FREE-SPARRING

Tips on free-sparring

Of all the different facets of training in Taekwondo, free sparring is probably the most exciting for the majority of students.

Testing yourself against an opponent is a quick way to learn about your faults, and how to correct them; but only if you spar correctly.

We use non-contact free sparring. However that doesn’t mean no contact at all, it means being at the correct distance to be able to contact, and holding the power delivery at the last moment. Sparring this way gives the correct distance feel to the attacker, whilst teaching the defender to move out of range.

The worst free sparring is when the defender doesn’t have to move because the attacker is completing their kick so far away it isn’t necessary for them to move. When sparring is performed like that it becomes - your turn /my turn and turns from sparring to 'dancing'.

When attacking, the point is to cover distance to your opponent as fast as possible then deliver a maximum power kick, punch or strike on target, holding at the point of contact. Do the same with follow-up techniques to form combinations. When countering an attack the same principles apply.

Covering distance fast in both attack and defence is crucial to good free sparring.

Regardless of anything else practice moving backwards, forwards and dodging to the side, with speed.

Practice fast body shifting and countering.

When using combination kicks, after each kick get the kicking foot back on the floor as fast as possible, you don’t want to be caught with a counter while standing on one leg.

Take your free sparring seriously, the last thing we want is time off training because of injury.

Train hard and enjoy it.

(Pictured - Jnr BB Sarah Kelly sparring with Instructor Brandt Williamson).

Perseverance

Have you noticed how many things are available ‘instantly’ now? 

The fast pace of living affects so many things – from a fast take away meal from the drive through to anything we want to download from the internet or buy on a credit card. Very few people want to wait for the things they want.

 In many ways it’s great – so convenient to have what we want when we want it – but in some ways we’re missing out too as it’s cutting down people’s willpower to work towards and achieve a result.

 When you finally accomplish something that you have worked hard for over time, the feeling of pride and accomplishment is something money just can’t buy. It’s a fantastic feeling of self worth. Just ask any of our Black Belts!

You may have heard the term “nothing worthwhile is gained easily” and it’s true. That’s why the instructors at Pacific International won’t let you get away with second best. They want you to have that feeling of self worth and the knowledge that you can achieve your goal if you just work at it long enough.

Not one student in the world ever went from white belt to black belt in one grading. We are successful in our training when we progressively reach each new belt grade, that’s ten goal achievements to gain black belt. You will have persevered through thoughts of “I’ll never do this’, tiredness,  work and family commitments and dozens of other bumps and potholes on your road to black belt.

Is it worth it? Well at the next black belt grading, take a good look at the faces of the new black belts, you will see joy and pride and that satisfied look of achievement that only ever comes from persevering through adversity to gain your goal.

Perseverance is one of the major cornerstones of success and achievement in any endeavour.

If you want to gain your black belt, and you can, knowledge and perseverance will get you there.

Train hard and enjoy it

Taekwondo Kick and Counter Training

Kick and counter training is a stimulating and interesting way to help learn about judging distance for defence and attack.

When you are attacked during free sparring, the least effective way to escape a combination attack is to move directly backward from the attack. Your attacker can follow you quickly, remember he or she is moving forward while you’re moving backwards. If the attacker is using fast sliding combinations as well, it’s very difficult to avoid the technique so the chances are that you’ll be hit.

However, moving backwards at an angle (left or right) breaks the flow of the attack.

Try to picture yourself standing at the point (apex) of a triangle. Now step back to either the left or right back corner of the triangle, this breaks the forward momentum of the attacker’s combination so they must then adjust their direction of attack. This is when they are vulnerable to counter attack.

It takes time patience and lots of practice to learn to judge the correct distance and very importantly to decide which direction to step. As a general rule if you are stepping back far enough so the attacker’s kick cannot reach you, move to his closed side -if he’s kicking with his right leg move to his right (your left).

If you are moving to the side without moving back, (in order to counter without having to move toward him), move to his open side.

When countering always use a block as you counter, when the block connects it will turn him slightly and upset his balance so you can then follow immediately with an appropriate hand or foot attack.

