martial arts with one eye?

[amon]

I lost my left eye during a childhood accident but are intressted in the martialarts. I have done TKD and also boxing for a while, but stopped due to the fact I wasn´t allowed to compete in boxing with only one eye.

Do anyone have experience of doing martialarts with only one eye? I´m a bit worried about the risk of injuring my good eye, in boxing there are a lot of strikes to the head that feel a bit risky for me. I know there are headgears that protect the eyes well, but still I don´t know if even with a headgear you could risk a detached retina if you got hard blows to the head?

So basically I´m looking for a sport that are effective selfdefence but also "safe" when it comes to eyeinjuries. I´m thinking of thaiboxing or kyokushin karate because I like the stand up arts. Kyokushin have no strikes to the head, but don´t know if it´s just as good as thaiboxing for selfdefence? Or if kyokushin is just like TKD with lowkicks added?

[JCRD]

hi there
im sure you would have no problem with any type of martial art you chose if you were going to train and spar, not sure about competing though
another issue that may help us answer your question is, how well can you judge distances, i know when i was playing soccer and i got hit in the eye i had to close my eye for a few hours i found it really hard to judge how far the ball and other players were from me, but maybe after a while you have regained your ability to judge distances
that is probably the major issue with competing
also i think your eye should be pretty safe competing in any kind of martial art or sport i dont know of any boxers or martial artist who have lost vision, although there could be some

[MAMA_Boy]

My uncle studied Kali and JKD for something like 15 years with only one eye. He was pretty good too.

[amon]

I think I could judge distance quite well, my goal isn´t to compete this time, more for the fun and workout. I know some famous proboxers have sufferd from detached retinas, but I guess their game is very diffferent from sparring lightly with a protective headgear.

Full contact to the body are no problem, kicks and blows to the head are a bit more risky I guess.

[JCRD]

oh ok in that case you should have no problem at all

[OmaPlata]

Brazilian jiu jitsu, you would just fine with one eye, you dont need them much when youre grappling

[Rickster]

Howdy-
My second post.

Or my first not counting my intro.

If I were you-I would not compete.

Nothing is too important to jeopardize your health or well-being.



Rick

[cakegirl]

I know of a BJJ black belt who is blind in BOTH eyes, and he teaches classes and can tell what's going on just by sound.

This is not the guy I was thinking of, but this guy is legally blind in both eyes, and competes internationally

BJJ has no strikes, so your eye won't get punched, and I have never known anyone to get an eye injury in BJJ.

However, you seem to be looking for a "hard" standup art, so Kyokushin is probably your best bet there, since, as you said, they don't allow head strikes, but they have strong full-contact techniques for the body and legs.

[SweepEm]

I've seen many people with all types of physical limitations and handicaps train and compete in Jiu Jitsu.

I was at one tournament where a guy had a seeing eye dog take him to the edge of the mat to go compete and the dog was there when the guy was finished.

I know Aaron La Ponte, a BJJ black belt from Carlson Gracie's school in Chicago.
Aaron has a deformed arm so when he competes, he tucks his shortened arm under his belt in competion.

When you limit one of your senses, others become more acute.
A good training exercise is to train Jiu Jitsu with your eyes closed.
I do this a lot and it really helps.

[Twilight]

Bjj or any grappling is good for any vision impairment. I in fact train with the guy cakegirl linked to and his jiu jitsu skills are definately world class despite being legally blind.

Striking arts like Muay Thai will be slightly more difficult in that hooks are very hard to see coming even with 2 eyes. I heard somewhere that in boxing over 60% of knock outs actually come from a left hook. The mechanics behind a hook as well as close range make them devistating. Elbows to the head are super dangerous too because they can cut you easily.

[amon]

I´m more used to the standup arts because of my earlier involvment in boxing and TKD. If I started with grappling I guess I would be a total novice again. Grappling sounds safer, but on the other hand headgear is hard to use there i guess, and getting your head slammed to the canvas maybe also could cause a detached retina, or getting poked in the eye in the heat of the battle.

I guess the best thing to do is talking to an eyedoctor about what risks there are taking strikes to the head, even if you got a good headgear.

[OmaPlata]

Originally Posted by amon

I´m more used to the standup arts because of my earlier involvment in boxing and TKD. If I started with grappling I guess I would be a total novice again. Grappling sounds safer, but on the other hand headgear is hard to use there i guess, and getting your head slammed to the canvas maybe also could cause a detached retina, or getting poked in the eye in the heat of the battle.

I guess the best thing to do is talking to an eyedoctor about what risks there are taking strikes to the head, even if you got a good headgear.

thats true, you dont wanna lose the other one, maybe just buy a gun, and workout at the gym?

[Sensei Saki]

OK, I will lose the other one maybe just buy a gun and workout at the gym.

[bushido-brother]

You don't need any eyes at grappling.

Stand up martial arts? Watch your head with high kicks!!!!!

[Hardball]

Originally Posted by amon

I lost my left eye during a childhood accident but are intressted in the martialarts. I have done TKD and also boxing for a while, but stopped due to the fact I wasn´t allowed to compete in boxing with only one eye.

Do anyone have experience of doing martialarts with only one eye? I´m a bit worried about the risk of injuring my good eye, in boxing there are a lot of strikes to the head that feel a bit risky for me. I know there are headgears that protect the eyes well, but still I don´t know if even with a headgear you could risk a detached retina if you got hard blows to the head?

So basically I´m looking for a sport that are effective selfdefence but also "safe" when it comes to eyeinjuries. I´m thinking of thaiboxing or kyokushin karate because I like the stand up arts. Kyokushin have no strikes to the head, but don´t know if it´s just as good as thaiboxing for selfdefence? Or if kyokushin is just like TKD with lowkicks added?

I've been living with one eye for over 20 years. It's asham how people try to stop your martial arts training-because of you HAVING ONE EYE, you need self defense even more than ever. I had a pair of safety googles made especially for martial arts training. I got them at pearle vision.

I spar, train and do everything in my googles. The longer you live with partial blindness, the stronger your other 4 senses become. You will also develop better intuition over the years--especially if you take up meditation.

It's a hard handicap to overcome but it can be done. I would STAY AWAY from boxing and take up a more traditional martial art. My first instructor taught me to keep my one eye A SECRET.. Unless you tell people, no one will know that you have one eye. It's a trusted secret and you must decide who you will tell. The bad guys will go right after your good eye in a self defense situation-they do not care. If you have not already done so--learn to kick, it was the easiest and most useful tool that I learned.

Bowing Out,

P.S. I got my japanese jujitsu Black Belt in 6 1/2 years wearing specially made safety googles.