Does anybody know any good "trapping" drills?

[bluekey88]

Hey all,
I want to tap the collective knowledge base here. I'm looking for advice on good skills to teach and train trapping skills (or resources that might help me in this area).

To illustrate what I mean, I look at sparring skills at 4 different, interconnected levels. There's attacking skills (the ability to hit/score on your opponenet), defensive skills (the ability to prevent your oppoenent from hitting/scoring on you), counter-attack skills (combines the previous abilitites by avoiding opponent's attack and then scoring on them while they recover). The highest level then is to not just wait for your opponent to attack, but to bai tor "trap" them. Lure them into an attack and then counter-attack.

We're working on this concept with the competition team I help coach and we're trying to come up with some good drills to teach and improve the skills involved in trapping. It's proving to be a bit of a challenege. I figured this would be a good place to start researching the subject.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

Peace,
Erik

 

[Laurentkd]

hmmm... I don't know if I understand exactly what you are asking for, but I have a fairly simple drill we use.

Both competitors start out just out of range (neither could kick the other from this distance). Then it comes down to patience. As soon as one competitor steps in to close the gap, the other compititor throws a roundhouse to score. Of course, to practice one person is the stepper and one the kicker (so the quick response can be learned). But in basic tournaments it is pretty effective. This may be something you could use.

You can do the same thing with lots of scenarios. Another basic one is if you see a roundhouse coming in from a close distance, throw a spin (or jump spin) back kick.

Of course they all take practice and a "smart" fighter to pull off.

I believe sparring is really ALL about what you are talking about. You have to think of what your opponent is going to come in with (based off the distance, body and foot positioning, and even the strength and weaknesses of the opponent) and be ready to react accordingly. Very similar to chess...

 

[andyjeffries]

I'd say a good drill is to have one play attacker/trapper and the other defender. The attacker has to make either a feint (cut kick or round kick) or an attack. If he attacks the defender must counter with a round kick (and is given verbal stick if he misses one).

If the attacker feints and the defender counters then the attacker has to kick again to catch him.

Effectively this teaches a number of good skills:

1) Feints must look realistic to draw out the desired response - half-arsed feints won't do it.

2) Defenders will improve recognition/speed/reaction time in order to only try to counter when they think it's a real attack.

3) Attackers learn to throw a good feint that makes the opponent react and then counter the reaction that they hoped would come.

It's fairly generic, but doing things like a static drill such as cut kick feint, defender round kicks, attacker back kicks are a bit too boring for my liking ;-)

 

[Adept]

The techniques I use in those instances are:

1 - Staggered timing. Here what we do is throw two or three strikes in a pattern. Do it once or twice, until your opponent comes to expect that pattern. Then break it, and exploit their wasted counter. For example.

"Jab, Jab, Cross."

They counter. You observe how they counter.

"Jab, Jab, Cross."

They counter again. Again, you observe how they counter.

"Jab, Jab..."

Again they counter, as they now expect the cross to follow. This time, you take advantage of the counter you know is coming, and attack them.

2 - False Distance. When you face an opponent who constantly moves out of range, do not chase them. Let your attacks fall a few inches, or a foot short as they duck back or to the side. Once they believe they have a feel for your range, extend your attacks fully, catching them by surprise.

3 - The Fake Hole. Deliberately leave yourself open to attack, and let your opponent see it. For example, drop your left hand when you throw a kick. When you believe they have observed your 'weakness', throw a kick and then immediately exploit their counter-attack.

4 - The feint. Really simple. Observe how your opponent counters a specific move, then throw that move. However, a feint is an attack you throw with no intention of it landing. You want them to counter it, because you then take advantage of that counter.

Generally speaking, the goal is to set the pace of the fight and then to control it. Make your opponent do what you want them to do, rather than letting them do what they want.

 

[Brother John]

may I make a suggestion?

You posted this in the Tae Kwan Do area. I have lots of respect for TKD, but it's not known especially for 'trapping' skills. To tap into the general knowledge base I'd suggest you take this to the "general" martial arts area where you'll reach people from all different styles...
and if you really want to target people who do have trapping skills and great drills....you might want to ask in the Jeet Kune Do (JKD) area.

Your Brother
John

 

[Laurentkd]

may I make a suggestion?

You posted this in the Tae Kwan Do area. I have lots of respect for TKD, but it's not known especially for 'trapping' skills. To tap into the general knowledge base I'd suggest you take this to the "general" martial arts area where you'll reach people from all different styles...
and if you really want to target people who do have trapping skills and great drills....you might want to ask in the Jeet Kune Do (JKD) area.

Your Brother
John

Brother,
At first I too though the meant "trapping" like JKD trapping, but I think instead he is asking about stratagy in TKD sparring...like how to "trap" your opponent into doing something that you can then easily counter because you know it is comming. I think he is talking about mentally trapping rather than physical trapping...
Although advice from other arts regardless is always good

 

[bluekey88]

Thanks all, these are some fine suggestions. We've been doing similar drills in some cases but I see some things we can add to what we do.

as Lauren pointed out, I'm not talking about "trapping" in the sense of tying up an opponent to throw or strike them. I'm talking about exactly what Lauren said...making your opponent attack and then capitalizing on that, thus controlling the match and imposing ones will. This is really in a WTF/Olympic sparring venue.

Please keep the ideas coming, this is some useful stuff.

Peace,
Erik

 

[Brother John]

ahhh......
gotcha..


my bad





Your Brother
John

 

[Infinite]

Yeah as a JKDer I went to this thread all excited

Darn!

--Infy

 

[bluemtn]

Yeah as a JKDer I went to this thread all excited

Darn!

--Infy

That kind of trapping is always good to know too. Maybe good to ask the other forums, but still...