Sparring and Breaking advice?

[Corporal Hicks]

Hi, I have a Tae Kwon Do tournament this saturday and I need some advice.
When it comes to sparring (in practice) I always seem to lose my first couple of fights before I actually get into the swing and manage to score back. The trouble with this is that I only have one fighting chance in this tournament and I really want to win something, or at the least win my first fight. I walked away last time with nothing having been beaten out completely in my first fight and since then I've been training at home trying to enhance my skills. I'm only a blue belt but since I've been training at home I can generally point score quite well when I'm in pratice but it akes a while for me to get into the swing. I'm worried that in this tournament I will just be beaten at the start again and that none of the techniques I have pratciced i.e. jab cross hook etc etc will work. What can I do? and how do I deal with an agreesive attacker?

Also, any advice on breaking?

 

[Disco]

I'll answer your question with a question. Review the match's that you have lost and see what caused you to lose. Build upon that as a start. My personal opinion for sparring, based on all the tournaments I've been prevy to, is to be different. By that I mean, the norm for people is for them to come straight at each other then back up. Looks like two rams fighting. Straight in, bang heads, straight back, repeat..... You may want to give some thought and try to use angles more. Your opponent comes in, side step and use a cresent kick for example. Anyway, good luck in the tournament.

 

[TigerWoman]

This is an open or just TKD tournament? Karate types don't kick as much. Punching guys like to come in close, don't let them, sidekick them hard. Watch others that are in the same group as the person who you will spar. Some clubs don't spin at all hardly. Just round kick attack. Those you spin on-spin sidekick. Unless your high kicks are strong don't use them. If a person is aggressive, hit hard, they will have more respect and not come into your space so easily. If they come in with a hopping front kick go to the diagonal and do a jump back kick as they come down or a crescent if you can bring your leg up fast. Or you can do a fake sidekick, quickly put it down, spin toward your back and do a round kick on same leg -this is a 360° round kick (you both start out in a closed fighting stance) Do not use round kick as a opening attack. Use fakes intermittently. Those that attack usually are at the disadvantage. Try to use more than one kick in your attack. If you are close, punch hard then do a crescent or jumpback.

And remember, if you are new at this there are a ton of guys who it is not new and they have an arsenal of tried and trues. So, learn from it, and don't beat yourself up if you don't win. After wouldn't you rather learn from a more seasoned sparring opponent then beat an easy adversary?

As for breaking what are your strengths? TW

 

[Zepp]

Sparring advice is easy to come by, so I doubt you need mine in particular.

As far as breaking goes, I'd strongly suggest practicing the breaks beforehand that you plan on doing at the tournament. Under the pressure of competition, it's best to stick with what you know you can do. I don't know what kinds of breaks they like to see at this particular tournament, but if you want advice on a specific breaking technique, ask and we'll help you if we can. Oh yeah,- please don't use spacers. Spacers are for sissies.

 

[Marginal]

Hi, I have a Tae Kwon Do tournament this saturday and I need some advice.
When it comes to sparring (in practice) I always seem to lose my first couple of fights before I actually get into the swing and manage to score back. The trouble with this is that I only have one fighting chance in this tournament and I really want to win something, or at the least win my first fight.

Could just be your mentality. When you're sparring in class, it doesn't really matter if you "win". It's more important to work on various stuff you're trying to incorperate etc. You know this, whether it's a conscious or unonscious kida knowledge, it's probably sitting there in the back of your head somewhere. In a tournament, you're likely to be fighting people who you've never sparred before, and their goal at that point isn't to learn, it's to apply what they've been learning under a stressful, unknown situation and win.

All boils down to some great advice someone posted on this forum a while back. (Though it apparently wasn't great enough for me to remember it verbatum... Or who actually said it. Bah.) "It's your ring. That other guy doesn't have any reason to be there."

Try to focus on the fact that you have to win. Then remind yourself that win or lose, it doesn't matter in the slightest because it doesn't actually prove anything.

 

[Hwoarang_tkd26]

Ok, Im going to take a slightly different aproach with my advice compared to everyone elses, because sorry to say you are not going to become much better in less than a week learning new techniques or doing them differently, so I will not even try to give you that sort of advice, so take from my advice what you want and that might help you.
This seems to work well for me.
Try not to focus on the matter of "Winning or Losing" all though winning is a lot of fun, it only flutters your mind when you think about who is winning in the match.
Even if you lose, take a personal note of all your small victories in the match, and keep them to your self, be humble.
Enter the ring with in mind not getting a victory, which reminds me of a samurai qote that I have been told "Those who enter the battle field wishing to live, shall die, and those who enter the battle field expecting to die, shall return home alive." -Unknown
Anyway, do you get what I'm trying to say?
It just takes time, and many sparring matches to get it down, be patient.
Also, stay calm before and durring the match, I know this is hard to do because it's hard for me at times too.
Anyway, I hope this helps.
Good luck:ultracool - Hwoarang_tkd26

