# Videos from 8/8/09 Tournament



## Stac3y (Aug 14, 2009)

My creative kata: 



Sparring: 




I got 1st place in both, as well as in my weapons kata (no video for that one, though.) 

Comments are welcome.


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## terryl965 (Aug 14, 2009)

Nice job stacey


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## Ironcrane (Aug 15, 2009)

How much money do you go through a month doing all these tournaments?
Anyways I can't add anything more to your kata, that I haven't said before. I think you have kata nailed perfectly.

In your sparing video, when you did your side kicks you left your leg out, while hoping forward gunning for those points. Though it did get you a point, I would suggest not to do that, as you have no balance, and your attack has no power after that first kick. You're in a very vulnerable position to a counter attack while doing that.

If you want to launch some rapid fire kicks, I do have an idea for you. After you throw you kick, instead of bringing it back flat footed, bring your kick back on the balls of your feet. It'll take some practice, but you'll find that you can kick much faster. You can still chase after a back peddler, and catch an opponent who charges you. That is assuming you didn't know that already.

It looks like everyone keeps one arm down (guarding their body?)for the standard guard position, and if that's the case I still think back fists, and hook kicks will work wonders for you. I saw that you did land a good back fast to get a point. Ridge hands might help also.


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## celtic_crippler (Aug 15, 2009)

Outstanding! Thanks for sharing!


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## Stac3y (Aug 15, 2009)

Ironcrane said:


> How much money do you go through a month doing all these tournaments?



Not that much, really. I usually compete in one per month (occasionally 2) at a cost of about $50 for entry fees and then gas. I only compete in my own region, and I pack a lunch and water in order to keep within budget.



Ironcrane said:


> Anyways I can't add anything more to your kata, that I haven't said before. I think you have kata nailed perfectly.



Thanks. <blush>



Ironcrane said:


> In your sparing video, when you did your side kicks you left your leg out, while hoping forward gunning for those points. Though it did get you a point, I would suggest not to do that, as you have no balance, and your attack has no power after that first kick. You're in a very vulnerable position to a counter attack while doing that.



That's what we call "pumping the kick." We use it mostly to force an opponent to move his or her guard arm or to work under it for the point. Since it's point sparring, the lack of power isn't really a problem, but the balance issue can be.



Ironcrane said:


> If you want to launch some rapid fire kicks, I do have an idea for you. After you throw you kick, instead of bringing it back flat footed, bring your kick back on the balls of your feet. It'll take some practice, but you'll find that you can kick much faster. You can still chase after a back peddler, and catch an opponent who charges you. That is assuming you didn't know that already.



I'm not sure I'm understanding you here. Do you mean that I wasn't staying on my toes in general? (probably so; I was pretty tuckered out at that point. I was trying, though.)



Ironcrane said:


> It looks like everyone keeps one arm down (guarding their body?)for the standard guard position, and if that's the case I still think back fists, and hook kicks will work wonders for you. I saw that you did land a good back fast to get a point. Ridge hands might help also.



Yes, we keep the front arm down to guard the body and the groin--it comes from the Bill "Superfoot" Wallace influence. I usually use a lot of hook kicks and hook kick combinations, but they just weren't flowing that day. I kept seeing that open spot for the side kick, and then it wouldn't get called. Just about every point I scored was with the backfist--very unusual for me, as I'm usually a kicker. I also kick to the head and face a lot, but my particular opponent knows me well and I can't get those in on her any more (except that one roundhouse in the match--too bad that didn't get called). I also can't really spin with her--she's just too darn fast for me to turn my back even for a second. She fights best in close, so I try to keep her at leg's length as much as possible.

Thanks to all of you for your comments and suggestions!


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## bowser666 (Aug 31, 2009)

Very different guard position for the hands than I am used to seeing.  If someone has their guard like that, I always nail them with a hook kick.  Hand is waaaay too low in my opinion and takes longer to come up to block anything from that side.  

