Do you know what contact sports are? Well, contact sports are those that are practiced by carrying out a physical confrontation between its participants. This is precisely the case of martial arts and combat sports.
They are practiced in hand-to-hand combat, always following precise rules. They are sports of high discipline and respect for both oneself and the opponent. Also in the case of martial arts, they are characterized by being designed for self-defense, and never to start a fight.
Next we will show you the best contact sports and what their characteristics are:
Karate Do
Let’s start with Karate do, a Japanese martial art that has become more widely established in Spain. The literal translation of Karate-do is “the way of the empty hand”. It is a martial art that is characterized by two disciplines, on the one hand we find the combat between two opponents making blows with their fists and kicking. On the other hand, kata is recognized, which is choreography of karate blows and blocks, normally performed individually, however, in some exhibitions it can be performed in groups.
This sport has its own clothing consisting of a jacket and white pants. In addition, the obi will be placed on top of the jacket, a colored belt that identifies the level that the karate fighter has, and that distinguishes beginners from masters. The colors from lowest to highest level are: white, yellow, orange, green, blue, brown, and black. Sometimes the belt can have two consecutive colors indicating the transition through which the athlete passes. To be a master, the karate fighter must have at least a black belt.
Taekwondo
Another martial art considered a combat sport is Taekwondo. In this case, Taekwondo has its origin in Korea. It is a martial art where self-defense techniques and combat are combined. In this case, leg blows predominate in combat, which are very fast, precise and also high. The athlete’s clothing is similar to that used in the practice of Karate-do, including the obi and its color scale according to the level that you have.
On the other hand we have Boxing, a combat sport that came to be considered a sport at the end of the 18th century. It is a sport in which two people or boxers face each other in a ring (a space delimited by ropes attached to four poles, and whose floor has a thin padded layer). The opponents can only hit each other from the waist up and the combat persists until the time (or rounds) runs out or the opponent is KO’d, which is the main objective of the combat.
The clothing consists of shorts, mouth guards, boots and special boxing gloves. In addition, the boxers are separated into categories according to their weight, and the fights are made between boxers with the same category.
Kick boxing
Kick Boxing is a contact sport whose practice combines various martial arts (such as karate, May Thai and Thai boxing) with traditional boxing. It has its origin in Japan. The clothing is similar to that of boxing, with mouth guards, shorts, specific gloves, padded helmets and tibia protections.
There are several forms of Kick Boxing, but the fights always take place in rings, where there is a main referee and at least three table referees, just like in boxing. In general, hip strikes, genital strikes, elbow strikes, open hand strikes and only a few knee strikes are allowed, but this varies by sport. Throws and grabs are prohibited.
Full Contact
On the other hand we have Full Contact, (also known as American Kick Boxing or full contact karate). It is a combat sport that first appeared in the 1960s in the United States. This discipline mixes boxing with other martial arts, such as karate and taekwondo. In this case kicks, unlike boxing, are allowed.
The full contact combat also takes place in a ring, and in it the faithful objective of knocking out the opponent is fought, that is, that they cannot get up. Hits have a different score.
Various categories are also differentiated according to the weights of the athletes. In addition, there are various forms of practice. Finally, it should be noted that there are also belts with the same representative colors of karate.
These are some of the best contact sports and those that have had the greatest roots in Spain, but there is many more of this type of sport, such as May Thai, Judo, Kendo, Kravis mega, or Jiu-jitsu.
