AdamKralic

Absolutely. If I own a shotgun am I only allowed to shoot skeet olympic style?Considering that that is EXACTLY what happened to Judo when it was added? i would call it a valid worry.Though i'm still at a loss as to why i've never heard of a "classic" fork of Judo. So you are only allowed to practice Judo in the Olympic style? I stand corrected. Basketball has rules too...but my son and I play horse. We fear the Olympic judges daily. Ah is the ruining of the sport that one Japanese trainer who slapped women? That isn't the Olympics fault. It's his fault.

Are you sure you want to complete the "sportification" of karate and btw have it under the thumb of the national governing bodies? Absolutely. If I own a shotgun am I only allowed to shoot skeet olympic style? I find wrestling boring...and karate exciting. I imagine others have that script flipped. They can make their case and I mine. Change is the only constant in life. There are ancient sports that get no love in the olympics...and modern sports that do.

http://sports.inquirer.net/86569/wrestling-out-of-olympic-program-for-2020-ioc That says karate and squash are leading as the replacement.

Karate is leading as the replacement for wrestling. Still sure you want to complain?

Great links. I especially liked the 2nd one. I was on another (will remain unnamed) karate forum earlier. Most of the people there were putting down sparring tournaments as useless...the fighters without real skill. They were being rude and arrogant in equal measures. A few admitted defeat in such tournaments due to unrealistic rules and unrealistic techniques allowed/encouraged...most just stuck with ___________ and ___________ would get them killed in MY dojo. Really? What proof do you have that they cannot do the things that you can do? The only established fact is that they can fight under a sparring tourney set of rules with more efficiency than you. So far...imo they are winning the "skills" war. They are faster than you. They see openings and can hit them...whereas you cannot. Speed and reaction time are CRUCIAL to every style ever created.

I think you are right on both counts. He combos to drive people back too much. The everything must touch drill is one that my son is weak at. And for the life of me idk why he dislikes drinking water...his shirt is soaked after every practice. Thanks.

Great idea on the app. Thanks. A fighter really is an engine. Control the fuel, control the air...you gain control period. You are also right on the thickness of children's heads. It's like they do not see themselves as proper athletes or something. That what "real" athletes do is not 100% compatible to what they do.

He is dominant until he becomes winded. Then he is merely average which is not near good enough. He gets frustrated when he eats a technique and in frustration will eat another. Normal enough I suppose. I would see his endurance increased. I would perhaps carbo load him...but when? Carb/energy bars? When? His teachers are truly elite...they prefer chocolate immediately before a match. That is fine...we have not tried that yet. We will. He does not like taking water in breaks...I am making him take gatoraide between hard matches. If it was up to him he'd take no liquid. I do not get that as I always went a bit too much on liquid when I fought...but to each his own...to a point. He has another tourney in 2 months. He gets plenty of training and fights a good 20-25 kids a week. He REALLY needs energy for longer periods of time. His technique when fresh is exceptional.

I write this on behalf of my 12 year old son who trains a lot. He has 4 days a week just in classes. (3 fighting classes...1 class that is for everything else) He has fought in about 10 tournaments so far but I feel that we haven't dialed in the proper diet as of yet. I am just now getting him to understand being properly warmed up...next phase is maxing out his diet leading up the event. All advice is greatly appreciated.

Sport karate encourages training. You need to be faster, faster, faster. You are going up against others that are training hard. Not only will the winner be faster in offense...but faster in defense as well. How many times will you fight for your life? Hopefully never. If you did...would you not like to be fast and confident? How will you truly know if you are fast and confident if there is no measuring stick? Sport karate merely offers a level playing field with which one can judge their progress. Are there techniques that work better in sport karate than in pure self defense? Absolutely. Nobody here would suggest not learning self defense techniques...would they? It's not one or the other...it's both that is ideal.

Glad it's working out well for you! As for turning the BOB to mimic body positioning in different stances, I completely agree with you--for self defense combinations you really don't need to turn him much, but for sparring combinations I usually have him turned to an angle like an opponent would be. Now if only he had poseable arms! Agreed. That would be great. I'd also like a bag/device that could spam different kicks...like a roundhouse spammer...a sidekick spammer. I'm a bit tall for my son to be a good practice opponent...my wife is a better size but her kicks are "wrong" They come at odd angles...aren't really roundhouses...and of course she gets tired before the lesson has been done enough times for that day. (I would too btw...not trying to put her down I'm pretty darn handy in the wood shop...I might just have to create something using wood/springs. Hmmmm. I'm imagining a roundhouse spammer would be easier to create than a sidekick spammer. My son fights A LOT. But as everyone knows...kids aren't equal. Many kids my son fights simply either can't spam...or don't. Not at all calling spamming a great technique...but there are a few quality fighters that lean a bit too heavy on it even at high levels...I'd like for it to be a cakewalk to deal with.

We did end up purchasing the Century BOB. Minor assembly required...you need two people to get one of the bolts in...but doable. It is primarily for my son so we decided to fill with water. (filling with sand would make it heavier still) We love it. I have always used pads with him prior...which is fine but sometimes I don't get the greatest view of his feet while holding the large pads...and proper footwork to me is everything. Something that people aren't mentioning that I will: turning the BOB. You can obviously have either side in front...and this makes for great practice for open/closed stance techniques. (the best fighter my son faces is a leftie...so that in and of itself has presented a few challenges) With the Bob...it's easy to turn it so that you can have time to practice attacking different openings. I'd highly recommend the product.

