I'll post some updates here as the season progresses.

If anyone has any criticism, jokes, advice, anything, it's all welcome. This is just a fun hobby for me.


Ontario, CA

Just had a tournament in Ontario, CA yesterday at the convention center. Came in still with the healing torn calf muscle to manage, and my family's coughing/cold/crud finally caught up to me. I came home from NY on a biz trip Thurs night feeling like crap, and it progressed so on the way to Ontario Saturday morning, my throat was dry and hot, nose and ears congested. Thought about maybe pulling out and just cheering for my kids in their rings and calling it a day. My Mom came and met us, so I figured I'd at least give it a shot since she was there. Knowing my leg isn't completely healthy yet, and I was running a low grade fever, my plan was to just relax, use economy of movements and make the best of it, and not gas.

I had a good wake-up call in one of the early matches, with an ex-Army guy giving me a mis-guided stiff punch in the head. Other than that, all the best action was later on.

The AZ state champ beat me in Vegas two weeks ago in my first bout in that tourney. I wasn't expecting him to come to SoCal from AZ this weekend, but evidently he's trying to put on a run for top 10 and qualify for world's, knocking out someone in the lower half of the 10 sleeping on him. He and I met in the finals this weekend.

The calf injury has limited my mobility, so I really can't attack like I'm used to. In Vegas, I went on the offensive to try to control the match and pace, maybe end things quickly, but I wasn't able to move fast enough to set up positions with footwork, fakes and strike combo's. Attacking without speed and follow-up is a sure way to lose, and lose I did.

This time, I made him come after me. I kept calm on my feet, moved without using up much energy and used most of the mat, but instead of going after him like before, I was drawing him in. Mixed it up with feinted attacks to see how he'd react as well. If he reacted with a counter to feints, I'd be ready to parry and counter with my real attack--basically making the first shot a distraction with a follow-up that was meant to be the scoring attack. If he came in on me, I'd save my energy for quick off-line movements and counter quickly and drive him back with combo's. We had some great exchanges, it was actually really fun to spar this guy. He's one of the quicker guys in the division for sure.

We were tied up 2-2 for a bit, but the match ended up 5-2 with me taking it.

It's kind of fun trying to time it when someone's attacking you, letting their strike come in, and blocking, deflecting or dodging, then getting a counter off as their arm or leg is dropping after a miss. All this takes place very fast, and I'd imagine if I sparred with someone in practice who was quick as hell, I'd be much better off. As it stands, I'm only meeting really fast people in competition, so that makes it interesting.

Here's a pic of me with a front push-kick to the stomach when he'd just missed a strike and was about to kick.

 

Getting ready to go to TX this weekend for an A-rated tournament (bigger field and higher points available than a B). The top 2 guys in my division are from there, and even though I could accumulate points toward rankings in another tournament in a different area with lower level competition, I'm going to TX specifically so I can get time competing with them.

It may be a long shot but my objective is to beat them at world's, and since I'm the rookie in the ring, getting time with them is worthwhile--even if I lose matches or the opportunity to build up points. I'm bringing less experience to the table, so it's beneficial learning time for me. That's worth more than points, ranking position, trophies or any of that stuff.

One of these guys took 2nd at world's last year, and now returned to the division this season to win it. The other is from his same area, trains with him and they trade wins often from what I've seen.

I'm still dealing with the calf muscle injury healing, so my training has been limited. I don't like or advocate competing injured, under-trained or under-prepared, but in this case the season is winding down over the next few months and I'm running out of competition time. I think my best plan is to keep moving forward, train moderately and compete taking care not to worsen the injury, plan to get to world's healthy, and accumulate some good experience along the way.

I got beaten in TX last month by the 2010 TX state champ, another guy in the mix, but the calf was worse than it is now and I wasn't able to move very well at all. He's really quick, he'll be there this weekend, but I think I can take him in the condition I am in now, so he's not really a factor.

