EWTO
Sep/30/2010

World Scientific Congress of Combat Sports and Martial Arts

Prof. Dr. Wojciech J. Cynarski, 7th Dan Karate and Jiu-Jitsu (who like Prof. Tarabanov from Russia was a guest of honour at our Int. Seminar in Hockenheim), had issued an invitation to the town of Rzeszow in Poland to discuss scientific aspects of the martial arts in a round of experts from all over the world. Those invited were professors from a wide range of universities worldwide who also concerned themselves with the martial arts beyond their specialist fields, and accordingly Prof. Dr. Keith R. Kernspecht also followed the call.

The Congress was a three-day event that commenced with a number of workshops, covering a range from Karate and WingTsun to Japanese Goju Karate. Around 30 highly qualified masters from a broad spectrum of martial arts styles, e.g. Prof. Dr. Shishida (Japan, Judo), Prof. Dr. Chuchchai (Thailand, Muay Thai), Dr. Roland Maroteaux (France, Aikido) or  Prof. Dr. Sergio Raimundo (Italy, Tai Chi) had the opportunity to exchange views and become more familiar with the martial arts being taught by their respective colleagues.

Prof. Dr. Kernspecht placed the initial emphasis of his workshop on the fundamentals of WingTsun: the difference between the proactive approach (anticipation and "attack the attacker") in the early stages of learning WingTsun (BlitzDefence), and the interactive approach (adaptation, manipulation, separation, collision, elimination) in advanced training.

The main emphasis of this Congress was therefore on creating a structure for the newly formed society, establishing a number of important basic ideas according to which future research will be conducted.

Text + Photos: D. Brizin