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1st-time competitor

3K views 31 replies 15 participants last post by  RangerClydeTheBlue 
#1 ·
I am competing in point sparring at a tournament in Erie PA on Jan. 31. My teacher seems to feel that point sparring once a week along with regular classes is adequate preparation. I disagree, I think it's nowhere near enough. What can I do, in my regular gym or at home, to train smarter? I work out 5 days a week, running or the arc trainer, and double up cardio on some days depending on what we're doing in TKD.
 
#3 ·
... why would someone do point sparring. I just don't understand. What is there to be gained from training with LESS aliveness?

Hrm.

Anyways, try going to the beach at sunset and practicing your crane stance.
 
#4 ·
that's from the sport adaptation of gojuryu karate and has nothing to do with the type of taekwondo that I practice.

You've obviously never read my training log. I don't go to a competition school, I don't grapple much (yet) and olympic-rules TKD sparring is generally reserved for higher ranks. I am an advanced green belt.

I wish people would stop making generalizations about a martial art they're clearly not well informed on.
 
#16 ·
I myself train in a modified form of TKD. That is, modified in such a way as to utilize modern boxing rather than chambered punches and to spar live, with medium-hard contact. The instructor is a 5th dan, and I spar regularly with a 3rd dan and his 2nd dan brother. I'm making generalizations, but at least I'm reasonably well informed. Traditional TKD and competition TKD are, generally, glorified slap-and-tickle fests. Forms and traditional blocks can have their uses, but TKD punching and insistence on point sparring do not. If you want to train TKD, good for you. If you want to train it in a less effective way, fine, that's your prerogative. I have no problem with it. I was just remarking on the fact that point sparring is silly.

Oh, and the 'crane stance' was a Karate Kid reference. Cuz, y'know, point sparring against Kobra-Kai and all that.

Thanks for all the neg-rep guys.
 
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#5 ·
Like the first guy said it seems like it would be best to work on your hand/foot speed. If you've got a bag at home I would go to town on it for as long as sensible each day when you get up. But practice crispness, not punching like a drunk.
 
#7 ·
You can always by a bag and hang it in the garage, outside, or whatever it suitable for your place.

You have any people at the gym with you that you talk to after class or friends? Have them come over and spar at home and go over techniques with them. Since this is your first time in a point sparring contest, I would try to find someone who has done it before and give you pointers.

In Isshinryu Karate, I luckily had my best friend who was 2 belts higher than me give me pointers for my first point sparring tournament since he has done many before me. One thing that I learned is that make your Kia (not sure what TKD practioners call it but the noise you make after every hit) is louder than your opponent's. It will grab the ref's attention on your strike and you will likely be called for the point.
 
#8 ·
yep that's what we call it too, it's from the Korean word "kihap" which just means "to yell" and that's an excellent idea. My teacher's son has competed a lot, he's a pretty good teacher himself but I don't get to spar with him much. My daughter is a good sparring partner b/c she goes crazy and takes shot after shot at me, but she's much smaller than an actual opponent would be lol.
 
#10 ·
She's a tall 10 and she's a beast; she took first in sparring at her last tournament and is going with me to this one; the only mistakes she makes are curling up and dropping her hands, just like her mom. She also likes the hammerfist to the top of the head and right roundhouse, just like her mom.
 
#13 ·
Yeah they do!! lol There's a few in my Karate class that go nuts with Kias and it scares the living shit out of me lol.

Oh and when I spar with them, you don't take them lightly, they will beat the hell out of you in sparring if I don't give medium contact or sparr with them at 100% potential.
 
#14 · (Edited)
I saw some 50ish women competing in forms (kata) a couple of years ago and I was trying not to laugh b/c of their interpretation of the kihap for competition. I have to work on changing how I come out every time in sparring, I switch stances, try to work my angles, refine my blitz etc. but it's hard to integrate and that's why I get uptight that we don't spar more.

It does challenge me that any young guys I spar with tend to lack control, (still growing I guess, lol) so if I get rocked here and there I think it prepares me better for if another woman comes on full bore.

We have a 28 y/o former thai boxer with superb control, heavy hands but good footwork, good roller/thrower/faller, who comes to class here and there, I wish my teacher would let me spar him, I think he would help me a lot. He's a prison guard or something and I guess it helps him for parts of his job.
 
#19 ·
I know it was a Karate Kid reference. That's why I said in my earlier post that it was a sport karate adaptation of gojuryu karate. Ask any gojuryu instructor and they'll tell you the same.

I have been training boxing along with TKD for 4 years. My teacher has an extensive boxing background and is going up for 4th dan black belt. For you to make any type of "slap and tickle" generalization is unjustified, has no basis in reality where my school is concerned, and is surely what earned you all that neg rep. There are more TKD practitioners on this forum than you think. It is not up to you to say what is effective and what isn't. You know as well as I do that point fighting, Olympic rules fighting, and street fighting are all different in terms of what is effective and what is not. I have only just begun grappling and my aim, and my teacher's, is to integrate all three. You are simply not in a position to make the generalizations and sweeping judgments that you have been making, particularly if you yourself train in a modified version of TKD. Your high-handed attitude is only going to result in more neg rep.
 
#20 ·
I have been training boxing along with TKD for 4 years. My teacher has an extensive boxing background and is going up for 4th dan black belt. For you to make any type of "slap and tickle" generalization is unjustified, has no basis in reality where my school is concerned, and is surely what earned you all that neg rep.
Unjustified how? I've watched point sparring firsthand. I've sparred live against 3rd and 2nd degree black belts that had previously only done point sparring. I've heard the very same generalization made by both of them. Even if I don't have all that much experience with point sparring, they do.

There are more TKD practitioners on this forum than you think. It is not up to you to say what is effective and what isn't. You know as well as I do that point fighting, Olympic rules fighting, and street fighting are all different in terms of what is effective and what is not. I have only just begun grappling and my aim, and my teacher's, is to integrate all three. You are simply not in a position to make the generalizations and sweeping judgments that you have been making, particularly if you yourself train in a modified version of TKD. Your high-handed attitude is only going to result in more neg rep.
I'm not talking about being effective in a point-sparring competition, I'm talking about being an effective martial art. Like I said, if your goal is to be good at point-sparring that's fine. Just don't think that it'll make you good at fighting. If you and your teacher have trained boxing then you should know the value of aliveness. That is, being as close to a real-life situation as is feasible. Point sparring is not alive training.
 
#21 ·
Its funny but I have rad and re-reread the OP and I can't see anywhere in it that requests a critique of the martial art Swp is involved in. Just a request for tips that wopuld help her succeed in a competition.

If you think that form of martial art is pointless and silly and so have nothing to add then why post stuff that just invites neg rep?
 
#25 ·
yes, yes you can and best of luck when you have your comp, have you tried asking your classmates if they would help ya spar be it at home or somewhere when you are not in class? or someone who knows the system enough so you can keep sparring and preparing your game.
 
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