 

[Raewyn]

Hi, I have a Tae Kwon Do tournament this saturday and I need some advice.
When it comes to sparring (in practice) I always seem to lose my first couple of fights before I actually get into the swing and manage to score back. The trouble with this is that I only have one fighting chance in this tournament and I really want to win something, or at the least win my first fight. I walked away last time with nothing having been beaten out completely in my first fight and since then I've been training at home trying to enhance my skills. I'm only a blue belt but since I've been training at home I can generally point score quite well when I'm in pratice but it akes a while for me to get into the swing. I'm worried that in this tournament I will just be beaten at the start again and that none of the techniques I have pratciced i.e. jab cross hook etc etc will work. What can I do? and how do I deal with an agreesive attacker?

Also, any advice on breaking?

Maybe you just need to adjust your mindset slightly. Go in there feeling confident of a win in your first round. You can do it!!!!

 

[Corporal Hicks]

To be honest I have never done breaking before so I dont have a clue what I'm doing though I'm going in for hand breaking. I've read alot of books on the subject and know about the mental preperation and I'm not afraid of breaking my knuckles or hand even if I get it wrong so I'm just going to have to give it a good whelly straight into the midde of the board i.e. should be where it breaks. Focus my mind on hitting in squarely etc etc.


Thanks for replies

 

[Marginal]

As Bruce Lee said in Return of the Dragon, get your hips into those breaks. Also be sure you're not focusing on that top board. You gotta end up behind 'em with whatever technique you're using. When you do it right, it's almost like they weren't there at all.

 

[TigerWoman]

If you are doing a palm strike, have your instructor show you the proper way. Doing it on the blocks, have someone experienced set them up for you. Try two boards prior to the tournament-a week ahead at least. For a right hand strike: Your left should be by the side of the block, your right back and shoulder length apart. Your body mass should be over the boards, particularly your right shoulder. Bring your right arm-elbow straight up and piston your arm straight down. Most make the mistake of not getting the elbow up and going straight down thus making the strike at a angle and not only losing your force but making the boards slide forward. Try to aim your break toward the lower half of the stack. Tense your arm going down and aim for the floor, the boards are just in the way. A hopping side kick is another good break to do. Have you tested with that yet? TW

 

[bignick]

if you've never done breaking i do not recommend punch/backfist breaks...without proper practice they can cause serious damage...that being said...this is going to depend on how many boards for each strike you plan on doing...any ideas yet on what you're going to do...otherwise, all the advice i would offer has already been offered

 

[Zepp]

To be honest I have never done breaking before so I dont have a clue what I'm doing though I'm going in for hand breaking. I've read alot of books on the subject and know about the mental preperation and I'm not afraid of breaking my knuckles or hand even if I get it wrong so I'm just going to have to give it a good whelly straight into the midde of the board i.e. should be where it breaks. Focus my mind on hitting in squarely etc etc.

This probably isn't what you want to hear, but someone should say it. If you haven't broken boards before, a tournament is not the place to start. You really should go buy yourself some pine boards and practice at least a couple times. And make sure you don't cross-grain the boards when you set them up.

It's great that you can tell a bunch of people on an internet forum that you're not afraid of hurting your hand, but keeping that mindset when the spotlight is on you may be harder than you think. Practice is the best preparation for this.

 

[TigerWoman]

Zepp is right... You should practice. A bad experience would set you back and damage your hand possibly. That is not worth it. Don't do the punch or knife until you have the palm strike down. Hammerfist is possible too but start with one board. Instead of power breaks (multiple boards), do one station breaks, palm, hammer, step side kick through one board each. Preparation for a tournament usually takes weeks for breaking. The week before we usually don't do anything for practice. TW

 

[Han-Mi]

All the advice here is great, but I have one thing to add about the sparring.
If one of your class mates goes to the same tournaments as you you may want to do a warm up match with him/her. I usually like to warm up by doing some light tap sparring with a buddy of mine if one is there. If not I usually try to throw a few techs as if I had someone in front of me. It helps for me and everyone else I know that has tried it, so that's my advice.

 

[Corporal Hicks]

Cheers guys!

They cancelled the breaking anyway so it gives me a chance to get some boards and do a bit o breaking, thanks for the replies,
Regards

 

[Marginal]

How'd the sparring go? Anyone mooing like a cow to distract their opponent? :ultracool

 

[Corporal Hicks]

Well, that was the fifth proper sparring match (out of my two years of training) that I have ever done. I lost both my matches. The first guy was taller, and faster than me but I only just lost, and he was older than me as well as being more well built, though I gave him something to think about. The second guy was a international player from one the teams that came from abroad to the tournament, he kicked my butt but I got lots of congrats for putting up a good fight. I was a shame to lose but I loved the experience, and I'm going in again for next month, I cant wait! Thanks for the tips guys!:whip: Regards

 

[jakmak52]

Blitz and learn to play tag