Kumite Tips #1/Kumite Tips #2/Kumite Tips #3/Kumite Tips #4/Kumite Tips #5/Kumite Tips #6/Kumite Tips #7/Kumite Tips #8/Kumite Tips #9
I was fortunate enough to be able to spar with my Sensei last night in Kumite...
...It was both awe inspiring and humbling to witness his punch/kick speed, feints, foot sweeps and agile footwork firsthand, up close and personal...
...and it gave me a new appreciation for the role that experience plays in Kumite.
My Sensei, who is in his early fifties, has over 40 years of Karate and Boxing experience, and has the ability to pull his punches and kicks even when they're being launched at full speed...
...otherwise I would have been picking myself up off the floor all night.
A thought entered my mind about the lives of samurais, who would have had to go up against more experienced samurais or accomplished instructors and how they would have learned the lessons of Kumite the hard way...
...losing teeth, broken ribs, other broken bones and torn ligaments...ouch...
...and I thought about how thankful I was that the ways of training in Karate-Do have changed so much for the better.
I mean sure, I'm going to take a lot longer to learn to keep my guard up than the poor student who learns to do it instinctively after being clocked on the jaw a few times, but hey that's the way things are now, or at least they should be...
And if they aren't that way at your Dojo, you might want to ask yourself why they aren't.
My Sensei was showing the class a secret technique and then we would practice it on each other...
...what I noticed immediately, was that the technique was really awkward and counter intuitive to perform...
...consequently, what the opponent thought he was seeing, was not what was actually happening and that misdirection left a huge opening for a hard front kick to the body or a roundhouse kick to the head after feinting a low front kick...it was really cool.
You just don't get that kind of insight and knowledge from sparring with a same level or lower level colored belt opponent...
...but once you do learn something new like that, it's always fun to try it out on lower belt Karate-Ka...
...and that way the knowledge gets passed down.
So if you want to improve your sparring skills, seek out experienced partners who would be willing to show you some of their secrets of Kumite...
RJF
