larryjf

no matter how fast you are, your legs are always slower than your hands. And, if your opponent's hands are faster than your legs, he will catch your roundhouse and take you to the ground. personally i've noticed that roundhouse kicks are especially easy to catch since they do not come straight forward. the higher your kick, the more off balance you are. And, the higher you go, the more your groin is exposed. anyway, that's just my experience.

i think it's all about targeting. if there's a good amount of distance - side kick to the knee/shin area. as distance closes - kick to groin (1st pick) or solar plexus (if he can't breathe, he won't hurt you) in close - eyes and throat are my favorite. (and don't forget about your elbows) and as a general rule - any kick above the waste is a waste - my only exception is sometimes to the solar plexus.

for balance you can hold a kick out for a certain count (maybe start with 10 seconds and work your way up). I do this with roundhouse, side, and front kicks. It's a great help to my balance. katas and combination drills are very good for some of the other training. One thing i do to practice parrying and counter attacking: i kind of make a home made wodden dummy. i have a bar table in the basement, and i take a barstool and set it up on the bar - this gives me 2 sets of hands attacking me (1 set high, 1 set low) if i'm going to practice wrist locks, i will put karate pads on for the hands. it is the best i found if you have to practice alone. Nothing can be as good as practicing with another person. Good luck

brown belt - shotokan

i doubt that it would help in a sport like volleyball. Sticky hands is practiced very close to the opponent, and in volleyball you would be pretty far away. also, sticky hands is to learn to figure out your opponent. The only sports that i think this might help in would be fighting sports like boxing, wrestling, etc.

between those 2 i would say wing chun. JKD is much more a philosophy than a style. from what i remember, wing chun was actually a martial art that was stripped down to its most practical essence for street defense. i tend to think that learning a good striking art in combination with a good wrestling/ground fighting art would be the best way to do it. about 95% of all fights end up on the ground. It is important to know how to fight there - you can't always stop your opponent before he takes you down.

i agree with above that you should look at his hands and feet. Also try to look at his eyes - some people telegraph were they are going to hit by looking there 1st. make sure you control the rythm and timing. Try to keep the opponent off balance at all times by changeing timing, stance, rythm, etc.

if you can find a shaolin school, that would be the best. You would learn many different styles - Tiger, dragon, snake, praying mantis, iron palm, monkey, etc. from my experience, the teacher will put you into certain styles that he thinks you are most made for. Personally, i would stay away from monkey unless you are just going to learn it for show. It looks really cook, but practically it is not very good.

if i use a stance it would be a modified horse stance. Higher than a normal horse stance, and facing about 45 degrees from the opponent. Also, try to kick with the front and not the back leg - when you move into position to kick with the back leg, you expose your groin. But, it is important not to trap yourself into fighting by "rules". And in every situation to be very loose and fluid, allowing yourself to match whatever situation you are in. The most important thing is to be observant of your opponent, and what he is going to do before he does it. Also, to control the pace and rythm of the fight - this will throw the opponent off and keep him off balance.

i usually use a boxing type guard when sparring. Sometimes i do use a Bruce Lee type guard. When you use his type of guard, the lead hand and foot are the only ones to strike, you never strike with the rear hand or foot. Also, all of the blocks are with the rear hand, none are with the front hand. You really have to practice these in drills before you use them in sparring because it doesn't feel real natural. Also, his style tends to parry and strike at the same time instead of block then strike as 2 different moves.

just wanted to say hi. some background: i'm 31 yrs old and i've been studying shotokan for a while now. Way back when i was about 13 i studied shaolin kung fu. I've also done some tang soo do, some kick boxing (just for fun), and some other stuff. talk to ya later.