ShoriKid

Much of the benefit of sparring comes from learning to apply techniques in a living, breathing situation, under stress. While most sparring won't replicate, or even try to, the violence of a real confrontation. However, one major benefit I see is the ability to see your plan fail and carry on. As in, you catch a shot in the running lights and learn to keep moving, it has a benefit psychologically. I'll compound that with saying there are very different types of sparring. Mostly the depend on the rules/safety framework you put in place and the goals. Motobu had no troubles with sparring, as he knew it, once the student was well trained. Ueshiro, I do see your point though and in some ways agree. Building the skill so that you can use what you've learned as to come from somewhere. And remember, almost all of the first generation of kick boxers, especially the great champs, were traditional karate guys looking for a full contact outlet for their training. Rishimentawala, listen to Wastelander. At a month in you have no business doing full contact sparring and shouldn't have any expectation to be any good at it. It takes months to put together basic skills, many more to get anything other than the basic and learn to put it together. Relax, listen to your sensei and work on developing your basic techniques. They are the foundation of anything you do. If you don't put them together correctly, no amount of secondary drilling etc will be of any real benefit when it comes to sparring, or self defense or any other type of employment of your martial skill.

Wow...with his father's long life, this was not something you would expect.

If we compete in the fall, and I am saying we should, do I have to go to the old man division, or can I roll with the whipper snappers?

Prefaced with the phrase "That karate -insert expletive- don't work boy."

If I'd had more warning, I'd have been at one this weekend. As it stands, there is one close by this far that we'll be encouraging some of our guys to enter. Do it, enjoy it. Meet folks and learn some things.

Which were influenced by European sword technique, particularly Spanish sword work. Funny how the circle comes back around.

How about when they're given you harder than you're giving out? Had it happen a couple of times in kumite and body conditioning. Never more than once with the same person though.

It was more a rhetorical, but I figured you Dobbersky. It was more in reference to the sliding scale most sparring happens on. And I agree, lower belt sets the contact. Or to keep it simple, you get what you give.

They say, the most dangerous person on the deck is a white belt. White belt guard: Cover your teeth, cover your groin, hope for the best.

And we work on a sliding scale depending on not just the person we're working with, but with what we're aiming for each night. New guys it's always light contact, or if we're polishing up some movements. Semi-contact with more senior guys when we're pushing and then full contact, K1 as you list it, a couple of times a year or during promotions. So, where do you vote then? Protective gear usually comes down to MMA training gloves, mouth piece, groin protection regardless of contact level. Boxing gloves are for the newest guys until we can trust them not to try to kill each other, or us.

ps1, Better luck next time and sounds like you have a very solid fix on what went down for you. That's a big leg up on most people when they get done with a competition. I'm betting on a much improved performance next time around just from looking at your list. Just to put this out, from your own break down of the 10 things to work on. Sounds like you've gotten stuck in the "instructor" mode. It happens when you've been teaching for a while. Found it happening myself before in stand up work. Remembering to flip that mental switch is tough.

And apparently a talented one as well.

We demand video of you in a victory pose! Congrats and good luck man.

Wastelander, I think the only trouble that you run into, and I think what Ueshiro is pointing out, is when people get fixed on it being a block because it's called a "block". And when you give it that name people's minds tend to get stuck on that term and fixate on just making it do one thing. Ever try to explain to someone that stepping into zenkutsu and throwing a reverse punch with the formal chamber is a very nice throwing technique? Their mind is stuck on a punch.

Excellent find! Good video too (one of the best from him I have seen, as they are usually just teases for his DVDs). Thanks I've got a couple of his videos as well, good stuff all around. If you check his youtube channel Mr. Abernethy has a pretty good set of short clips of application. Definitely worth your time Ueshiro.

And sometimes it's just the "feel" of what you're trying. If judo tickles your fancy, you'll likely get more out of the training because you're enjoying yourself. That said, I can definitely see where judo fits in for a knock down stylist. Grabbing a gi, or an arm/shoulder during a bout isn't such a bad thing under some rules sets(as I recall, been wrong before) and judo throws could just naturally fit in from there.

