martial art is thousands of years old, and also involves many forms, often inspired by animal movements.
Kung fu can be translated as “skill and effort derived from painstaking effort” and, like karate, it also has non-contact and knock-down varieties.
Another martial art growing in popularity internationally and in South Africa is tae- kwondo, a Korean martial art created from a mix of karate hand techniques and an indigenous from of Korean kickboxing. It is soon to be an Olympic sport. It places strong emphasis on rapid kicks and body punches, also focusing on breaking, forms, one-step sparring and self-defence. Hoosain has picked up this art, and teaches it alongside others. A beauty of being interested in martial arts seems to be the opportunities for discovery within the ever-evolving styles.
Meanwhile, tai chi chuan continues to attract adherents of an older generation. This Chinese martial art is practised in slow motion, and emphasises rooting or centring one’s chi (internal energy) through sensitive movement sequences. It improves balance, co-ordination, breathing, concentration and general health. It makes people feel good. Perhaps this is the perfect martial art for teachers!
For further information regarding local karate clubs, contact Leon Beech of KASA (Karate Association of South Africa) on 082-557-2993 or e-mail him on [email protected]. Or phone Hoosain Narker at the SA National Taekwondo Federation on 082-369-6904, e-mail [email protected]
– The Teacher/M&G Media, Johannesburg, October 2001.