Jacob’s 2017 highlights

[CB Jones]

He has taken karate classes for 8 years and still he doesn't hold his hands up, for me that's a reflection of teachings of his instructor

And you would be wrong.

It is a reflection on my son and what he figured out works for him.

If everyone at the dojo did this that would be a reflection on the instructor.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Jacob had a great year winning the USKA World Championship, USKA National Championship, USKA Points Championship, PKC International Championship and numerous local, state, and regional tournaments.

He has been working on combinations along with his footwork/movement and I think he is coming along very well. Very proud of him. He puts in a ton of work.

Here is his highlight reel for anyone interested in watching. (Highlight reel is in reverse chronological order)

Congratulations and you should be proud of him, it appears he has worked hard to get there and I am certain as time goes on he will continue improve through his hard work.

 

[CB Jones]

So dropping his hands works for him why? Getting his nose smashed?

He relies more on his footwork and head movement to defend. And so far he hasn’t had his nose smashed.

You can defend his instructor what he wants but he taught your son bad habits for 8 years long.....moneys worth.

Again, he did not teach this. You have no idea what he teaches. You claiming he teaches that is completely false.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Again, he did not teach this. You have no idea what he teaches. You claiming he teaches that is completely false.

There are a lot of folks in the world who assume they know everything based on a YouTube Video they saw once and it has been my experience here on MT and other forums that there is no changing their mind, they know what they know whether they know it or not. So to argue the point is pointless IMHO.

Your son will learn some things from his teacher and other things the hard way...like I did most of the time.....like a whole lot of martial artists do...we cannot all be as perfect some.

 

[CB Jones]

Congratulations and you should be proud of him, it appears he has worked hard to get there and I am certain as time goes on he will continue improve through his hard work.

I am. I enjoy watching him compete.

And he enjoys traveling and competing. He has made friends all over the country and this year became friends with a kid from Chile.

 

[Buka]

Let me give a perspective. Stances, movement and hand positions are specific to various forms of competitive sport fighting. As much as I preach "hands up", which is something I've taught, preached, screamed and punished-for-lack-of - the nuances of various sport competition, and in this particular case - sport, point fighting at a high level, tend to dictate to the high level competitors what they can and can't do. It's the nature of the game. And you learn that lickety split when you fight.....or you get beat quickly, hurt, or both.

You guys know how many names I drop, how many folks I've trained under and fought with. While training with them, we boxed, kick boxed, fought points and worked self defense until we were blue in the face. And all of those guys, ALL of them, held their hands differently depending on the venue we were training at that particular time. [ALL of them]

I sometimes still occasionally point fight in training, I do so with my friends' young students -because that happens to be what they're dong at the time, I stand in classic, point fighter's side stance. [which I find quite nostalgic, by the way] Do you think I'd ever be caught dead doing that while I box? Or kick box? Or train self defense? Or deal with aggressive jamokes that I deal with as a cop? Ahhh, no.

No chance of that ever happening. Not chance one.

Jacob isn't doing just well, that boy is kicking butt and taking names. His success is the result of his hard work, knowledge and training. And I have no doubt, none what-so-ever, that if he switched venues, his guard would adjust specifically to whatever venue he was pursing.

Give that kid some big props from me. And keep keeping us posted over the years as to how he's doing.

 

[Headhunter]

So dropping his hands works for him why? Getting his nose smashed?

You can defend his instructor what he wants but he taught your son bad habits for 8 years long.....moneys worth......

I'm half and half in agreement because there's only so much an instructor can do if the kid won't listen but it's also his job to keep drilling it into the kid and give him reason to listen to him

 

[Buka]

C'mon 8 years........

Anyways, this whole topic went as expected, let's all hold hands and sing kumbaya the american way.....

You're from The Netherlands, the kickboxing capital of the world. And I ain't kidding when I say that, it really is. But, you might never have studied any point sparring competitions for kids. But that's okay, it's probably not your thing.

As for "sing kumbaya the american way", yeah, that's us, the most peaceful, serene country on earth. We're all about the Kumbaya. But you really shouldn't besmirch my Country, fella.

 

[CB Jones]

point fighting at a high level, tend to dictate to the high level competitors what they can and can't do. It's the nature of the game. And you learn that lickety split when you fight.....or you get beat quickly, hurt, or both.

That makes sense.

He can defend his groin and body from kicks better with his hands down but he is fast enough to see and defend against head strikes.

