Any sparring tips for a 1st time ITF Tourny competitor?

[manuelito]

okc,

 

i do not agree. basics are a very good start but not always enough. first sidekick is to slow, to easy to counter and leaves you really open. second backfist is to easy to block and counter, everyone does this so hard to be sneaky with it.

 

i am not saying that these techniques will not sometimes work just not always. i think good front,side,round,back kicks are a must. for hand techniques punch,ridge,backfist a must. this is ofcourse only an opinion.

[The Saint]

Don't use all you tricks (multiple point moves) during the first fight. Fighting at your level, you should probablly already know this. Just use you basic technics to start off to see how they react. Then mix it up a bit. Multiple kicks score well if you have the openings. Side kick is my favorite because I like to play the distance game (i'm aroung 6'0"). Just relax is another big thing.

 

The backfist can be effective if it is quick and used at the right time. A trick I saw at a tournament one competitor used it effectively by taking warning after he score a jumping back fist and the tied up his opponent. He scored 6 points and the lost 1 point for grabing the third time (2 warnings and then -1 point) after that he wasited time till the match was done. It was a smart stragity and he won Nationals.

 

Goodluck, Train hard and you'll do well !

[Croy]

well, finally had my tournament on saturday so thought i'd give yall an update, i only competed in the sparring and placed 3rd, so i got a cool little medal

 

thanks to everyone who gave me advice as far as strategies and workout routines, i defenitely went into this tournament faster than i have ever been. as for scoring, i was more offensive and did'nt score off the side kick, but i got several points off the backhand and almost got disqualified for hitting too hard with a knifehand to the chin, but my bread and butter was just a simple double turning kicking to the stomach, then face.

 

once again, tnx for the help guys

[manuelito]

congrats

[jakmak52]

When you step into the ring three things should cross your mind.

 

You want to make sure that you are physically tougher than your opponent. That you can outlast him, out-endure him. So you need to get your body in incredibly good physical shape. When I say ?in good shape? I don't mean by doing kata, lifting weights, jogging, or that kind of stuff. I'm talking about hard, one-on-one sparring with a partner who is as good as or better than you are.

 

That's how you become better: intense pressure-type sparring with a tremendous amount of attention devoted to stamina training and working on pacing yourself. Try to spar at a much faster pace than you would in competition.

 

Another aspect you want to work on is to make sure your opponent can't hit you. You've got to work on your defensive skills, and not necessarily on blocking.

 

It could be in the area of dealing with a good kicker?being able to move quite a bit on the outside and denying him access to the target. As a last resort if the kick does get close enough to score, you can work some kind of blocking maneuver to make him miss.

 

You need to keep your opponent from getting set in the first place so he can't fire off first or beat you to the draw. So you figure a way to smother speed. Take the momentum out of his attack.

 

These are the most important two factors in fighting: aggressiveness and speed. If you can take aggressiveness and speed away from the other man, it gives you the upper hand.

 

Now prepare your mental skills. You need to come up with a good game plan to neutralize your opponent's advantages. If he's fast you've got to smother his speed. If he's more aggressive you've got to take the momentum out of his attack. If he's got a reach advantage you've got to out-distance him.

 

If he's bigger you've got to keep him off balance so he can't use his size against you. If he's a good lead-off fighter you've got to force him into a counter-fight. If he's a good counter-fighter you've got to force him to lead off. If he's a good kicker you've got to force him to punch. If he's a good puncher you've got to force him to kick. There are different ways of stripping him of his advantage.

 

Have fun