Johnny Boy : >> "Nope doesnt matter how good you are as long as your competing"

Of course it matters how good you are. To compete, you must beleive you are, or will be good enough to do well. To compete, you must have the time to dedicate to training for this competition no matter what level. Not everyone has enough time to train for a competition but enjoy the couple of days training that they doper week learning techniques.

If you are not fit enough to compete then its dangerous. As you get tired your body will not be concentrating, and you may get hurt just because you are TOLD you should be competing just because you are training in MT.

Its personal choice, no one will tell you you should not compete, and no one should tell you that you must. Getting in the ring is a personal choice and n one should be made to get in without fully understanding the risks, and making the decision for themselves.

Not everyone is competitive, some people like self improvement, gaining all of the advantages that Sandy talked about above.

I personally will choose to have a go, but I have the same respect for the others that are not competing and they deserve the same time from the coaching staff in classes that they go to.

Non competing members doesnt have a negative effect on the people wanting to fight, but just ensures that the gyms have enough income, and lots of them will come along to support the fighters. Let people grade that want to, let people fight if they want to, but just because someone feels that they dont want to grade but want to compete, does not mean that everyone else has the same interests as them.

So.....

Let people make their own decisions regarding competing Grading, you have made your choices so dont force those choices on others as they are not forcing you NOT to compete