I had a very interesting photocopy of an article about grappling from Craig. It came from a very renowned karateka, Iain Abernethy. It would be interesting if we had a discussion about this on the ‘Forum’ I will write about this sometime after I get back from holiday. Our ‘Steve’ would probably be interested in this if he had a copy. What Iain says I think is partly correct, as we do practice throws and locks, but most traditional Shotokan (Other styles also) don’t practice this? But, Iain seems to promote MMA, as this is something to do with him, so this article could be slightly biased, as MMA is mentioned quite a few times. Where I think Iain is wrong; if you go for serious grappling training, your Karate will suffer. We all know the old saying “A jack of all trades, master of none” some thing will have to suffer. So what I say is, always about what you have read or seen, and do a cross reference and think about it, before you make up your mind, after all, its only one persons opinion! And I have got mine. It would be very very interesting to what every thinks about this? [b]

Totally agree with this

I think that Karate is Karate and grappling is grappling. I would categorise the normal long and short range techniques, plus takedowns as Karate, but not grappling. If you are on the floor wrestling with your opponent, you have gone beyond Karate. One might even say that your Karate has failed. That is not to say that some knowledge of grappling/ groundwork is not usefull,- It obviously is but i think that it falls more into the area of JuJitsu. The absence of grappling and groundwork from most Karate technical manuals seems to support this.