As I have stated before, I have little experience in ground fighting and our hapkido program is fairly light in it.
Well, our other school has a couple of HKD instructors with experience in ground fighting and a few of the students participate in MMA as well.
The kumdo instructor in Frederick was out sick and I came up to cover. I brought my younger son and we decided to catch the earlier hapkido class.
The HKD part of the class was well done and Master Frank runs a solid and challenging class.
When it came time to spar, we watched and there was some serious grappling going on. It was anything goes, MMA style to my eyes, and the groundwork was, at least to me as a novice, pretty impressive.
I was partnered first with a younger guy who I'd seen tap out a black belt at a demo on Sunday, so I knew he wasn't a paper tiger. I did surprisingly well keeping him away with strikes. We never went to the ground.
Then I was paired with and older (well younger than me) gentleman who is an HKD greenbelt, but looked very seasoned, particularly compared to me, in the groundwork. We were on our feet for a while, but we did end up on the ground. Thought I had him in a good choke, but I was mistaken. He got out and turned the tables, and I ended up in the choke and tapped.
I've never participated in that kind of fighting, so I really enjoyed both watching and participating. My son fared about as well as I did, but boy did he loooove it!!
Afterward, I ran the kumdo class and was back in my element. But I really did enjoy the groundwork.
My partner (can't remember his name) said that I had been a challenge, so I was happy for that, but more importantly, it is a skill set that I am not versed in. I always love to learn new skills and new techniques, even if it is out of my normal routine.
I think we'll be back next Thursday for Master Frank's class.
Daniel
Well, our other school has a couple of HKD instructors with experience in ground fighting and a few of the students participate in MMA as well.
The kumdo instructor in Frederick was out sick and I came up to cover. I brought my younger son and we decided to catch the earlier hapkido class.
The HKD part of the class was well done and Master Frank runs a solid and challenging class.
When it came time to spar, we watched and there was some serious grappling going on. It was anything goes, MMA style to my eyes, and the groundwork was, at least to me as a novice, pretty impressive.
I was partnered first with a younger guy who I'd seen tap out a black belt at a demo on Sunday, so I knew he wasn't a paper tiger. I did surprisingly well keeping him away with strikes. We never went to the ground.
Then I was paired with and older (well younger than me) gentleman who is an HKD greenbelt, but looked very seasoned, particularly compared to me, in the groundwork. We were on our feet for a while, but we did end up on the ground. Thought I had him in a good choke, but I was mistaken. He got out and turned the tables, and I ended up in the choke and tapped.
I've never participated in that kind of fighting, so I really enjoyed both watching and participating. My son fared about as well as I did, but boy did he loooove it!!
Afterward, I ran the kumdo class and was back in my element. But I really did enjoy the groundwork.
My partner (can't remember his name) said that I had been a challenge, so I was happy for that, but more importantly, it is a skill set that I am not versed in. I always love to learn new skills and new techniques, even if it is out of my normal routine.
I think we'll be back next Thursday for Master Frank's class.
Daniel
