Some clips from last year's event. I have been looking them over, trying to get a feel for what to expect. I can't say I'm seeing great karate here, but that's not to say I can do any better!
Some kids and adults sparring:
Escrima weapons kata?
Young adult black belts (lots of head kicking)
Interviews, flashy weapons and open-handed katas (with backflips!)
These guys fight on one leg. I can't believe this can't be defended against more easily.
Seriously, 'Master' ??? I can see how the looping backfist over the top of the head gets two points, but in real fighting, that does nothing but get you clocked. Or am I wrong about that?
Well, there's a lot more like this, mostly younger guys. I don't know how the guys my age look, so that's a drawback. But I have been getting some advice from my instructors.
I understand that they like to come at you as soon as the hajime is given, but they tend to come straight on; so circle and change the fightline. Same if the front leg comes up; once that leg is in the air, they're not going to be able to turn, they can only hop and kick until they put it down again. I've got to try to play to my strengths; I'm not fast, but I can see a kick coming and I naturally tend to get inside and try to jam it.
I'm told that in some open-style tournaments, the traditional karate guys tend not to do so well because a lot of the judges are tkd and tend to look for head shots and kicks; they don't do much punching in their MA, and so they sometimes don't 'see' punches that land to the body which would otherwise be a point.
I'm also told that our dojo has traditionally had a lot of disqualifications from open tournaments because we train sparring with rather solid hits; these are not allowed in this kind of match. So we tend to punch and kick hard enough to plant people on their keisters and get DQ'd even though it was a nice clean hit and good karate. I'm not claiming to be able to do this, but this is what I'm hearing from others in my dojo.
Open to thoughts, opinions, etc!
