From: mary@Cayman.COM (Mary Malmros)
Newsgroups: rec.martial-arts
Subject: Re: My first tournament - Results
Date: 1 Oct 92 02:01:08 GMT
	<JON.92Sep28102222@zeus.med.utah.edu>
	<1992Sep28.190133.123053@zeus.calpoly.edu>
	<1ad09oINNfg4@moe.ksu.ksu.edu>
Organization: Cayman Systems Inc., Cambridge, MA
In-reply-to: rjq@phys.ksu.edu's message of 30 Sep 92 19:48:08 GMT


In article <1ad09oINNfg4@moe.ksu.ksu.edu> rjq@phys.ksu.edu (Rob Quinn) writes:

[extensive snip]

    Three of our white belts were unable to go, so there was only 3 white
   belts, one black belt doing forms, and one black belt sparring. We were all
   unprepared - I had to buy all of my equipment at the tournament. $93 bucks
   for a cup, mouth piece, chest pad, arms & leg pads, and head gear. Did I
   get ripped bad?

You probably could have got it all for less if you'd bought it elsewhere...
how come you didn't?  I remember posting that you should be sure to take a
full set of approved gear.

    Besides being my first tournament, it was also the first time I had worn
   a cup, worn a mouth piece, or fought with pads on. I kept gagging on the
   mouth piece, and I was afraid I would choke on it when I started breathing
   hard in a fight.

Never worn a CUP?  Had you sparred before?

[snip]
    Anyway, that's the end of my story, now some points I learned/thought about.

   >  1. Run the combinations through your head before the fight once in the ring 
   >     because once the fight begins, there is no time to think.

    I'm still lacking on combinations. I'm starting to pick up series of attacks,
   but they are still just single attacks end to end, and not working together.

That's why you need to practice them.  

   >  2. Forget the crap you hear about attitude.  Attitude can make you fight
   >     stupid.  Fight smart.

    Indeed. But I starting to think one of my main problems is too much thinking,
   and not enough action. 

"Fighting smart" is not the same as "thinking too much".  I think too much
when I spar; it's my principle fault in sparring.  I spend a lot of time
analyzing my opponent, trying to figure out how s/he fights, wondering 
if a particular technique will work or not.  Analysis is fine, but not
during a fight, whether it's a sparring match or a self-defense situation.
The time to analyze is later, when you have time to reflect on things.
During a fight, you don't have time for the analytical process; you need
to use reactions and combinations that have become instinctive with 
practice.  

I think the "fighting smart" comment means more that you need to fight
with a cool head, rather than using aggressiveness to cover up for 
lack of technique or preparation.

    We didn't learn all of the customs tournament "extras" in class. I don't think
   they are that important to Bobby. I didn't realize I was supposed to shake
   hands with the coach too, and worry that I might have insulted the guy and his
   class, and that that might have had something to do with him leaving so
   quickly.

The "extras" might not be so important to your teacher, but they are 
important to many other people.  Generally, after a match, you shake
hands with your opponent and then cross over to shake hands with your
opponent's coach before returning to your own coach.   

    While in the locker room talking to the guy who beat me, I was saying
   that I hadn't seen any jump kicks, except my own. I was saying something
   about jump reverse crescents, when a black belt (who I think judged my
   match) came in. He overheard me, and said that no one uses them because
   they are no good. Bobby later "disagreed" with that opinion. Anyone else
   have any opinions or experiences to share with me?

There is a student at our school who joined from another school, where 
apparently they used reverse crescent a lot, and sometimes jump reverse
crescent.  From what I have observed seeing him spar against other students, 
it just issn't very effective.  He uses a reverse crescent when
someone is attacking him, and he'll land the kick, all right...but it
just doesn't have any effect.  You hear this really weak "whap" sound
and his opponent just keeps on coming and slams him.  The problem, as I
see it, is that the reverse crescent is coming across the body, which 
means it has limited usefulness in situations where someone is charging
in towards you.  In that situation, a front leg side kick or turning
side kick--a kick that goes directly towards your target--is stronger, 
faster, and simpler...in other words, much more likely to work.  A spinning
crescent is a different matter...that can be a very powerful kick indeed.
It's scary to use, though, because you do it at very close range and it's
kind of tricky.  Again, there are simpler and less error-prone alternatives.

    From my white belt prospective, I thought I saw plenty of uses for a jump
   reverse crescent, or just a reverse crescent. Those were in other peoples
   matches though, and I didn't feel up to trying one in my match. I saw a lot
   of people, black belts especially, who would get up close and hug like boxers
   do. The rules forbid pushing, but even a small push, or a step back would
   have put them in a perfect position. That's what I've learned in class, but
   I'm unable to do it yet. Any thoughts for me?

I believe the WTF rules now say that you can't clinch...referees should break
up clinches, and penalize people for clinching.  You can't push free of a 
clinch, but you can punch your way free.  The idea is to open up enough
space between you and your opponent so that you can hit them with something,
but it's important that you do it by moving your opponent back rather than
by moving yourself back.  I had to learn this lesson the hard way %-S with
a sparring partner who would nail me whenever I tried to get loose of a 
clinch.  She finally explained what was happening...because I was stepping
back out of the clinch and she wasn't moving, she was ready to kick before
I was, so she would just let me step back and then nail me as soon as she
had room, but before I was ready to kick myself.  

If you're smaller than your opponent, or you can't move him/her backwards
by punching, another alternative is to slip past them.  If the two of you
are face to face, you can step forward and to one side and get free that
way.  You have to do it quickly, though, before they know what you're doing,
or you'll have the same problem of getting nailed that you would if you
stepped back.  Because you're stepping past them, slightly behind their 
back, you can often ready a roundhouse kick or a turning side kick and
get them just as they're turning to face you.  You have to be careful 
about hitting the back in this situation, though...that's a big
tournament no-no.

    There were a millions kids running around at first, and I was afraid I
   was going to get some fingers or toes broken while stretching out. Is that
   common?

Very, but the kids' divisions usually clear out by early afternoon.  Most
of them leave then and take their camcorder-toting parents with them.
--
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 Mary Malmros     | Cayman Systems Inc, 26 Landsdowne St, Cambridge, MA 02139
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Newsgroups: rec.martial-arts