Hey all, I've got some questions and I hope you fine folks can provide me with some guidance. My family has a very busy month ahead. My son, my wife, and myself are all testing on teh 12th (my son for orange belt, my wife for white, and me for yellow). Following that is the dojang's annual fall tournament (we're a WTF school btw). My son is on the competition team (the lowest ranked member of the squad...but he's got a tremendous amount of heart ) and is required to compete in all events (sparring, grappling, forms/animal training, and breaking). So, my questions, Zak is 11, slight build but strong. He will only have tested for his 4th belt (the orange) come time for the tournament. I need to help him put together three breaks for the breaking portion of the event. He can do any three with any size board. Originally, he wanted to do the 3 breaks he knows (not a bad idea), hammer fist, hammer knife (your classic "karate chop"), and a foot stomp. My feelings are that the foot stomp (and to a lesser extent) the hammer fist might be too easy to score well. So, we've been talking about other breaks he might try. So far, we've tossed around the idea of replacing the footstomp with a kick (perhaps a front snap kick) and the hammer fist with a middle punch or front elbow. Another adult student who has 3 kids at varying levels in the children's program and whose husband coaches the comp team suggested I find three easy breaks that Zak can do and suggestwed I look at maybe doing an Axe kick break as gravity becomes a big assist (and it looks cool). What re your thoughts in preparing for osmehting like this? HOw would you go about coaching Zak in my shoes? A secondary question is choosing the size of the boards. How do I go about determining a good board size for each break(other than trial and error with the chosen techniques)? The widest he can go is about 9 or 10 inches....thinnest would be 3 inches. All board will be your standar "one inch" (really 3/4") pine board. Hope I'm making sense here. Basically, I've got enough MA and TKD experince to help him polish techniques, but I have virtually no experience with competition breaking and preparing for tournaments. Peace, Erik
I'm a bit unfamiliar with WTF rules - but all three boards at once with a side kick? May impress and is not really that hard to do.
N, it has to be three seperate breaks. Keep in mind that Zak is 11 and only been training since July. He'll just have reached 7th Gup and is not that skilled with the side kick...certainly not enough to break 3 boards at once. He's still working on getting clean technique and bvasic power with that kick. I'm not planning on doing anything more than 1 board per break (given that he's such a low rank comparitively)..anything he does outside the basic curriculum should look good provided he can pull it off. Basically, I think he should stretch himself a little, but I don;t want to set him up for failure. I want him to be successful and come out of this with a positive expereince (even if he doesn;t win 1st place). peace, Erik
I suggest you don't let him do an axe kick, because there's a risk of serious injury if he misplaces the kick by as little as an inch. I would suggest maybe a palm heel strike for the hands and maybe a turning kick for the feet - as for the third break, he is slightly too young and too junior in grade to try anything too fancy. So what about a side kick, this may sound a little boring but it's better to do three simple,clean breaks than complete 2 simple,clean breaks and do a 'not so clean' third break. And I don't think that it should matter what technique is used, so long as it's done properly (not for such a low grade anyhow - because the tournament organizers should realise that such junior grades have yet to learn anything but the basics). Good luck to yourself and your family on the upcomming grading
Hi there Erik! Be sure to look into what precisely are the rules for breaking at this particular competition. As far as which break your son should do, it goes without saying that it should be a break that he has done before and done successfully. It should be a break that is well within his rank requirement.... nothing too easy and nothing too difficult. You can make a break more impressive by adding a jump such as a flying side kick which all the young students love to do at our school ... either over hunched over students or target shields. I say let your son do the breaks that he "knows". You are trying to set goals for him I know, but in this case I believe if he has the necessary confidence in his breaking ability that he'll need for this competition and afterwards you can with the help of your instructor, look to practicing other breaks.
Does it need to be 3 seperate breaks because your son may not be able to do more than one at a time or because that is the rule? I would recommend a 2 board break and a 1 board break. Also, I would do a hand and a foot. Possibly a 2 board spinning back kick? Good luck with this.
in his previous post he said that Zack has to do 3 separate breaks, meaning he has to break 3 different boards with 3 different techniques. as far as the breaks are concerned, i agree with Kickchick. Zack should use techniques that he has used before and he feels comfortable with.
