Amosite

Cups are compulsory in most competitions, and for good reason too. An opponent once tried a turning side kick that was low to say the least. Anyone else got some good cup-related stories?

Sorry, your absolutely right. I forgot about the 8 kick rule. Pretty much what it says on the tin, throw a minimum of 8 kicks in a round. The refs are not normally too strict on this. You get a gentle reminder between rounds.

Hello. I am a kickboxer in the north of England. We fight under W.A.K.O rules, they have a website, http://www.wakogb.co.uk The basics are: All kicks and punches landed score one point. Height of kicks vary but usually above waist only. No grappling, no holding, no knees, elbows and no spinning back fists. If it is a low kick competition, then you can kick the ouside or inside of the thigh, (careful though as kicks to the knee can result in a disqualification). You can also sweep one of the legs. This will not score you a point, but it can unbalance your opponent. If you hit him straight away, that is when you score. As for what to wear. Head guard, gum shield, wraps and gloves (probably 10oz) , groin guard and some form of protection for you shins and toes. I recommend Top Ten Gear, as Title head gurads slip all over the place. Best of luck in the competition.

The trick with slipping is that a punch only has to miss by a couple of inches. A good practice is to stand toe to toe with your sparring opponent and slip jabs. Both stand in regular stance, left foot forward, right hand on your right temple with your elbow down. As they throw a left hand jab, move your head to the right, (to the outside of the punch). You can move your right hand across to push their punch further past your head. The trick here is that after practice, you will only be a couple if inches from their glove, but that's all you need to do. Start slowly, taking it in turns to throw and slip punches. Later on in sparring, you can advance this to slipping to the outside and moving round to the side of your opponent, making them turn. Best of luck.

I think the best thing to do is just to meet your new coach, talk to him about what you want and let him decide what you need. With that much experience, his guidance should be very good.

Good dodging comes from knowing your opponents punch range. In kickboxing, it is a good idea not to duck too much as if your opponent is clever, he/she will throw a kick as you duck. When sparring, stay just on the limit of your opponents range and slip your head a couple of inches to the outside as they throw straight punches.