So, thinking out loud, here are my objectives in brief:

• Watch the top guys in their matches closely
• See how they're successful
• See what potential weaknesses they show
• Try to exploit their weaknesses (hand positioning/head exposure, footwork, repeating patterns, telegraphing, etc)
• Try to neutralize their attacks with footwork, deflection, smart counters
• Force myself to counter with combo's (commit and follow thru)
• Attack with combo's (same thing, commit)
• Manage injury, don't overdo it with movement, economize
• Relax, breathe

(I'm putting these down really to clarify in my mind what my game plan is, sharing with you guys in case you have any ideas, criticism or opinions.)


Okay, all for now, will post a report after the weekend.

 

I drew the #1 guy in the US for my first match, lost handily.

Short lesson, but here's what I learned:

• He's very fast.
• I need to get much faster.
• I need to attack, not try to counter.
• I need to be unorthodox in my attack.
• I need to completely commit to follow-through with combo's (need to get probability on my side with more volume in scoring shots thrown).

Going to Vegas for Spring Natl's next weekend. Will try to employ this simple plan. Will report back.

I'd like to say I'm chipper and upbeat, having great perspective on this, and it's a building block, blah, blah, blah...But I don't like coming home feeling like I didn't accomplish much. I like to keep getting better, and the top few guys really are more experienced and skilled, so I'm going to have to heal up this leg and get training well and consistently in order to close the gap.

I placed in forms competition, which is good, but I really want to be able to consistently place or win in sparring. Very difficult to progress while injured and under-trained. Frustrating.

 

Sounds awesome man, thanks for keeping us updated...

 

You bet. And if you have any tips, critical points to make, anything, it's much appreciated.

I'm the lone Californian in the top 10, and probably the only rookie black belt as well. I'm only doing this for one season, so I'm trying to make the most of it and see how far I can go.

 

Just had a first sparring lesson w/Kru Bryon Schnell at Team Quest. He's the MT coach and also has a point-sparring karate background from years ago (in addition to competing in BJJ). Great guy, very knowledgeable.

I have some very basic fundamental problems which we worked on. I'm clashing legs w/guys at times instead of timing their leg drop after an attack and attacking at that moment and driving forward with combo's. I need to get out of range, be patient and wait for the leg drop and attack as it falls. (I've tried to do this before, just not making it a habit). Additionally I need to switch stance to open stance with the opponent as they move to cut down on their options for attacks (makes it harder for them to bring the rear leg for round kick, so they have to work mostly with the front leg).

We worked on combo's and simultaneous block-attack as well--so I don't get in the habit of blocking and backing up, I need to attack as I block and drive forward.

I'm going to make some notes for myself and implement this weekend at Spring natl's in Vegas. Will let you know how it goes.

 

Got back from Spring Natl's last night, had a great event. 14 guys in my ring. There were 6 or more 2010 state champs and otherwise leading their respective states in 2011. I think I was the only one who didn't get a bye when they did the bracketing (most recent state title holders get preference on byes when they build the brackets); ended up with 4 matches while the most anyone else had was 3. I was pretty tired by the end, haven't been able to train much, so my conditioning is definitely not up. I felt pretty fresh until the last match, then really started feelin' it.

We started with Forms competition before sparring, which is a good warm-up. I was leading until the last 2 guys came up. Second to last guy scored higher and took it. But I was happy with just placing and don't really need the points; I'm solidly in the top 3 going toward world's and I don't think I could get knocked out of top 10 even if I didn't score at any more events this season. Here's the jump-sidekick which comes near the end of the 1st D BB Form (I'd like to get the kick up higher at world's, will work on core strength and flexibility to try and make that happen).




Next came sparring.


Match 1
The guy in my first match took me out quickly in the first tournament of the season last June. He's an agile guy, great kicks, strongly built, good flexibility, really overall an excellent martial arts practitioner. He took 2nd in Forms at the tournament in TX a couple weeks ago, so not only does he spar well, he's a technician. I was a little nervous sparring him to tell you the truth, didn't want to make the same mistakes I had when we met previously. And sometimes your competitor can be hard to figure out, or has a way of moving or attacking that has just the right differences to make it tough for you to adjust and succeed.

I've been trying to work the combinations to increase probability of scoring and controlling the match. I don't always do it, but I'll keep trying and have my mind set on improving. Here's a punch after we clashed kicks at the opening of the match. I got off a couple of punches driving him backward and scored.



