It never fails.....I will go to a tournament and get first place in forms, but not win a single match in free sparring. In fact, out of the six tournaments that I have been in, in my very short martial arts career, I have not won a single free-sparring match.......ever!
My masters don't understand why, because they state that I am a very good fighter, although, that doesn't make much sense to me.....if I was a good fighter, I would win sparring matches, correct?
At one tournament, after I lost, I was shaking one of the judges hands and he said to me, "that was a great fight, you're a good fighter" in which I responded, "I lost sir". He responded, "to me, there are two types of fighters....there are fighters that come into this ring and just beat anyone that they are faced against, and there are people that when threatened in a real life situation outside, they beat their attacker to a pulp and throw them under the dumpster"........after a pause, he said to me, "you come off to me as the latter."
Not sure if that was a compliment or not, but I love when masters say things to me.....I always wind up walking away trying to figure it out for months.....
Now, granted, I do not put much stock in free sparring........performing Tang Soo Do moves for points never made much sense to me.....especially when the points are dependent on whether or not a judge knows what they are doing, or even sees the point/non-point correctly, but I would like to start maybe winning once or twice....or at least IMPROVE!
So if anyone out there wouldn't mind sharing some of their free-sparring techniques I'd appreciate it. To give you some background, I am 38 years old and I have been taught to always be mobile and "on my toes" while sparring. I am about 5 ft 8 in and 190lbs. I do a lot of pushups and left lifts, so I have a lot of muscle in my shoulders and upper chest. I actually think that may be slowing me down a bit.
But, in short (no pun intended) I am just a short, stocky old man that is having difficulties with this part of the art. I have a hard time getting any punches in, because I can never seem to get close enough to throw a punch because everyone is always so hell-bent on kicking that I get jabbed with a side kick or something. I am also told that I am very, very tense (during my forms and during free sparring) and that probably makes my moves more predictable, but unfortunately, I cannot break the tension that lies within my body.
Anyway, any help would be appreciated. Thank you!
My masters don't understand why, because they state that I am a very good fighter, although, that doesn't make much sense to me.....if I was a good fighter, I would win sparring matches, correct?
At one tournament, after I lost, I was shaking one of the judges hands and he said to me, "that was a great fight, you're a good fighter" in which I responded, "I lost sir". He responded, "to me, there are two types of fighters....there are fighters that come into this ring and just beat anyone that they are faced against, and there are people that when threatened in a real life situation outside, they beat their attacker to a pulp and throw them under the dumpster"........after a pause, he said to me, "you come off to me as the latter."
Not sure if that was a compliment or not, but I love when masters say things to me.....I always wind up walking away trying to figure it out for months.....
Now, granted, I do not put much stock in free sparring........performing Tang Soo Do moves for points never made much sense to me.....especially when the points are dependent on whether or not a judge knows what they are doing, or even sees the point/non-point correctly, but I would like to start maybe winning once or twice....or at least IMPROVE!
So if anyone out there wouldn't mind sharing some of their free-sparring techniques I'd appreciate it. To give you some background, I am 38 years old and I have been taught to always be mobile and "on my toes" while sparring. I am about 5 ft 8 in and 190lbs. I do a lot of pushups and left lifts, so I have a lot of muscle in my shoulders and upper chest. I actually think that may be slowing me down a bit.
But, in short (no pun intended) I am just a short, stocky old man that is having difficulties with this part of the art. I have a hard time getting any punches in, because I can never seem to get close enough to throw a punch because everyone is always so hell-bent on kicking that I get jabbed with a side kick or something. I am also told that I am very, very tense (during my forms and during free sparring) and that probably makes my moves more predictable, but unfortunately, I cannot break the tension that lies within my body.
Anyway, any help would be appreciated. Thank you!