Point well taken...but,in the words of Bruce Lee clothes dont hit - TopicsExpress

Point well taken...but,in the words of Bruce Lee clothes dont hit back. Seriously the argument is not unlike claiming that we must practice with long haired fighters since in the street you will grab the hair. Joe Lewis fought this fight with the karate establishment years ago. They claimed it was disrepectful to wear a T-shirt/no gi. They claimed there could be no rank without a gi. The argument that you must wear a gi to get use to grabbing clothes has little merit, rather the establishment prefers that we follow the rules. It can be said of the no-gi fighter, he prefers striking over grabbing. As I said, this gi vs no-gi argument has been presented in other arts for many years. Both sides have valid claims. Respect.