The other thing I might add is that keeping your kicks out there for too long is a bad habit. Granted in this tourney the rule sets do not allow for trapping or sweeps, but in my Kung Fu school we are taught to rechamber immediately to avoid a sweep or a trap of the leg.  Tip tapping kicks is a bad habit to get into. IMO.

This is why I think point sparring is a waste of time. No offense.


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## Stac3y (Aug 31, 2009)

bowser666 said:


> Very different guard position for the hands than I am used to seeing. If someone has their guard like that, I always nail them with a hook kick. Hand is waaaay too low in my opinion and takes longer to come up to block anything from that side.


 
How do you guard your groin? And what target are you nailing with your hook kick? Just curious.



bowser666 said:


> This is why I think point sparring is a waste of time. No offense.


 
None taken. To each his own. I'm sure you do things I think are a waste of time, too.

Thanks for the comments,


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## bowser666 (Sep 8, 2009)

Easy way to guard the groin is to raise the knee and keep a slightly sideways stance.  Hook kicks would be to the face of course. If someone has fast kicks, you will not get your hand up in time to protect that side of your face.  That is a typical point sparring stance.  Real fighting , that stance is not practical. Sorry to bash point sparring, but it definitely encourages bad habits in terms of realism.

Not sure what you are hinting at the i might do that is a waste of time.  I am not attacking you personally I am merely stating my opinion that point sparring does not train for realism. In fact I would not encourage a good point sparrer to get into a real fight.  Real fights do not stop once, a "point" is scored.


For the record as you can see in my sig, that is what I train in.  We train , in forms , weapons, bare hand fighting, wrestling, and ground fighting. We do not however, point spar, we do continuous sparring without points. We just keep going at it for a predetermined length of time, then we switch. I stress no points !


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## Stac3y (Sep 8, 2009)

bowser666 said:


> Easy way to guard the groin is to raise the knee and keep a slightly sideways stance.


 
Yes, we fight sideways, too, and use the chambered kick as one way to block attacks.



bowser666 said:


> Hook kicks would be to the face of course. If someone has fast kicks, you will not get your hand up in time to protect that side of your face.


 
Why would that be an "of course?" I use hook kicks all over the place. And btw, I'm not a good example of it, because I have a bad habit of dropping my back hand, but in my style the back hand is what protects your face, not the front hand. It stays right there by your head for just that reason, while the front arm blocks low.



bowser666 said:


> That is a typical point sparring stance. Real fighting , that stance is not practical. Sorry to bash point sparring, but it definitely encourages bad habits in terms of realism.


 
Well, some of us aren't all that concerned with realism *in sparring*. Not that there isn't a strong self defense component to my training, but sparring is not part of that--sparring has rules. SD doesn't.



bowser666 said:


> Not sure what you are hinting at the i might do that is a waste of time. I am not attacking you personally I am merely stating my opinion that point sparring does not train for realism. In fact I would not encourage a good point sparrer to get into a real fight. Real fights do not stop once, a "point" is scored.


 
Oh, I could be talking about all kinds of things. It's just another way of saying "to each his own." For example, maybe you like to climb trees. I don't, so climbing trees is, to me, a waste of time. You don't like point sparring, so you think it's a waste of time. I do, so it's not a waste of time for me. As for your advice re: not getting into fights, well, I'm not planning on getting into any, and if attacked, point sparring is not what I would rely on for protection--SD techniques are what I would use there.



bowser666 said:


> For the record as you can see in my sig, that is what I train in. We train , in forms , weapons, bare hand fighting, wrestling, and ground fighting. We do not however, point spar, we do continuous sparring without points. We just keep going at it for a predetermined length of time, then we switch. I stress no points !


 
Sounds like you enjoy what you do. So do I. I hope you continue to do so.


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## Haze (Sep 8, 2009)

Stac3y;

Nice job!! Sparring looks good,,,,,,,,,,,,and as far as kata,,, very nice. If I could say one thing it would be to change the end of the kata,,,,,,,,go into a horse stance / stradle stance (whatever you refer to it as) and a double punch toward ground. Just may appear as a stronger finish.

Very nice!!!!


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