Now when your opponent uses a back kick, practice moving sideways in the same direction as his body rotation, this will place you in his ‘blind side’ (his back will be toward you, and you will be in a position to counter without having to cover much, if any, distance at all.

Practising kick and counter is best learned using a single kick attack and a combination hand and foot counter. For example; both in right back stance (right foot is the rear foot) attack with right mid section front kick, counter by stepping to your right side with your right foot while blocking with your left forearm and counter with a right punch followed by an appropriate kick.

Now practice against the same kick but this time step to the left with your right foot, (rear foot)block with outer forearm inner block then quickly move left foot forward into front stance and deliver reverse punch to the head and again follow with an appropriate kick. With practice these are very effective techniques, and will give you the base to experiment with angles and distance for your kick and counter practice which you will then use during free sparring.

Train hard and enjoy it

How Taekwondo helps you develop pride in yourself

Blog number 3 in the series Practical use of training in everyday life is...

Pride in yourself

Feeling pride in yourself can be a major contributor to success in life.

I’m not talking here about believing you are intrinsically better than the next person, that’s just conceit, it’s more about being pleased with something you’ve achieved and what you know you can achieve in the future.

It doesn’t matter what the goal is, any time a person works toward and finally reaches their objective it boosts their confidence, self esteem, and determination. For example you might have studied every night and finally achieved a great exam score - or trained every night and finally achieved your Black Belt.  The point is that it wasn’t luck - you  worked hard and made your own successful outcome.

The structure of our Taekwondo training is a perfect stepping stone for setting and achieving a goal successfully. It’s a fun way to find out what you can make happen when you set your mind to it.

You start with no knowledge of Taekwondo, learn the basics and achieve your first belt level.

That sets you on track - from there you can set yourself a new goal to be ready to grade to the next belt level in twelve weeks time and train towards it. So you slowly climb up the grades.

Each belt level you achieve brings a sense of pride and satisfaction – and a new goal with a new challenge that pushes you a little further. Before too long you find you’re thinking that earning your Black Belt might be a real possibility!

 

All it takes for your success is knowledge of what you need to do and correct guidance - both of these you get from your instructor, then from you the requirement is just determination and effort.

Evert time you’re promoted to the next grade level you can truly take pride in your success because you earned it.

Pride in your ability boosts your self-esteem and gives a better understanding of the things you can achieve when you strive.  Tasks that you would once have thought impossible now turn into ‘difficult - but achievable’. That positive attitude encourages you to aim higher and gives you a new sense of self-worth.

 

As pride in your Taekwondo achievements grows you’ll find all that effort is shown in your fit, trim and toned body and in the way you look and move. It gives you another reason to feel pride and satisfaction with yourself and can encourage you to develop the successful habit of working hard for your goals for the rest of your life.

Part 2 - FOCUS.

Training in martial arts can provide you with strengths that help you achieve your career/study/life goals.

The next series of blog articles will follow a general theme outlining the practical use of training to gain these mental and emotional strengths whilst maintaining the fun and enjoyment that training gives you.

Focus....dictionary definition - an act of concentrating interest or activity on something:

Focusing is less necessary when you simply want to work up a sweat and get fit – but vital when the exercise becomes ‘training’.

 The difference is in carrying out movements only to exercise your body   - and in learning how to carry out the movements correctly, effectively and to your best ability at that stage of your training.

 Look at it this way - If you go jogging, you don’t have to think “put the left foot in front and balance while doing it, now put the right foot in front... you just do it you don’t have to focus very much on what you are doing, it’s mostly automatic.

Taekwondo training needs lots of focus, that’s why it grabs and holds you.

That focusing eliminates exercise boredom and makes you train thinking about what you are doing rather than just ‘working-out’. For example, you may want to master a new kick or improve the speed of your hand techniques so you’re required to focus on those things, training your body to move as you want it to in order to improve your ability.

There are two types of focus – visual and internal.

Visual focus is obvious and easy, see the target, judge where you need to be to punch, kick, block or strike it and go for it.

 Internal focus is much more difficult; in relation to Taekwondo training it’s about gathering your body’s power and delivering it to the target. Think of it this way, next time you practise a punch visualise drawing the strength from all parts of your body, from the soles of your feet up through your legs and torso into your shoulder, down your arm and into the fist and finally transfer that power from your fist to deliver an intense punch to the pad or target. That’s internal focus.

