Kumite

[Nidan Melbourne]

I saw a screenshot of a post on Facebook and it got me thinking about Kumite, and how much some people struggle to adapt to how different some people fight especially when they are preparing for their Shodan. 

In my mind; this is sometimes something that I have noticed some clubs don't really teach or have people consider. 

For instance, I fight somewhat like a MMA Fighter; biding my time and making opportunities. Along with being a pain in the butt by fighting "Dirty" which a lot of people hate. But by "Dirty" I mean: low kicks, making the person look at my hands and then kick them again. Also annoyingly having a lot of "sticky hands" when I fight. 

 

[Montana]

I'm a very defensive/counter fighter. I love an aggressive opponent! Everybody has their preferences. I'm 6'6" tall with long legs and the groin is a favorite front leg roundhouse target for me. Ore a front snap kick to the stomach as they come in. We also use a lot of body shifting and misdirecting. That takes a lot of practice, but when you get it where you don't have to think about it, it works really, REALLY GREAT!

[ashworth]

I am exactly the same... I am the dirty fighter in our dojo, distraction techniques. "watch out behind you" etc...

One of my favourite ones that works really well on my instructor is stepping on his lead foot, it's not a stamp, just stepping on it pinning in momentarily and distracting him from the punch that comes in, it really throws him off and the punch goes through every time. He thinks it's brilliant! 

Another tactic that I stole from someone is throwing techniques to limbs, not just legs but arms, keep striking their arms, in some cases it will wind them up, and they will become conditioned to it and less likely to defend your real techniques that come through. 

[sensei8]

Me, well, I'm very aggressive while I press my opponent as I attack the legs, which is what is expected in Shindokan. Don't forget, our main goal at any given time is to get behind our opponent. 

"Dirty" fighting to me is an excuse because one hasn't matured in techniques, yet, which means that one's afraid. To me, there's no "Dirty" anything, Kumite or not, because in the game of surviving, anything is fair game. Adapt or fail, and I've never any desire to fail on or off any floor whatsoever. Refusal to fight dirty, whenever necessary, is a limitation that I can't abide to.‎ My focus both on and off the floor is to succeed at any cost because my survival depends on it. 

"The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus."~ Bruce Lee

 

[bushido_man96]

I think it's very important to spar with different body types, ranks, and experience levels.  It's good to see something you haven't seen before, and it makes you better.  Sparring tall opponents has always been a problem for me, so I like to spar taller people when I get the chance.

I tend to spar the others in our dojang using what I call "old man tricks."  I get in close and punch a lot.  When kicks come in, sometimes I'll pin my elbow into my ribs and end up blocking with my elbow.  I'll take a shot to deliver a shot of my own.  I don't bounce around a lot when I spar anymore, and I'll sit down and kind of "tank up," letting them come to me and then retaliate with some quick bursts.  Reaching out and hooking their hand is fun, too.  They think about that and try to avoid it, opening up something else.

[aurik]

18 hours ago, bushido_man96 said:

I think it's very important to spar with different body types, ranks, and experience levels.  It's good to see something you haven't seen before, and it makes you better.  Sparring tall opponents has always been a problem for me, so I like to spar taller people when I get the chance.

I tend to spar the others in our dojang using what I call "old man tricks."  I get in close and punch a lot.  When kicks come in, sometimes I'll pin my elbow into my ribs and end up blocking with my elbow.  I'll take a shot to deliver a shot of my own.  I don't bounce around a lot when I spar anymore, and I'll sit down and kind of "tank up," letting them come to me and then retaliate with some quick bursts.  Reaching out and hooking their hand is fun, too.  They think about that and try to avoid it, opening up something else.

"Old man tricks" - I like the sound of that -- that's a lot of what I do when I spar.  For example, if someone does a roundhouse kick to my midsection, I'll eat it, grab it, and then step in, give them (what would be) a good solid punch to the midsection, grab them by the gi, step in again and take them down to the mat (again, with good control).  I also keep an eye on my opponent's feet - when they step in to deliver a jab, I'll do a quick sweep of their front foot -- like a kouchi gari in Judo.  The idea is to land this right BEFORE their foot hits the ground, but they've already committed to the step.  If done right, it won't necessarily take them down, but it'll off-balance them enough that you can step in and land a few strikes on them.   Also, in our sparring legs are a valid target, so I like going after the front thigh with a low roundhouse kick.  The usual defense to that is to lift up the leg in a crane block.  Do that once or twice, then step in a bit deeper, and when they raise up for the crane block, follow that roundhouse kick through to take out the back of their opposing thigh.  Again, it may or may not take them down, but it'll distract/unbalance them long enough to let you land a few strikes.

Do I do these in such a way to hurt my partner, absolutely not.  I make sure to never strike at a joint, or put my partner in a position to get injured (bad fall, etc), and I don't strike hard enough to injure.  But you know what they say, "old age and treachery wins everytime"

Edited October 22 by aurik

[KarateKen]

Even after years of training and sparring in different styles, in a real situation my instinct is the same as a white belt in his first weeks of training.  Front kick to the balls and then get the heck out of there. Though we do not got for groin kicks while sparring, they do happen.  I have been on both sides of it.  

Agreed that it is good to spar with a variety of students, ranks, body size, ect.