At your age? Any age. I don't mind the throws so much, but we've invested in good quality mats. Hitting the ground whether through judo style throws, a good double leg and lift, or a karate sweep is much better with a good mat. BJJ is a good compliment to karate, or any stand up style in that it covers your holes. It's my reserve chute as it were. I haven't spent all these years learning to fight on my feet only to have a guy who played a bit of football in high school ten years back take me off my feet and take away all my hard earned skills. And BJJ is a ton of fun. I get a blast out of being a student and focusing on learning when grappling. No stress, just relax and roll and work to hit a position or a movement.

Not Mickey Mouse Ueshiro, Spiderman! Mickey's bunkai is tight, I was training with him a couple of weeks back. Or so the story goes from my kid's class after I came back from vacation. Spiderman bunkai is from Iain Abernethy. In a video clip where he refers to knowing the attacker is coming from behind and you turn into them as Spiderman bunkai, because your spider senses must be tingling to turn and block an attack you couldn't have seen coming. And here you go.

A small one with two months maybe...

Okay, no to defend the old literal "bunkai", but there is a reason it's done. Well, a couple of reasons really. There are those who are showing the literal application because that's what you show the world. Other application is to be shown behind closed doors. Then there are those showing that application because that's what they were shown and were told that's it, there is no other application. A more Westernized approach is to share more openly, that hiding behind closed doors is pointless. Now, some of what is shared is questionable. It may be due to the starting point where the person sharing hasn't got a good grasp on physical fundamentals of movement. Or, they are trying to find meaning, grasping intuitively that there has to be more to kata than just walking through the motions. But, they didn't have any guidance before hand to start them down the road to good application. Also remember with youtube, it's youtube! It's people doing stupid stuff, cat videos, cute babies doing cute stuff and a whole lot of garbage.

Like the old eight attackers with the kata performer in the center? Low block, pivot 180 degrees, low block, single reverse punch to the solar plexus etc., etc. Or just the really bad application? Or both? I've seen both and they both kill me. There is some good stuff out there on youtube, but you have to wade through mountains of video to get to it.

I'd point back to the prominence of Thai Boxing as the training background that most MMA guys get their kicks from. There, most of your front kicks are to get distance as push kicks to the body. A very different technique than even a sharp front kick to the body.

Fukyugata Ni, but pretty close there scohen. Spelling is optional in martial arts, or life in general if you ask me. The motion is repeated twice, with the slip back into zenkutsu dachi. Think of it as a left hand parry/trap, right chest block/lock, pull back to off balance and then the double punch. Reverse for the second movement. Solar plexus and bladder(top of the belt knot that Hanchi Grant told us to target during a visit) are your targets if they are squared up. Lower ribs and kidney if you've turned them with the trap and pull. Those last two movements are showing you a very basic way to deflect and off balance an attacker and then come back with a split level attack. So a concept, deflection and body shift to create openings for follow up attacks.

First hit on youtube for Shiromatsu no kun. Not the best execution, and the disarming movement (3rd or 4th movement, depending on the count) is not as I was taught in the early 90's, but close. Watch the black belt to the left, he has the best movement of them. And ninja-ed by Montana! Bo is a 6'+ weapon. The best thing that helped me learn the kata was to learn the "chunks" that comprise the whole thing. You need the forward/backward chunk, but some of that's repetitive. Then your left/right are really the same short set of movements. The ending is largely a replay with variation. If you can, record the kata at your dojo and take it home to work on. We did that with gargantuan video cameras be in the day.

This is something that's caused me to be a little hesitant in trying to host one with the two other local schools. One we've got connections to by knowing the instructor before he began training, having trained with him etc. The other, I am not comfortable with due to some issues/comments that have come up through community gossip. This is despite having been invited to help with some training at the dojo before, things have changed since.