bushido_man96

Hi all. A few updates, and I'll be back in to finish out the season. We went to 6 and Under State Championships on 2/24/2013, and he did well, placing 4th. I'll have videos up next week hopefully, along with some expanded commentary. This week, 3/2/2013, we have our local tournament, with 1100 kids participating! This event will finish out our season.

Bowing and what not is more of a courtesy than a respect thing. You can be courteous to someone, but not respect them.

I think the stick work would have been the most fun of all. Lucky you!

I'm confused here. I put both hands down, in front of me? And look between them to the rear?

Did you ever work this one out? Hey, thanks for bringing this back to light! No, I have not yet, but I will work with it.

Our instructor brought in the Combat Hapkido curriculum, and I felt it was interesting to have alongside my TKD. In the past, I had done bits of different joint locks, but was always terrible at it. So I felt it would be a good addition for me. Not so much. It just worked out that way. I would like to find some time to work on ground skills, though. I actually took up Aikido for a time because it was so different from the way I did Hapkido, from the techniques to the philosophy. Although I don't really agree with the philosophy of Aikido, I do like to learn about it. I did them all at the same time. I think this will vary between individuals. I think getting exposure to different styles is good for making you think outside the box. Even doing it for just a short period of time is a beneficial adventure. Even just seeing things from a different instructor in the same style can provide insight on how to approach things.

Well done!

That's cool, a great gesture by the instructor.

TKD is my main focus, so it would be that. I do have some training in Hapkido as well, and general Defensive Tactics along with that. When it comes to self-defense, though, I try not to think of it from a style standpoint. I try to assess and apply whatever is appropriate at the time.

Is this an east coast thing, for the most part? Whenever I do see TSD school members popping up here, it appears to be close to the east coast for the most part. I'd like to see a TSD school, visit and see what they do and how.

Lots of good advise so far. My question is, what kind of event are you planning? A tournament? If so, a national, international, or just inter-school city tourney? Being your first go-around, you may want to start small with an inter-school tourney, to get the swing of organization. Or are you planning some sort of seminar? If so, what is the meat of the seminar going to be? You'll want to have a focus of some kind, and you'll want to make sure you have enough people to help out and run it smoothly. Next, what is your draw? Well run tourneys are their own draw, usually, so as a new tourney organizer, you may not get the pull other establish events get right away. That will come with time. If its a seminar, do you have a guest instructor or high profile MA name coming to teach for you? Or are you to be the main draw, giving a clinic on your experiences? If this is the case, how well known are you in your area, and well do you market yourself? Once you have your event established, you'll need to get out information. Flyers is a good way to do this. Send flyers out to schools you are affiliated or familiar with, and then put some up around the local businesses. Ads in papers might be of use, as well. You may also want to speak with some of the hotels around to see if you can arrange some special packages on rooms for those traveling to your event. Good luck to you, and let us know more about what kind of event you would be planning.

Welcome to KF!

I don't think the "I'm the best attitude" is all that prevalent with kids. I've not seen it the past. Its up to the instructor to discuss with students of any age why its important to continue along after black belt.

All good advise. Also, practice with your gear on when you do, from time to time. The added weight and girth will help you get used to moving with it on.

When we push kick, its usually with a front kick, but side kicks end up pushing quite often, too, just to control them more in sparring. We revolve the leg like you do your piercing kicks. We don't really call anything a "piercing" kick, though, but that's what we do in forms and basics. I remember seeing someone in the past bring up the difference between piercing and thrusting, but don't recall it. We teach a side kick, and its basically done as a side piercing kick.

I agree with you here. I don't think strength and athletic ability should be what is relied upon completely. I do think that they are helpful in the long run assist what skill in technique brings, as well. As for proper timing being part of what technique is, I don't necessarily agree with you there, but I think that's just a spot we will disagree on. I think experience is its own monster, adding to technique along with other aspects of ability. Part of this probably comes from the fact that I don't experience techniques the same way in TKD as you do in BJJ. I can have good, sound technique in a solo forms performance, but the lack of timing can be evident in sparring use of the same techniques (which unfortunately, often does show up...). But, I appreciate your thoughts, and you make a very good point.

That's great news, MP. I'm glad to hear things are looking up for you.

Looks good!

We go white, orange, green, blue, brown, black. Each colored belt has a high and a low rank, and brown has a high, middle, and low rank.

I agree with that, striking as opposed to just pressure. So, when you do a pushing side kick, what's the difference from a piercing side kick? Is it not pivoting as much, and you just slow it and push instead of piercing?

The standard situational awareness, looking for exits and the like, would be the place to start. While boyfriend is distracting in a fence position, girlfriend should be looking for escape routs. From there on, positioning would be important. Boyfriend in front, fencing out, getting "big" to cover up the girlfriend. If backing away is necessary, it should be the girlfriend's job to guide the boyfriend in case there are some detritus that could be tripped over or anything like that. A light touch on the back, a quick word of warning, etc. (or roles can be switched, boyfriend doesn't have to be the hero...). When it comes to techniques and tactics, I'll leave those to you. These are just some ideas that kind of popped into my head that might be useful. They might not, too. But maybe they'll give you a starting point. tallgeese might have some more to offer here. As far as situations, I think an attempted mugging, bar scene with multiple people around, or even home invasion could all be passable scenarios. Good luck, and let us know how it goes.

2/18/2013 TKD class: 6:00 - 7:00. Did a reverse punch, back leg front kick, land forward back leg side kick in basics; I thought it would be kind of funky, but really it was a decent movement set. Good practice for getting the chamber around for the side kick. Sparring was ok tonight. I decided before class I was going to work on sparring from range, keeping people away with side kicks or front leg front kicks, and try to set up from there. I fought more side on, and had some decent counters, and only crammed in once or twice. I still need some work, though. Stretched after class.

Ok, that makes sense. Since you aren't pivoting the base foot, and not revolving the hip, its not a piercing kick, hence the different terminology. Right?

Well that is up to the individual school or organisation. FWIW, if the criteria is purely based on purely on physical skill and not knowledge then maybe what I said about having a physics degree but no longer a physicist should be applied. I think in most instances like this, the criteria will be graduated based on age, so a 50 year old wouldn't be required to perform to the standards of a 20 year old.

When we use it for self-defense purposes, we usually combine it with a strike, and make sure we are breaking balance when we execute. We don't do it in a competition setting, so the set-ups we use are different then what competitive Karate practitioners would use. I would love to tinker with foot sweeps in our school, add them to sparring from time to time.