Greetings,
This is a very good and honest question. And some interesting answers so far. After years and years of serious study in Korean soft arts of Hapkido, Hwarangdo, Kuk Sool, and others, I was under the false impression that we had a well rounded system that included a solid "ground game". In my school, we would pride ourselves in that we had a variety of sparring scenarios that included lots of contact, no one calling for break, all tools on the table and so on. Yet when honestly evaluating our skill sets (especially our ground game), I had to say, "I believe we can still do better". I owed that to myself and to my students.
In as much as the main components for a solid ground game are present in these arts such as standing grappling, ie: joint locks, pressure points, clinch and take downs/throws, as well as ground grappling, ie: pins, chokes, submissions and incapacitations, I found key elements missing once the rubber hit the road. No fun, and the street (or battlefield) in not the place to discover that one is lacking an area of training, such as ground fighting, serious knife training, and so on.
It is true that there are techniques for throwing and locking up the opponent once they hit the ground, thereby forcing them to tap or cause serious damage. Most of these "ground" techniques were based on "pain compliance" and control over the situation. The same went for escapes from things such as chokes, pins and locks, etc. But no real "x-factor" or "what IF" training included, such as, if you slip and loose your balance during a throw or lock up (how many times has that happened...), if unable to apply a lock up due to sweat, or real difficult resistance, much less taking under consideration that the opponent may be very skilled and know the counter moves. God forbid a sudden "un-expected" weapon or extra opponent(s) become a factor. These are real, honest and important questions I needed to find answers, for myself and my students.
The answers were actually simple, and hard at the same time. Simple because all we needed to do is re-evaluate our existing techniques and training methods and tweak and augment them as needed. This meant, we needed a systemic approach (as their original applications), and we also needed to develop higher level training methods to allow us to tap into this system, and apply the necessary tools at the right time. Also simple is, the many times discouraged, looking into other arts that may provide these tools and training methods. The techniques are nothing new. An x-choke is an x-choke, a wrist lock is a wrist lock, and so on, regardless of style or country of origin. On the street it certainly would not matter. The hard part is actually doing this, and testing it out with our own students and those from other schools. Being honest with oneself and seeking out more "outside" knowledge, can be the hardest part. It is very different working with your own people and then mixing it up with "strangers". The same could be said with any fighting/sparring.
For us personally, this meant working with and rolling with people who worked in that area, such as Jiujitusu guys (traditional Japanese and BJJ), Judo and wrestling people, JKD, MMA and anyone else with an open mind and a positive attitude. Going against a strong, skilled and most importantly, an uncooperative opponent is very enlightening. The results were fantastic. We could absolutely apply the techniques from our existing arsenal and incorporate other techniques and training methods very easily. Very cool indeed. I was taught our techniques in a three level approach: 1-Escape, 2-Hurt and 3-Destroy. All depending on the severity of the situation. We apply this concept to our grappling as well. There is big difference in submission grappling and combative grappling. But we need it all. That just means more work. Cool.
Just try to take down a good judo man, or pin a good wrestler, or choke out a good bjj guy, it's not that easy. It has been noted that we don't really want to roll around or end up on the ground in a fight. I tend to agree. Too many things can go wrong, real fast. Even in the UFC, as much as it is very close to full on combat, it is not. There is a referee to stop and control the action, the are fixed perimeters (ie the cage), there are mats, there are no weapons or help from your buddies if you are loosing or in a compromised position, there are illegal techniques and so on. This is not a slight on MMA, I actually like the UFC and similar events, and even have many MMA fighters in our ranks. But it is a simple fact of life.
For me personally, a huge "light bulb" moment was realizing the importance of ground positions, and stabilizing what we call "superior positions". These not only afforded us the ability to better apply techniques, rest and re-group, but the positions themselves often ended the match. The next part of this enlightenment, was the all important areas avoiding and escaping these positions and associated finishing techniques. This was HUGE. This was also very stimulating, challenging and super rewarding. The result was our own Korean version of a ground game. Just as we have areas for kicking (jok sul), join locks (kwan jyel gi sul), weapons (moo gi sul), and so on, we now have a strong and practical area for grappling (hapki-yu sul).
Alright, I think I may have gone on too long. If you would like to see some of our grappling, some of my students have posted lots of clips on youtube such as this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAPxVRhzs_o&feature=channel
Alright, very good discussion.
With much respect and brotherhood,
Kuk Sa Nim
in my opinion MY ground work is fairly poor and has A LOT of room for improvement.