Thanks for all the advice. I sent a similar email to Master Jim and he also gave me some tips. Furthermore, at the fitness class tonight, he spent the whole class going over the breaking format with all the kids. This inlcuded practicing a variety of breaks (with focus pads, but it's all good ). At the very least, we're going to try the hammer knife, palm strike, and knee smash. Zak and I will play around with some other techniques this weekend as well. We have until Nov. 20 to get it all together. Master Jim said he's also let Zak come in before sometime before the competition to look at his breaks and help out. He's a good instructor. Peace, Erik
it's wonderful to have such a helpful instructor. appreciate it, but use it at the same time. keep us posted
At our tournaments, the foot stomp is scored really really low because of its simplicity. It takes very little skill or talent. It mostly just uses the weight of the person to break the board. I'd recommend going with something else but thats just my opinion.
Bear in mind that we are referring to an 11 yr. old orange belt .... and his break should be based on his rank and the requirements of the competition. A hammerfist break could also be considered simple too unless of course you do a multiple break.
The way it works at my school is that the Little Dragons (4-5 yr olds) practice foots stomps at every class....3" boards...real confidence booster. Then for the white belt test, the required break is a hammer fist on a 4-6" board. Hammer knife is the requirement for yellow stripe and side knife is the break for orange stripe. Master Jim recommends doing at least hammer knife, palm strike, and knee smash. Zak and I will play around with those and a couple of others to see how his technique looks. Basically, he said we can use any technique and any number o fboards per break. They get three tries to do each break and will be scored on the difficulty of the break and the execution. He says to focus on the breaks that can be done first time with no problems. Zak and I will spend the weekend figuring out what those are. Basically, Zak really loves TKd and also has a lot of passion for competing. He goes to an hour of sparring on Saturdays, then another 3 hours competition class (really hard class)...and he bounces out of that ready for more. It's neat. I want to make sure he keeps having success, without becoming one of those crazy Dads pushing too hard. It's nice to see my son doing something that's not video game related...and so ething we can share as a family to boot. :Angel: For those who are curious, my school's syllabus can be found here: www.afmaconline.com The syllabus is found under the student resources sections...all our tests (both children and adults) are in the tests section. Peace, Erik
Turning kick? 11 year old orange belt? major danger of a broken toe. If he isn't comfy with breaking with a side kick, it's a good bet he wont get the foot shape for a turning kick. Go for a head butt, a nose break? nah only kidding. I have my kids practice the breaks forever on the bag, getting the foot shape right, chamber, speed etc. then let them move over to a heavy bag, slowing it down a little, practice about a million times adding speed and power as you guy before you let them move onto those little P*ssy boards. Then after about 3 million kicks in total let them move onto a decent board. Practice practice practice. besides it's 99% mental, so why not teach them hypnosis and they can think he did it?
Hey Guys, when you give numbers like these ... are you referring to the thickness or the width of the boards?
Width. The boards are 12" long by whatever width we choose by 1" (actually 3/4" as it's dimensional lumber not rough stock). So a 9" board refers to a 12" x 9" x 3/4" board. Peace, Erik
It's cool to embellish a move if it's for a competition break. For instance, one could do a stance switch before an axe kick or turning kick, or a step forward before a sliding hook kick. Something like that may add to the spectacle but not too much to the difficulty. If there's plenty of time for practice, one might try three successive kicking breaks: A rear-leg front snap kick, side kick to the side, and back kick to the rear with the same foot. If one knows the technique, all that's left is to work on balance.
How's his jump snap kick? Adding a little bit of air to even the most basic of kicks is bound to make it look a lot better. Also, be very careful with hand breaks outside of the basic hammerfist, with a young and inexperienced student. It can be really, really easy to end up with a broken finger or even wrist if you're young and your technique isn't perfcet. As someone else said, start practicing on pads, then move to a heavy bag. Also, you may want to invest in a rebreakable board or two, if he's going to be doing a lot of competitions. edited because it's a hammerfist, not hammerfish...
Welp, #1 son and I practiced some breaking this weekend. Much kindling was made. We have four or five viable candidate breaks....further practice will give us an idea of whbat the final 3 will be. He had no trouble with a hammer fist, and was able to do a two board knee smash (that's definitely staying). He also was able to pull off a sliding side kick and a front snap kick. Those need practice to make them more consistent. He's feeling stronger with the side kick. He had no luck with the plam heel strike and the hammer knife. We're going to keep working with the hamemr knife as he did that for his last test...but we shall see. Thanks everyone for your advice and encouragement. Zak is really excited about the tourny and his new skills. A couple of the neighborhood girls walked by as he was practicing his breaks and now Zak is "soooooo cool." Makes a papa proud. Peace, Erik