I'd take the fighter with the better armor in 99/100 fights. The samurai blade was not a great piercing weapon...certainly would be difficult to pierce breastplate with it.

For the record I do believe a girl her size could crush a man his size. I really do. But not the girl in this fight.

I watched the fight a 2nd time because I did skip a bit the first time. I still maintain that he wasn't trying to hurt her. I counted atleast three times that he had her in his grasp and he just let her go. She didn't escape...he let go. I don't know what the rules are...but contact when an opponent is on the ground is obviously permitted. She weighs 108 lbs...he could've body slammed her all day. When he has her leg in grasp and she is on the ground...if he wanted to he could of stomped on her face or hyper extended joints if he choose. She does not have the power to actually hurt him it would appear. The few times that he does hit her head...it's to the back of the head. The other stuff to her head region was more like a mild slap. Did anyone else see her kick him above belt level in the entire fight? If it happened I missed it. (yes I saw her kicking when on her back...I mean kicks that actually were delivered when both were upright) And D-side kicks? Does he not know the very most basic kick? He shows a basic variety of kicks in the intro that indicate that he learned a D side a long time ago...

He was a training partner to her. That's all. He didn't use any of the kicks that would've made her life hell. He never once tried to strike her in the face. He never exerted his strength advantage or his reach advantage. She exerts waaaaaay too much energy bouncing straight up and down. She was getting inches of air underneath her feet. One sliding sidekick from the guy during that...and she is finished. I did like her change of tempo bounces to advance though. I'd prefer to see her fight another girl of the black belt level to really judge.

I want to type so much...but it's not possible to learn too much too quickly. You have a great thread here with lots of great advice. There is MUCH that can be done...if I was you...I'd come back to this thread over n over n over again. You are a green belt...it is just the beginning of your knowledge. You will improve. Just always know....always...there is much that can be done.

A general defensive tip that will help you keep them off you if you are pressed too hard: Fade sidekicks and later on when proficient with the use of fade sidekicks...fade angle sidekicks. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWbd7v4XhJ8 My son does the drill shown in that video 2 or 3x a week. We end every home practice with that drill. It doesn't help with the "fade" portion of a fade sidekick...but it is FANTASTIC if you find yourself needing more speed in getting a sidekick up to stop a opponent's blitz. Trust me...if an opponent leaps at you with any kind of punch blitz...and you connect solidly with your heel to their stomach...you not only get the points...you've got their attention. They will think twice before trying that again.

I posted this fight in another thread...but it works here too. This is my son. He is 10 in this fight and the smaller fighter. He's hitting a growth spurt now but then as you might imagine...he faced all the problems that you faced well minus the girl part. (btw...the BEST fighter he currently faces is a girl that is exactly his size...she is a truly great fighter) Anyways back to when he was 10: Lighter than most, smaller than most. The kid that is fighting him is applying plenty of pressure. He is going for hard front kicks repeatedly. A few of them ones where he's jumping into them for more power. He connects like once for every 10 times my son hits him. (My son is in the red boots) Side to side movement, angles, circular motion...

Speed and agility. Many tall people are slow and clumsy. Even karate fighters when compared to shorter, lighter opponents. Also taller people are larger targets. You are a smaller target meaning that they can only score...on a much smaller target which requires them to be much more accurate than they might be used to. Build up your speed and reflexes. Read about drills that you can do at home. Practice on building your strengths and hiding your weaknesses. Angles. You need to be awesome at footwork and moving into advantageous position. Use angles and circular motion constantly. A small fighter has to learn how to get in and out of their range without getting hit themselves. Angles are the key. There is a lot more than that to learn of course and you will. But start good footwork training immediately.

Here is an old video of my son. I show this not to brag or anything as he has MAJOR flaws that he shows in this....but this was his first fight where he "got" circles, check mark angles and not backing up more than 1 step no matter what. My son is the smaller kid in the red boots. The bigger kid was aggressive with a front kick delivered in a center line fashion. It's not hard to dodge.

Here is a good fight in your age bracket. I know the fighter in the white helmet as my son trains with him 2x a week. Notice his: Speed. Looking for angles, advantages. His opponent is slower and not as "long" BUT...he had some GREAT angles and really great timing.

Angles. You kept charging straight ahead in a line. If your opponent was better at check mark type footwork you'd lose badly. Good opponents are hard to force straight backwards for any distance. A step back? Sure. A step left or a step right would be superior in most cases though. Ring movement. Circle. Circling to the backside of your opponent can create advantages if they do not match your movement in time. Circling to the front can give different advantages. If you image a line coming from the front of your opponent...that is the center line. When match starts your center lines are aligned. Unless you have a really good height advantage on him...attacking the center line is not near ideal. Learn to blitz off your front foot. Think one armed Superman. It's a leap. Speed is king in point sparring. Circle to advantage and superman blitz with a reverse punch ready.

We have one at my son's alt practice dojo...wondering if anyone here has one? Thoughts?

Hello, I am the father of a 12 year old that is 2.5 years in. He started at age 9. How much do the kids your child's age really learn would be my concern. I see the very young kids classes occasionally if I get to the dojo early. It really seems more like games and fun rather than actually learning. I mean I realize that they are getting SOMETHING out of it...but $209 worth a month? Maybe try another 6 month intro at another local school? Do this until your son reaches an older age? Not my call...but those are my thoughts.