Below he's going for a jump spinning hook kick, and I'm putting a front push-kick into the side of his mid-section to hopefully stuff his attack as he rotates. My right hand is up in case the hook kick comes around anyway (and it did), to protect my head.



Below I'm scoring with a spinning back kick (also called a turning back kick and sometimes a reverse side kick depending on how it's chambered and foot positioned).



Match 2

The AZ state champ guy referenced earlier, who beat me in Vegas and I beat in Ontario, was my second match. I felt pretty confident going into this one, dominated the match. He moves quickly, but he was trying fakes to set up attacks and I was timing the in-between moments well and getting my attacks in fast and accurately. Here's one of those in-between moments:



Match 3

The third match (one of two Semifinal matches deciding who would make it into the finals) was between me and a really powerful, quick, short guy who won Forms and used his quickness to take apart his last two sparring opponents (including some unintentional kicking fouls to the groin). He was using fast footwork and fakes to lure them into his range and he'd either combo a kick, throw a spinning hook kick or lunge in with fast punches. The other guys weren't using their legs to their advantage to keep him out of range, and with a quick inside guy like that, it's pretty much your best strategy, so I used it. Here I'd just backed him up with a sidekick fake, then he lunged in to punch and I already had a follow-up kick coming in.



Match 4 - Finals

The final match was with the guy who took 2nd at the all blackbelt national event in January. He's built identically to me, size, leg length, probably weighs within 5 or 10lbs of me too. We had a pretty great match, very active. There were lots of exchanges where the judges couldn't agree and no points were given. I got up 2-0 with this kick:



In one of the exchanges, he did a spin hook, and I ran forward inside the kick and punched to the side of his ribs. It's a really awkward thing to do. When someone spins on you, you either have to get out of the way, block solidly which is very hard with spinning kicks, or as soon as they start to rotate you have to haul ass forward and get inside the kick and counter as they're spinning. I'd done this in practice but never in a match. It's not pretty.



Then came one of those exchanges where the judges differed and there was no score (I'd hit the target but not all the judges had the angle to see the contact). He got a head kick in on me next, making it 2-0. Then I got a solid front kick to the body in, but not all the judges saw it, and he countered with a head kick which they did see. This tied us at 4-4. We had another exchange where I scored and the center judge saw it, but the corner judges didn't see it, so no score. Then time ran out, and we went into sudden victory overtime.

We had 5 exchanges with judges not agreeing before I finally got the winning score.

Great event, and a good confidence-inspiring day for me to build on. I've got 3 months to prepare for world's and a few tournaments left in March and April. Training has to ramp up slowly; I'm determined to get to world's healthy. The top 2 sparring competitors in the country weren't at the tourney this weekend, and in actuality they're both better, quicker and more experienced than I am (and they're from the same area and train together), so there's a lot of work to do if I'm going to have any shot at this.

Oh, almost forgot. In one of the matches, the other guy checked my kick with his shin and I got a major bone bruise on my shin. My son saw it before we drove home and said "Wow Dad, looks like a second knee!"

This is a wide-angle lens close-up of my shin, my calf and lower leg isn't this big, trust me.

So here's my second knee. It looks much prettier today, lots of purple, red, really creative. Like a painting.

 

Great job Dave! Good form on the sidekick, though more height is always great.

Sweet headkicks on the sparring too! You definitely did the right thing by closing the distance on the spinkick in the final.

I see a National champ in the making this year

 

^^^

Thanks Adam, will definitely work harder on that sidekick; I "think" higher, but I'm too weak laterally to get the darn leg up higher, lol! It'd be helpful to increase flexibility in that direction as well, I'm not very flexible to the side. That inhibits my hook and sidekicks too.

As for a championship, the two top guys are really on another level, so it's a pretty small chance for anyone in the top 10 below them to unseat them. The number 1 guy lost world's by a point in sparring last year in the final match, I was watching and it's debatable if he lost actually. Looked like a very close call. He's really sparring at the level I see in the 4th/5th Degree rings. The number 2 guy is nearly his equal and he's an ex-gymnast, super agile. None of that is going to keep me from trying to make something happen anyway. I'll ignore the facts.

 

I went for acupuncture to get the swelling down on the shin. It's down, but in the impact spot, there's a dent where bone is supposed to be, wtf!?