Light/Semi/Full Contact.

Hi!

I've decided to post this in general rather than jujutsu, because I think its a bit more of a general topic. (BTW a TL: DR is at the bottom of the post)

Discussed in another thread were the European Random Attack Championship that I entered last year - that is a BiAnnual competition, and in the in-between years it is a fighting competition. Something we didn't know a whole lot about...

I wasn't planning on entering any big competitions this year, because I'm training for my shodan and want to prioritise that. However Squad training sessions have begun for this years europeans. And my sensei has said that even if I don't plan to compete, the training would be very good for my competition fighting.

I couldnt afford to go to the first squat training session on Sunday gone. However my sensei did manage to attend, and at the session they had outlined the rules and started working on technique etc - which sensei brought back to our class on Monday.

In our association all the striking is light contact - and 'fullly' padded (head guards, gum shields, gloves, shin/foot guards and groin guards) and because of poor scoring for strikes I didn't bother entering this year at our nationals.

The europeans are going with a different rule set; just MMA gloves (6-8oz gloves - need to check if either of mine are suitable) and gum shields with semi contact striking. If the fight goes to the floor competetors are given 30 seconds before being stood back up (not long enough IMO) and I think its two three minute rounds (might just be the one, can't remember off the top of my head)

My question basically comes down to - what do people classify as light/semi contact?

I'd say Full contact is pretty self explained.

Light contact is pretty pointless, and I'd say is just tapping and not really making contact etc.

But Semi contact is what is confusing me. I would assume it is a middle ground. But how should I know how hard I can make contact? With my TKD background I tend to kick a lot; leg, body or head - you name it. But with a non padded foot how hard would I be able to kick my opponent?

I would hope that at the europeans that the scoring is better than at our nationals - where the judges tend to fixate on throws and not scoring properly for striking.

(an example I gave in a previous thread was at last years nationals in the veteran womans final one lass was battering the crap out of her opponent, using her kickboxing background, didn't get many, if any, throws off though - basically everyone thought she had won the bout. her opponent was on the back foot the entire time, didn't get hardly any counter strikes in, but with 5 seconds left on the clock she got a lovely throw off. The judges decision went to the girl who got the throw off - where if the points system that is 'supposed' to be in place had been used correctly she would still have been massively outscored)

While I will try to attend some of the squad training sessions my willingness to enter the competition will depend largely on the above factors - the scoring and how effective my kicks can actually be. (and to an extend how expensive the squad training is likely to be, this weekend it was £15 a head and was an hours drive away - I can't afford that every week as well as funding my trip to Europe and accommodation etc lol)

anyway, thoughts?

TL: DR - what do you define as light/semi contact?

 

Semo contact is the tapping one. In typical competitions semi contact refers to point stop and light contact refers to continuous. They usually let a little more go in light contact and indeed many comps make you wear boxing gloves.

 

I think for this one they're saying 6-8oz MMA gloves so grappling can still happen for the jujitsu side of things.

I've found in the past that if strikes (for me kicks) aren't scored properly and i'm not allowed to put the power behind the kick to have an effect - ie leg kicks slowing my opponent down - then I soon find its pointless entering the competition as I'm usually a lot smaller than opponents who can throw me around at will because they can just walk into my kick range without fear that it will cost them anything.

 

Semi contact is usually light continuous kickboxing/karate.

What did you think about that random attacks event? It looked like a bit of a waste of time to me.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afET5_lBvww&feature=youtu.be"]REPO RANDOM ATTACKS EXQI - YouTube[/ame]

 

Can you define "light continuous kickboxing/karate"?

The Random Attacks competition is a very good one. The idea is that it is based upon randori, and is a "self defense" competition - granted there is generally a single attack - where as on the street the opponent would continue to resist. (there is 2 "attacks" that are 2 attacks - 2 roundhouse punches, and a front kick followed up a straight punch)

What the competition and the training for it really do is improve your technique, in our jujitsu classes and gradings the attacks are set, and we know what technique we have to do on the end of it. But with the Random Attack competition it could be any one of 40 attacks coming at you, and you have a split second to react.

but thats distracting from the point of this thread =p

 

Already been discussed on this thread (post 69 onward): http://www.martialartsplanet.com/fo...13386&highlight=random+attack+Harrison&page=5

 

Thanks for that David =)

 

Semi
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grVyIRrqKWg"]Daz Ellis WAKO World Championship Final 2011 RND1 Semi Contact - YouTube[/ame]
light
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzK8LOlkr0k"]WAKO Lightcontact Kickboxing: Raymond Daniels - Jeno Novak - YouTube[/ame]

 

"Mighty" Joe Tierney from back in the day

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz6izWed8O8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz6izWed8O8[/ame]

 

I guess Sifu Ben's videos cover that for us

Yeah, looking at the other thread I reckon Hannibal pretty much covers the clear criticisms of the format as it appears to be executed in the video.

Have you had previous MA experience or are you cross-training? I ask because what's on display is basically fantasy based self defence against noodle armed uke it's no better than one step or totally compliant circle training... if you feel it's a solid representation of the format and feel your analysis holds up against that footage then I'd suggest having a look around at some wider experiences to gain a broader perspective. 40 compliant single attacks are just that. It's even worse than light continuous kickboxing :Angel:

Please feel free to treat as rhetorical if you don't want to drift of topic here, and I'm not having a go at you, I'm honestly just trying to be helpful.

 

I did TKD when I was younger, and I'll say that some of the clips shown in the video do not really do the competition format justice, possibly because they were edited by the local news channel in Belgium and not by a martial artist - I saw much better techniques on the day than those shown in the video, when training for it our team were specifically told that the uke makes and breaks the entire competition, if the attack is sloppy is means the defense is sloppy. So WE were told to go all out on the attacks, unfortunately this was not represented in the video. I would also like to point out that about 90% of the clips shown are unfortunately from the divisions of the 2 main competitor interviewees - the kids and senior mens, the best footage would have been from the 16-39 mens brackets (partly because that's what I competed in) which is a lot more fast paced and intense.

As covered in the other thread, possibly not into enough detail (in fact this topic could be deserving of its own thread... shall make that tomorrow) was that most of the attacks were just a single attack with a compliant uke, I appreciate that, and it turns from a pure self defense simulation into demonstrating how fast you can react to an attack and then how good a technique you can do from that attack.

Tomorrow I shall create a thread dedicated to this, as my Sensei is in charge of organising the 2014 European Random Attack Championships which are to be held here in the UK and all input is welcome.


Back on topic - thanks for all the videos, a problem I still have is that from experience in mens heavyweight 'light contact' competitions strikes gradually get harder and harder, and it never stays light contact, I think ideally I need to go and see the sensei who is in charge of the training for the europeans and kick him a few times to find out how hard I am allowed to kick people in the head =p