There are some really great benefits in learning to focus in this way. Firstly it gets results in your Taekwondo training so it’s a fun way to gain a valuable life skill, and once you’ve learned how to focus your mind on a specific task you can apply it to any task that you need to accomplish. You’ll find you are able to think clearly and gather all the components of what is required and bring them together to accomplish the task successfully.

This is another example of ways in which learning Taekwondo helps you develop life skills that can improve your success in your daily life too.  

Train hard and enjoy it.

Master Trevor Dicks

“Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives”. 
Tony Robbins 

What is a martial artist?

All living creatures including humans fight! They fight to survive and to protect others. 
Some fight to lead or subjugate others. 
Some fight through fear for self preservation. 
Others fight for love to protect their family, and yet others are conditioned and trained to fight and kill in armies for protection of country.

The techniques used in those types of fighting don’t have to be perfect they just need to be effective.

That’s the martial part of martial art.

The art part of martial art is the development of ‘self’.

By constantly striving to perfect martial techniques, mental and emotional strength is developed. This training often takes years, and it can take a lifetime.

The benefits of training in a martial art are numerous and rewarding and offer significant aid in a person’s success in life.

The word success generally conjures visions of lavish lifestyles which include cars, homes, holidays etc. that’s one side of success. Mother Theresa was super successful at what she did and achieved, and had no wealth in monetary terms at all.

Success is no more than achieving your goals, whatever they may be.

Training correctly in martial arts can help you achieve the strengths you need to reach your life goals.

The next series of blog articles will follow a general theme outlining the practical use of training to gain this mental and emotional strength for life success whilst maintaining the fun and enjoyment training gives you.

Let’s look at the first one now. 

Determination

Determination is a must for reaching any goal.

Determination turns a wish to accomplish something, into a will to accomplish it. It’s a mindset that says... ‘it will be done’.

I was visiting some branches last week and several times I heard a student say “I can’t do that!”. What they really mean is “I can’t do that yet”

Some people seem to be born with determination, if you are not one of them, and most people aren’t, then you have to acquire it and taekwondo training will help you.

Here’s how it works....First you need a goal to aim for, something specific, for instance... be able to pass the next grading successfully. So, you find out what the requirements are that you need to learn and practice, then practice.

Focus on following the recommendations of your instructor, perhaps, fix balance, increase height of the kick or use correct body line when kicking. You will find that there is something if not a lot that you just don’t seem to be able to do correctly. You try and try but it just doesn’t happen, this is when you begin saying to yourself “I can’t do this yet, but I will”.

 That’s how you build determination.


Train hard and enjoy your training


Master Trevor Dicks

Which Type Are You - And Does It Matter?

Have you ever watched another student or an instructor performing a jumping or flying technique and wished you could do it like that? Of course you have...most flying kicks are visually exciting to watch. Everyone can learn these techniques, - how well you perform them is another matter.

Some people are born with a higher proportion of ‘fast twitch’ muscle fibres than others, which means they move in an ‘explosive’ manner, they have more springiness and faster reflexes, these are traits that allow them to jump with apparent ease.

If you are a person with a higher proportion of ‘slow twitch’ muscle fibres you typically will have greater staying power,  so generally you can last longer during hard training than fast twitch people.

If you are not a natural jumper, accept that fact and train to improve your jumping skills.

Practice lots of leg strengthening exercises, and practice jumping, but do it as part of your overall training.

Find out what your strengths are and cultivate them. For example you may have ability for dodging and creating correct distance from your opponent during free-sparring....you may have fast thought processing that allows you to put together combination techniques and counters. Or are you good at close quarter defence and releases from holds and grabs? Do you have fluidity of movement during pattern practice? How about your ability to generate power?

The point is, find what you are good at and develop it until you are very good at doing it.

It seems to be a human trait to want what we don’t have and to envy those that do have it, but does it really matter which type we are?... I really don’t think so. Training is enjoyable, we train because we like all facets of it and enjoy the company of the people we train with (even if they do jump better than us).

Master Dicks