Head games and foot play in York, PA (NQ #2)

[StudentCarl]

After a fun weekend of coaching, watching matches, and making new friends, I figure it's worth sharing what I found useful-- for those with national qualifiers still to come.

*E-hogus were used for all ranks, not just BBs. The lines to buy socks were long, but there seemed to be enough to go around.

*Pads are required under the socks per USAT staff, but the best pads seemed to be thinner ones, taped onto the foot. Don't just try to buy a bigger size to fit over your regular foot pads. The pad material we've found best is firm camping pad foam of about 3/8" thickness. There were tons of people who thought they either needed no pad or didn't have any way to make a pad other than their regular foot pads. The refs were checking for pads at the rings.

*Have your pads on when you buy socks. The rule of buying one size big is only a starting point. I saw many trashed zippers because people didn't fit their socks right and then tried to gear up in holding.

*You need to tape your pants where they meet the top of the socks so your pants don't get in the way of the sensors.

*I saw a lot of poor kicking technique to the e-hogu. Bad foot angle and bad distancing (hitting with toes, shins, ankles) took away points that weren't otherwise blocked. I saw very powerful shots where much of the power was transferred when the ankle hit the target...although the foot sensors did touch the hogu too, the power wasn't between the sensors and the hogu so no point. Changing distance thus was effective in defense in reducing kicks to the hogu.

*The difficulty scoring on the e-hogu causes the predictable shift to going for head points. The head points were often decisive, as it was rare to see more than a few body points scored in one match.

*I saw at least a dozen punches score, and had others reported to me. As said in the Coach's Edge class, judges are apparently watching for them more.

Anyone else there this weekend?

Carl

 

[Gorilla]

After a fun weekend of coaching, watching matches, and making new friends, I figure it's worth sharing what I found useful-- for those with national qualifiers still to come.

*E-hogus were used for all ranks, not just BBs. The lines to buy socks were long, but there seemed to be enough to go around.

*Pads are required under the socks, but the best pads seemed to be thinner ones, taped onto the foot. Don't just try to buy a bigger size to fit over your regular foot pads. The pad material we've found best is firm camping pad foam of about 3/8" thickness. There were tons of people who thought they either needed no pad or didn't have any way to make a pad other than their regular foot pads.

*Have your pads on when you buy socks. The rule of buying one size big is only a starting point. I saw many trashed zippers because people didn't fit their socks right and then tried to gear up in holding.

*You need to tape your pants where they meet the top of the socks so your pants don't get in the way of the sensors.

*I saw a lot of poor kicking technique to the e-hogu. Bad foot angle and bad distancing (hitting with toes, shins, ankles) took away points that weren't otherwise blocked. I saw very powerful shots where much of the power was transferred when the ankle hit the target...although the foot sensors did touch the hogu too, the power wasn't between the sensors and the hogu so no point. Changing distance thus was effective in defense in reducing kicks to the hogu.

*The difficulty scoring on the e-hogu causes the predictable shift to going for head points. The head points were often decisive, as it was rare to see more than a few body points scored in one match.

*I saw at least a dozen punches score, and had others reported to me. As said in the Coach's Edge class, judges are apparently watching for them more.

Anyone else there this weekend?

Carl

Great update...The game is changing...Head kicks are the name of the Game!!! Lots of changes in strategy will be needed to win with the LaJust System. The thing that I really don't like is the thickness of the padding it takes all the power out of the game. You can't feel the kicks through the padding. If you have power it neutralizes that part of your game. Body shots don't hurt with this system. It becomes a game of head shots/quickness and accuracy with the Lajust System power is out of the game.

A good example was this weekend(AAU Qualifier) my daughter hit her opponent with 2 really hard body shots with regular hogus. It really hurt the girl and she was unable to fight effectively from that point on. It was a momentum changer. With the Lajust system it would have been 2 points maybe and she would not have been able to feel the kicks so the momentum would not have changed and it would have been a much different fight.

With the Daedo True Score system you can feel the kicks and they have sensors in the back so the backside is in play with this system. It is only 8 oz heavier. We will be using them in Spain and I will give you a complete rundown when we get back.

 

[d1jinx]

yep... i was there both days and all day and night. You touch on the most important points.

I too was surprised when I saw EVERYONE regardless of division, age or belt using the LaJust.

I was surprised when i found out they could tape the bottom of the pant legs tight aound the ankle. Didnt think it was allowed, but they let them. Some people even tucked the pant legs through thier shin guard straps. Everyone looked like NINJAS with thier pants bloused and white booties on.

LOT and LOTS of garbage points no longer scoring. Yes punching was being scored. There is a seperate buttom ont eh controller for punches, turning kicks, and headshots. Takes a good clean solid shot to score. saw people kickig the Chit out of eachother and no points going up. all it took was the ankle,shin connecting, an arm partially blocking or a pantleg or sleeve was in the way........... so the pantleg taping really paid off for those who did it.

I have to slightly dissagree with you though... the head "hunting" wasn't as prevelent as I thought it would be. Sure there were head shots, but not as many as I would have expected. Especially in the third round when someone had 0 points, they never attempted to go to the head. People have gotten so used to kicking and hearing a POP and thinking they scord, they were devestated when they had 0 points and didnt know what to do.... HELLO.... MCFLY... KICK THE HEAD;

Also about the kicks not being felt.... I saw an indiviual K.O.'d with a back kick... another k.o. with a roundkick to the face.... funstuff. he never knew what hit him.

The Sport/competition Poomse TOOK FOREVER> especially on saturday. please be aware and make sure your students are aware what they are signing up for.... some got out there and didnt know the form they were supposed to do. take the time to know what forms you should before doing it.

yes.... the line for booties was LONG on saturday... lake carl said, people weere trying to force them over their instep pads and they were breaking the zipper. invest in seperate, thin, hard insteps then buy the booties to go over it. The FAT Fluffy insteps tore boot zippers and didnt score easily.

I foresee lajust making padded booties soon.

AND.....

The electronics had problems. it slowed the whole day down. As soon as something started running smoothly... system would go down. Poor Lajust guy was runnning from ring to ring ALL DAY LONG both days. Some were easy fixes that an experienced computer operater could have fixed without waiting on the Lajust guy, and others were more complicated which even took him a while and a few head scratches to figure out. Experience would solve half of the problems.... alot of people were using them for the first time.

People still didnt figure out to go to the desk and get "synched up" before their fight. They would go to the coaches chair and get told 5-6 times to come over to the table, then would walk off only to be told they still needed to be tested. This happened in between each fight and SLOWED the whole thing down. the Refs had to chase down the competitors on a few occasions.

one good fight... the batteries went dead in the hogu... just like that. another fight a coach called someone one his cell phone and the system went down... so they wouldnt allow cell phones in the rings. Coaches were told to get rid of them or turn them off. This is true...

All and ALL a good learning experience this past weekend. The turnout wasnt as many as I would have expected. when the referees were waiting on competitors most of the time... that says a story unsual to the days of old. Could have been finished alot sooner...

 

[d1jinx]

Just to add... for what its worth....

There seemed to be a sharp curve to the experience level of sparring with the E-hogus. Somepeople had absolutely NO Problem scoring points and others could not score a single point in 3 rounds. At first i thought it was the hogus... but not any more. The more technical and acurate kicker scored, the "throw a ton of kicks and dont stop" poeple who try to overwhelm their opponent and win.... did not.

It was evident that some people were training with the e-hogus... and it paid off greatly.