PsiCop
15-Jun-2003, 08:34 PM
This thread is aimed at giving a wide range of secrets and tips for very effective point sparring matches. I've started us off with some of my strategies and "what to do if..." situations. Please feel free to give some feedback on my strategies or add your own. The biggest reason I'm making this thread is because I aim at improving all my skills in MA over the course of my summer vacation. I thought I'd start out with sparring, because that is one of the hardest to master, and because everyone can benefit from interacting in the thread.
1)The most effective combos I've seen in TKD/TSD are usually started with 1-3 kicks and end with some follow-up hand techniques. Your views?
2)What if you're faced with an opponent who is considerably bigger than you. Not nessesarily taller. More in terms of a 6 foot tall, 300 pound guy that looks like he'll pound you to dust. The best skill I've noticed for this situation is having a developed spinning back kick. Opponents like this usually tend to try and keep pushing you back into the corner of the ring, or out of it altogether. Another thing I've noticed is that they tend to keep their body faced toward you... perfect opening for a back kick. The two biggest tips I can give you on using a back kick on these behemoths is to make it fast, while still being able to see your target, and to put it into a straight line from the floor to the target. That is one of the biggest mistakes I see with the spinning back kick is most people will spin and bring their leg up into a chamber similar to a side kick, then push it out just like a side kick. With a person's leg swinging around them like that in their spin, you can see it a mile away and almost always take measures to prevent it's point. If you bring your back kick up straight from the ground, they can't even see it. It travels a shorter distance, making it quicker, and will almost always score if you perfect it. Keep this back kick tip in mind for any opponent. Only I found this strategy works best when you're faced with tanks. Any other strategies you guys would like to share?
3)Roundhouse kick, roundhouse kick, roundhouse kick... This is by far the most common kick I'll see thrown alone (no combo). Another thing i noticed is that people who almost exclusively throw this kick never score with it. Roundhouse kick is great when used in spinning kick combinations, but by itself is almost useless. My tip-If you're planning to throw a single roundhouse kick and that's all, forget it. It's a waste of energy and time. A skilled MA can counter and score on you almost instantaneously for 2 reasons: It's easy to block, and because they realize how much this wasteful kick is thrown in singles (usually by lower ranks, but I've seen Dans do this quite often also).
4)Know your opponents. Watch them carefully and notice their patterns and weaknesses. If you're at a tournament and have never seen this person before, and luck has you placed in the first match against each other then improvise. I would try a small variety of different techniques and basic combos for the first 40 seconds. Watch carefully and see how he reacts to them, and if and when he strikes. Look for openings and blind spots. Anything you can notice as a weakness can usually be effectively exploited against him. After this beginning period has ended, use the rest of the time scoring points and blocking the combos you've seen so far, but always be ready for a suprise if you've never seen this person before. And also be very self-aware. If he's experienced, he'll be watching for your weak points too.
5)What to do when faced with a tall opponent, or one with a considerably longer reach than yours'. The best tip I can give is to get in on him. His longer reach is useless if you're too close for it to make any difference. This is where highly developed and fast hands come in handy. If at all possible, don't get out of your own reach, you can think of this as the 'kill zone' for fighters like this. They love it. Some may contradict that this plan gives you no chance to plan if you're always in his face attacking in a flurry. Well, every tournament has a brief period where they tell you to stop fighting while the judges give their call. Don't rest or even pay attention to what they say, just plan your next set of hand combos. Any thoughts about this strategy?
6)Very fast opponents are deadly and can often win entire tournaments based simply on their quickness alone. The only tip I can give you is don't slow down, speed up! Also search for any weaknesses they might have. Speed point scorers often will depend on a single fast move to score a point, if they do this, use your combinations and you should be able to overwhelm him overall. And if he uses combinations and doesn't have any apparent weak points, just move as fast as you can and do your best. Once in a while, you'll come across a fast fighter with no weak points, uses combos, and leaves little open to be scored upon. Fighters like this will seem better than you in many ways, but don't get discouraged. Fight your best, and there's still a chance you'll win.
7)Combinations are your best friend. Learning to use them effectively will win a great number of matches for you. If you throw a flurry of 3-15 techniques at your opponent with no seeming end, you will almost always score with at least one of them. Don't stop when you've gotten a point, keep going until the judge calls break. A good hand combination to follow up some kicks that I use is backfist, punch, ridgehand. You alternate hands every technique and face them the whole time. You can keep this combo going forever with no pauses. For example, you backfist with your right hand, punch to the body with your left, then ridgehand to their head with your right hand again. After your ridge hand you do the exact same combo except backwards. since your right hand is out with the ridgehand, you immediately use your left hand to do a backfist to the same side of their head while pulling your right hand back to the chamber. Visualize it, and you can get it. It's hard to describe in words, but just visualize. I look forward to hearing your sparring combinations.
8:Develop good defense. If the opponent can't even score a single point on you due to a lightning-fast defense, you only need to score once! True, it's impossible to develop a 100% perfect way to defend any technique or combo, but you get my point in seeing that a strong defense can make a match much easier to win, because you don't have to score as much yourself. It's like Baseball. If your team has a great offense and you score 10 points every game, but always lose because your pitching is terrible and the opposing team scores 20 points, you can realize the point.
9)Walk away from every match having learned something. If an opponent scored on you 2 or 3 times with the same technique to the same spot, realize why. Think about what you did wrong, and how you can improve it.
