Fighting outside of chosen style?

[sensei8]

There is always something to be learned, by bumping elbows with other styles.

Do you remember the things you learned, when doing this?

TKD was my first cross training, and the thing that sticks out the most that I learned outside of Shindokan is the kicking arsenal of TKD.

You see, Shindokan is 85% hands, 15% feet, and our kicks are no higher than the stomach, moreover, our kicks are primarily for checking and directing/redirecting.

In my Weekend Warrior days, I came up against some solid kicks mainly from the TKD practitioners. Change-up roundhouse kicks...blew my mind. Axe kicks...blew my mind even more so...Jump spinning back kick...blew my mind into the next world.

Shortly thereafter my initiation against a TKD competitor, I felt the best way to understand the competition is to learn their core. And that's what I did. Not to toot my own horn, I'm a solid kicker...and that drove Soke and Dai-Soke absolutely insane to the Nth degree.

Was it fun driving them crazy? It seems that it would be.

Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe...ah...yes it was; I seemed to live for the moments.