I also think sometimes it’s harder for opponents to defend just because they don’t see the punches as well......I could be totally wrong about that...that’s just a guess.

Anyways....it works for him.

I just hope he sticks with MA. So far he loves competing so we are gonna keep rolling with it.

 

[DaveB]

Jacob had a great year winning the USKA World Championship, USKA National Championship, USKA Points Championship, PKC International Championship and numerous local, state, and regional tournaments.

He has been working on combinations along with his footwork/movement and I think he is coming along very well. Very proud of him. He puts in a ton of work.

Here is his highlight reel for anyone interested in watching. (Highlight reel is in reverse chronological order)

He has great footwork

 

[CB Jones]

He has great footwork

Thanks. He didn’t have much of a choice learning how to move due to being short. Lol.

 

[JowGaWolf]

Jacob had a great year winning the USKA World Championship, USKA National Championship, USKA Points Championship, PKC International Championship and numerous local, state, and regional tournaments.

He has been working on combinations along with his footwork/movement and I think he is coming along very well. Very proud of him. He puts in a ton of work.

Here is his highlight reel for anyone interested in watching. (Highlight reel is in reverse chronological order)

Always good to see your son's videos. His footwork is killing his opponents. And I don't know if it's just me, but compared to the first video that you showed it looks as if his opponents are trying to adopt his footwork or at least his movements. I only say this because their movement looks like the common bouncing that is done mixed with some indecisive movements that looks more like your son's movement. Your son looks more comfortable with his footwork now. I can see him using it to set people up vs just moving around.

There is always room for improvement not so much for winning because it seems that he has that on lock, but I notices that he doesn't stay engaged after scoring. After he scores he just drops everything. He should at least keep his defense engaged and still block that incoming punch even though he has already scored. I know it's point sparring, but he really should use it as a opportunity to incorporate "full concepts" vs only doing enough for point sparring. This is something I see a lot where people get so specialized in point sparring that they drop the actual techniques and concepts of the Martial Arts system. In short. The point sparring looks nothing like the martial arts. It's an easy thing to fall into especially when a person does a lot of point sparring.

There was always that one counter punch to his face that would have been devastating in a continuous sparring match. I say this from personal experience of eating a few of those punches until I finally learned and accepted that there is "always" another punch coming in at my face even when I disengage or finish a combo. Now when I spar I just automatically assume that a punch will come in after I throw my combo. If it doesn't come in, then I don't lose anything. If it does come in then I'm ready for it.

 

[JowGaWolf]

Because he'll get a few hard hits because of it then realise he can't drop his hands in fighting

Continuous sparring will teach this. A person doesn't have to get hard hits to understand the value of keeping the hands up.

 

[JowGaWolf]

Does he need to keep his hands up more....yes...but the fact is he hasn't really hasn't had to because it hasn't been a problem yet. He is stubborn and has to be proven wrong to get it through his thick head.

I remember you saying this when people commented on the first sparring video you posted. It will eventually happen.

However, there were a couple moments even when he got points, that if it were a fight the other guy could/would have continued and your sons style would/could have gotten him in trouble. That's why, depending on the goal, entering a full contact match without someone stopping at each point can be useful.

Totally agree but with many times with point sparring, it requires less of you in terms of protecting yourself the biggest issue is after scoring disengage. At the minimum disengage the attack, but not the defense. He hasn't learned to acknowledge the danger that he was putting himself in, but to be honest I don't expect him to understand until he matures more within his system as a self-defense activity and not a point sparring one.

I suck at point sparring because I'm all about self-defense and my acceptance that I will get hit. This alone makes me a poor point sparring athlete lol.

 

[JR 137]

Always good to see your son's videos. His footwork is killing his opponents. And I don't know if it's just me, but compared to the first video that you showed it looks as if his opponents are trying to adopt his footwork or at least his movements. I only say this because their movement looks like the common bouncing that is done mixed with some indecisive movements that looks more like your son's movement. Your son looks more comfortable with his footwork now. I can see him using it to set people up vs just moving around.

There is always room for improvement not so much for winning because it seems that he has that on lock, but I notices that he doesn't stay engaged after scoring. After he scores he just drops everything. He should at least keep his defense engaged and still block that incoming punch even though he has already scored. I know it's point sparring, but he really should use it as a opportunity to incorporate "full concepts" vs only doing enough for point sparring. This is something I see a lot where people get so specialized in point sparring that they drop the actual techniques and concepts of the Martial Arts system. In short. The point sparring looks nothing like the martial arts. It's an easy thing to fall into especially when a person does a lot of point sparring.