Well, there you have it. That's about the entire depth of my 7 years of point sparring experience. Are there any beneficial strategies, or personal/secret combos that you have and would like to share? I've givin my knowledge, now add to it with yours'
1)The most effective combos I've seen in TKD/TSD are usually started with 1-3 kicks and end with some follow-up hand techniques. Your views?
2)What if you're faced with an opponent who is considerably bigger than you. Not nessesarily taller. More in terms of a 6 foot tall, 300 pound guy that looks like he'll pound you to dust. The best skill I've noticed for this situation is having a developed spinning back kick. Opponents like this usually tend to try and keep pushing you back into the corner of the ring, or out of it altogether. Another thing I've noticed is that they tend to keep their body faced toward you... perfect opening for a back kick. The two biggest tips I can give you on using a back kick on these behemoths is to make it fast, while still being able to see your target, and to put it into a straight line from the floor to the target. That is one of the biggest mistakes I see with the spinning back kick is most people will spin and bring their leg up into a chamber similar to a side kick, then push it out just like a side kick. With a person's leg swinging around them like that in their spin, you can see it a mile away and almost always take measures to prevent it's point. If you bring your back kick up straight from the ground, they can't even see it. It travels a shorter distance, making it quicker, and will almost always score if you perfect it. Keep this back kick tip in mind for any opponent. Only I found this strategy works best when you're faced with tanks. Any other strategies you guys would like to share?
3)Roundhouse kick, roundhouse kick, roundhouse kick... This is by far the most common kick I'll see thrown alone (no combo). Another thing i noticed is that people who almost exclusively throw this kick never score with it. Roundhouse kick is great when used in spinning kick combinations, but by itself is almost useless. My tip-If you're planning to throw a single roundhouse kick and that's all, forget it. It's a waste of energy and time. A skilled MA can counter and score on you almost instantaneously for 2 reasons: It's easy to block, and because they realize how much this wasteful kick is thrown in singles (usually by lower ranks, but I've seen Dans do this quite often also).
4)Know your opponents. Watch them carefully and notice their patterns and weaknesses. If you're at a tournament and have never seen this person before, and luck has you placed in the first match against each other then improvise. I would try a small variety of different techniques and basic combos for the first 40 seconds. Watch carefully and see how he reacts to them, and if and when he strikes. Look for openings and blind spots. Anything you can notice as a weakness can usually be effectively exploited against him. After this beginning period has ended, use the rest of the time scoring points and blocking the combos you've seen so far, but always be ready for a suprise if you've never seen this person before. And also be very self-aware. If he's experienced, he'll be watching for your weak points too.
5)What to do when faced with a tall opponent, or one with a considerably longer reach than yours'. The best tip I can give is to get in on him. His longer reach is useless if you're too close for it to make any difference. This is where highly developed and fast hands come in handy. If at all possible, don't get out of your own reach, you can think of this as the 'kill zone' for fighters like this. They love it. Some may contradict that this plan gives you no chance to plan if you're always in his face attacking in a flurry. Well, every tournament has a brief period where they tell you to stop fighting while the judges give their call. Don't rest or even pay attention to what they say, just plan your next set of hand combos. Any thoughts about this strategy?
6)Very fast opponents are deadly and can often win entire tournaments based simply on their quickness alone. The only tip I can give you is don't slow down, speed up! Also search for any weaknesses they might have. Speed point scorers often will depend on a single fast move to score a point, if they do this, use your combinations and you should be able to overwhelm him overall. And if he uses combinations and doesn't have any apparent weak points, just move as fast as you can and do your best. Once in a while, you'll come across a fast fighter with no weak points, uses combos, and leaves little open to be scored upon. Fighters like this will seem better than you in many ways, but don't get discouraged. Fight your best, and there's still a chance you'll win.
7)Combinations are your best friend. Learning to use them effectively will win a great number of matches for you. If you throw a flurry of 3-15 techniques at your opponent with no seeming end, you will almost always score with at least one of them. Don't stop when you've gotten a point, keep going until the judge calls break. A good hand combination to follow up some kicks that I use is backfist, punch, ridgehand. You alternate hands every technique and face them the whole time. You can keep this combo going forever with no pauses. For example, you backfist with your right hand, punch to the body with your left, then ridgehand to their head with your right hand again. After your ridge hand you do the exact same combo except backwards. since your right hand is out with the ridgehand, you immediately use your left hand to do a backfist to the same side of their head while pulling your right hand back to the chamber. Visualize it, and you can get it. It's hard to describe in words, but just visualize. I look forward to hearing your sparring combinations.
8:Develop good defense. If the opponent can't even score a single point on you due to a lightning-fast defense, you only need to score once! True, it's impossible to develop a 100% perfect way to defend any technique or combo, but you get my point in seeing that a strong defense can make a match much easier to win, because you don't have to score as much yourself. It's like Baseball. If your team has a great offense and you score 10 points every game, but always lose because your pitching is terrible and the opposing team scores 20 points, you can realize the point.
9)Walk away from every match having learned something. If an opponent scored on you 2 or 3 times with the same technique to the same spot, realize why. Think about what you did wrong, and how you can improve it.
Well, there you have it. That's about the entire depth of my 7 years of point sparring experience. Are there any beneficial strategies, or personal/secret combos that you have and would like to share? I've givin my knowledge, now add to it with yours'