I participated in another tournament this past weekend. Video from that competition is now up, if anyone is interested.

Team Forms:
Pattern - Gae Baek. I'm the one on the right side of the screen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_1NoQjadY8

Point Sparring:
I'm in blue.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWa02FC75GU

As usual, any constructive feedback is welcome.

Laura

Hi Laura. Thanks for the video. I liked how you were working more lateral/circular footwork than I have seen before. I also liked the high fake/low punch combo, you used that effectively a few times.

You might try using shin blocks a bit more to stop nuisance kicks. You can also use a low(ish) chamber just to threaten - keeps them from coming in if you chamber quickly and aggressively. You can also try to make that high fake a real shot. You were close enough to do so several times.

Thanks Matt!

I see you picked up on my favorite combination. It's one of the few that really feels comfortable to me, and it gets her every time! One of my goals before the next tournament is to start working out some variations on that theme. I was doing it so often, I was worried she was going to figure me out and start countering it. I also need to get better at getting around those blasted side kicks. Any suggestions?

FYI, Heather is from my school as well, and we typically compete against each other. I will admit, she was holding back quite a bit that day because I had hurt my neck about three days before, although it was feeling fine that day, she agreed to avoid the head kicks if I would still spar, just to be safe.

Since I have to fight her on a regular basis, in class and at tournaments, any suggestions on pointing out her weaknesses is appreciated as well.

Laura

The couple of things I noticed was the tendency for both of you to drop both your hands for lower kicks and then leave them there. That leaves your head and chest open for follow up techniques. On that note, don't stop until you hear the break, even in a friendly match.

You fight from a right lead entirely...even when you switched to a left lead you immediatley kicked with your right foot then set back down into a right lead. That can limit your techniques and allow your opponent to set you up easier.

Something you might look at that I believe would improve your success would be y stepping or sliding. Using your feet to flank and get beside or behind your opponent limits thier offense and defense and puts you into easy mode.

You have a good eye for the opening and I like how when you saw the opening you hit it instead of holding back.

Hope that helps and good luck in future tournaments!

Thanks WC!

I agree, I am very much a right leg kicker, but that is primarily due to an old injury in my left foot. It's taken a long time to heal, and while I am making a lot of progress with bag and paddle work, getting my strength back in that foot, I am still very hesitant about putting it out where it can get reinjured in a less controlled situation like sparring. I was please to have kicked a few times with my left leg and come away without needing a readjustment to my foot, which is the first time that has happened after a tournament. So progress is being made, however slowly.

Thanks again for the suggestions.

Laura

Hey Laura, congrats on competing! First on Ge-Baek:

The first thing that really jumped out at me was how well you performed the w-shaped blocks compared to the last time we saw a video. They had good power and torque in the hips and I'm impressed you improved it that much in such a short length of time. The pattern generally looked very good, although when you transitioned from bending ready stance to palm upward block in sitting stance, it looked messy. I think the reason for this is that you begin the technique to early; don't start the scooping part of the technique until much later.

Sparring: You did well with the lateral motion, and some of your combinations looked nice. I liked how you went for openings with that lead punch, however don't forget that once you score with a punch there are often lots more things open that you can hit with the rear hand.

You mentioned getting round side kicks. Well, it is a difficult thing to do in point fighting, because your opponent can throw doubles and tripples on you. The most important thing is to move round your opponent so they don't have a chance to set properly. Other than that, there are plenty of drills you can do. One that we do is to have one person stand still on the spot while the other tries to feint to get that person to side-kick. After he kicks, the feinter comes in just as the kick is retracted to counter. It takes a lot of work to get good at, but it will also improve your footwork no end.

Laura,

Are you aware of your hands when you kick? Watch what your hands are doing in the video in the forms and in the sparring. They are flailing. You need to keep good control of your hands when you kick. Wouldn't it be funny if your legs did that when you punched? This is really something that should be stressed at kyu/student level.

During the forms, your transition in stances is robotic and you are off balance a lot of times. That's something that needs improvement.

Quote:

---

I see you picked up on my favorite combination. It's one of the few that really feels comfortable to me, and it gets her every time! One of my goals before the next tournament is to start working out some variations on that theme. I was doing it so often, I was worried she was going to figure me out and start countering it. I also need to get better at getting around those blasted side kicks. Any suggestions?

---

It's good that you can find weaknesses in people's sparring and exploit that.
Simply raise your leg to take a sidekick out of play. If you can, use feints to make them kick, retract, then attack forward when they are planting.

I'm not sure how you can teach students to do something you yourself aren't capable of.

Hi Laura,

Patterns.
That was a stronger performance and on the whole it was good.
The Horse Stance/Scooping Block combination seemed a little blurred.
The Jumping Side kick is always a difficult one to get right, just after the Turning Kick.
Your San Makgis are getting there. Top Half was strong, but the Cha Bapgi was not fully emphasized.
Focus was good


Sparring.
I am sorry to hear about your neck injury, which must have been playing on your mind.
Also you mentioned that you have an old injury regarding your left leg.

It’s funny, I started logging observations prior to reading about your injuries and it did explain both fighters reluctance to commit.

But as I don’t know what level of discomfort you are in, please take my observations as if you were in good health.

R Stance, Left hand too low and leaves you wide open for a high Turning Kick (00.25), which could easily have come in at 00.27.

Nice Counter 00.29, but then you stopped and moved back outside of range and let the other girl re-initiate her attacks.
(Have you tried to connect with a lead Nopunde Dollyo Chagi as you step back from finishing a combination? That would catch a countering opponent).

It seemed that you both were concentrating on singular techniques too much.

It got a bit scrappy (00.26 to 00.39), but you seemed to get into the flow a little more (02.17 to 02.21) with some Hand Combinations.

If you get fazed by “Machine-Gun Dollyo Chagis”, try laying a Lead Crescent / Crescent-Axe over (or down on) the attacking leg, following up immediately with a Turning Kick with your rear leg. (The Crescent will force their kicking leg to the ground).

Another nice way of dealing with "Magine-gun Dollyo Chagis" is shown in this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBaamXnY2U0

Good find, Griff!