There was always that one counter punch to his face that would have been devastating in a continuous sparring match. I say this from personal experience of eating a few of those punches until I finally learned and accepted that there is "always" another punch coming in at my face even when I disengage or finish a combo. Now when I spar I just automatically assume that a punch will come in after I throw my combo. If it doesn't come in, then I don't lose anything. If it does come in then I'm ready for it.

You’re most likely correct. However, playing devil’s advocate here... we don’t know if he truly backed out early or not because we can’t hear the referees’ commands. For all we know, both of them could’ve thrown another technique or two after the ref gave the command to stop.

In competition, you have to stop when the ref tells you, otherwise you face DQ. Then again, the first rule of boxing also applies - “protect yourself at all times.”

But yes, I agree with what you’re saying on a realistic/real-world level.

 

[JR 137]

I remember you saying this when people commented on the first sparring video you posted. It will eventually happen.

Totally agree but with many times with point sparring, it requires less of you in terms of protecting yourself the biggest issue is after scoring disengage. At the minimum disengage the attack, but not the defense. He hasn't learned to acknowledge the danger that he was putting himself in, but to be honest I don't expect him to understand until he matures more within his system as a self-defense activity and not a point sparring one.

I suck at point sparring because I'm all about self-defense and my acceptance that I will get hit. This alone makes me a poor point sparring athlete lol.

Our posts crossed here. Completely agree.

I too suck at point sparring because I’m willing to take a lesser shot in order to give a fight-ending one. There are always going to be holes in my (and everyone else’s) defense. The key is to have those holes where the likelihood of any real damage is minimal.

 

[JowGaWolf]

It is a reflection on my son and what he figured out works for him.

I agree with this. I was fortunate to see the first video that you posted so I can see the improvement, but only because I have something to compare it with. I can tell when someone "owns" a strategy that works for them. It will always looks like they command the strategy vs the strategy commanding them. When a person "owns it", it becomes customized vs the general "do it this way."

Keep in mind this doesn't mean that a strategy is a good one or bad one, but it definitely means that he's not fishing for something that works. He had his strategy on lock down and he customized with each opponent.

 

[JowGaWolf]

Your son will learn some things from his teacher and other things the hard way

this is everyone. I'm still learning stuff the hard way lol

 

[CB Jones]

Always good to see your son's videos. His footwork is killing his opponents. And I don't know if it's just me, but compared to the first video that you showed it looks as if his opponents are trying to adopt his footwork or at least his movements. I only say this because their movement looks like the common bouncing that is done mixed with some indecisive movements that looks more like your son's movement. Your son looks more comfortable with his footwork now. I can see him using it to set people up vs just moving around.

Thanks

He is getting more comfortable but more important is that I think he is starting to understand angles and spacing better and how to use them.

There is always room for improvement not so much for winning because it seems that he has that on lock, but I notices that he doesn't stay engaged after scoring. After he scores he just drops everything. He should at least keep his defense engaged and still block that incoming punch even though he has already scored. I know it's point sparring, but he really should use it as a opportunity to incorporate "full concepts" vs only doing enough for point sparring. This is something I see a lot where people get so specialized in point sparring that they drop the actual techniques and concepts of the Martial Arts system. In short. The point sparring looks nothing like the martial arts. It's an easy thing to fall into especially when a person does a lot of point sparring

Agree. I keep telling him the same thing at least stay defensive and move out of range so you don’t get hurt. I think it’s just so much focus on the point that when he knows he scores it he stops. He usually has to learn the hard way. Stubborn just like his mom.

At the Dojo, the sparring is continuous 99% of the time so it’s not a problem there....but continuous sparring just isn’t that popular in tournaments. He doesn’t get much opportunity to compete in continuous.

 

[CB Jones]

You’re most likely correct. However, playing devil’s advocate here... we don’t know if he truly backed out early or not because we can’t hear the referees’ commands. For all we know, both of them could’ve thrown another technique or two after the ref gave the command to stop.

In competition, you have to stop when the ref tells you, otherwise you face DQ. Then again, the first rule of boxing also applies - “protect yourself at all times.”

But yes, I agree with what you’re saying on a realistic/real-world level.

Little of both.

At times its the ref calling break and him stopping...should still stay defensive and protect himself though.

Other times he just stops because he knew he got the point. Like at the 5:11 clip....he knew he scored and relaxed for a split second and ate a jab. Lol