From: stark@dwovax.enet.dec.com (Todd I. Stark)
Subject: Re: Getting to grappling range.
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: 13 NOV 92 14:16:26    


Hi Scott,

In his seminars, Joe Lewis talks a lot about observing the
opponent's 'set-point,' keeping them from getting set to deliver
a blow, or not being in range at the time they are set.  I think
this is a pretty elegant way to describe the key skills. 

This has a lot in common with the Gracie method, from what I've
seen of it.  They seem to like to keep a space buffer, tempting the
opponent to become more aggressive in attack, and then using a
low kick as a stop hit to help bridge the gap when the opponent
begins to commit to combination attacks rather than dance and stick.

One key to their approach in this respect seems to be the way the foot is 
placed down deep after the low kick, so that your body is in close contact
as quickly in possible, with a half beat timing after the kick makes
contact.  This makes hitting them coming in quite a bit more difficult
than it would be if you retracted the kick and then did a penetration
step into a clinch.  

Another seems to be the way that they funnel the hands down from
the shoulders to the upper arms, I suppose taking advantage of the
fact that the shoulders move less than the upper arms, and are
pivotal leverage points for blows.  This they have in common
with standard boxing clinch technique.  Where they diverge is that
they straddle one of the opponent's legs, tuck the head into the
opponent's chest, and use some optional underhook or overhook on the
near arm.  This second level step turns the clinch into a standing
control from which the opponent can't break away as easily, and can
be taken down more easily.  The first tape in Rorion Gracie's basics
series demonstrates his approach, and his match tapes show what it looks 
like in action against (mostly mediocre) opponents.

As for other arts which specialize in bridging the gap, of course
some of the Jeet Kune Do folks deal extensively with different ideas
in this area (Larry Hartsell's series is fair for ideas in this area.
It covers examples of gap bridging but details few actual principles.

Aikido has a highly developed gap closing method, although it is so intimately 
tied to Aiki techniques, rather than general grappling, that I'm not sure it 
would be practical to get much out if for a general grappling entry.   Some 
of the Chinese styles I've seen have some ingenious methods also, although I 
don't have much experience with those.  I'd figure that the better Shootboxers
probably have some clever tricks for this, but I don't think
there's any system as such that's available to study.

If I had to categorize the effective approaches to gap closing I've seen for
a less experienced pugilist to use against an equally skilled or more 
experienced pugilist from my experience, I'd say they fell into the 
categories of :

1.  'duck and roll to get to the inside,' as western boxing infighting does

2.  blend and evade and use more extreme tactical positioning, as Aikido
	does, and some of the Ninjutsu-based arts,

3.  stop hit, duck and tackle, as the Gracie method often does

4.  use superior striking speed, even though without serious power, to fill 
	in the gaps between techniques
	while closing the gap.  Some interpretations of kenpo seem to
	use this to some extent.

5.  make use of an extended limb to take balance to create an opening
	(this is used as a secondary tactic in many places)

6.  use angular positioning and superior contact reflexes to control the limbs
	(Wing Chun is the obvious classic example of this).

	This is my perspective, not meant to imply superiority
	of any one method over an other, and recognizing that
	it greatly oversimplifies a number of key principles in
	various arts.

					kind regards,

					todd
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| Todd I. Stark				  stark@dwovax.enet.dec.com |
| Digital Equipment Corporation		             (215) 354-1273 |
| Philadelphia, Pa. USA                                             |
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