Yet Another Competition

[Bill Mattocks]

Just got back from a small open tournament just outside of Toledo, Ohio. It was interesting. I competed in kata for the first time, and point-sparring as I usually do. Won 2nd place in kata, 3rd in kumite. They didn't have a seniors division, so I had to compete against young adults.

As I said, it was interesting. The tournament was well-run and went quickly; there just weren't that many competitors. They held it at a local church, in what looked like a big meeting room, carpeted. They ran the adults at the same time as the kids, which was nice for a change, instead of having to wait all day to compete.

There were not anywhere near enough judges, so the judging was whatever they could find, I think. I ended up with three judges; two of them were TKD senseis and one was a young lady blackbelt, I have to guess around 17 or 18. I think she said it was her first time judging.

I did Chinto kata, and came second to a young brown belt who was Shotokan and did a kata that reminded me at least somewhat of Isshin-Ryu's Seisan. I asked him later and he said it wasn't, but that they have a Seisan kata and it's not like that one. In any case, when I saw him do his kata, I actually thought I had him beat. I thought my kata was strong, smooth, and powerful. So I was surprised when I came second.

I asked the judges one at a time after the event was over, so I could find out what I could improve on for next time. One told me that he thought my Chinto was great, he really liked it. When pressed for something that made me not win, he said that the kid used more power in his punches. I'd like to take that to heart, but I'm not really sure that's what I saw in him or myself. But, I was not the judge, so perhaps I can find a way to crank more power into my punches in kata. The second judge said that my stances were too tall and narrow, she likes to see low deep stances. That was an interesting comment also, since Isshin-Ryu stances are in general higher and narrower than, say, Shotokan's. The third judge (the young lady) said she thought I should go faster. Well, I did ask. However, I'll give it some thought and see if there's something I can do with their comments.

Anyone else think that a deeper stance is more 'impressive' to judges at kata competitions? I will say that my own sensei commented recently that he thought I could take a little bit wider stance, because I'm a 'big' guy (fat) and a narrow stance makes me look it. I'm not sure if that's the same concept, though. Thoughts?

Sparring was OK. Nothing special. There were three of us. One guy got the bye, so it was me and another guy for 1st and 3rd; the guy who got the bye would fight the winner of our bout for 1st and 2nd. I came third, so I didn't win. But I performed better than I did at the IHOF in Chatanooga recently; I wasn't upset with myself afterwards. I drew a young guy would obviously spent a lot of time in the weight room. He had some good strategies, but both of us had trouble getting off the fight line and not fighting linear. He tried a couple kicks on me, and he did get some points for his trouble, but I also knocked him on the ground twice and threw him clear out of the ring into the spectator seats at one point. I was surprised, this guy had arms like beer barrels, but the judge told us we were both 'bruisers' and needed to tone it down. In any case, points aside, I dominated him physically, and that really surprised me, because he was physically intimidating-looking.

We again only had three judges, and the center judge told us up front that most judges miss 90% of the points, and give people points that they didn't get, so just get used to the idea that the points are probably wrong, and if you lose a point you think you should have won, just remember that you probably got some points that you didn't actually earn too. That was kind of strange advice. I have to agree, though, that it's hard to judge point-sparring accurately. It does seem like points get awarded for misses and blocked kicks, and sometimes don't get awarded for solid hits and counterpunches; on both sides, I'm not claiming I was wronged. What are your thoughts on that?

So anyway, it was fun, I learned some, I met some cool folks. Glad I went. No, not a big win or a huge deal, but a little bit more experience.

And how was YOUR day?

 

[Sukerkin]

I think the advice about miss-scored points is highly valuable, Bill. We're all human and that means that those judging competition sometimes get it wrong - that's why there are generally a panel of judges after all .

I found that out the hard way myself when I was younger, in my Lau Gar days i.e. that judges don't see everything or at least don't see everything the way that we, the competitors do .

When it comes to kata, rather than point-sparring, then it is even more important to remember that a judge has their own ideas about how a technique should look. Sometimes this is not matched by our own views :lol:.

Mind you, this can work the other way too. Again from my own experience, Iai this time, I have been told that someone, who I thought was better than me at some elements, because he was mush 'crisper' than me, was not as good as me (in this persons eyes) because my techniques flowed smoothly from one to the other without disconnects, giving no openings for counter-attacks to come through. My point is that you never really know how judging will go. Sure it's nice to receive positive reinforcement but, as we all know, you learn more from losses, criticism and mistakes than you ever do from being told you're great :grins:.

 

[Cyriacus]

Thanks for asking, Bill!
My Day has been very uneventful, given that I only Woke Up 20 Minutes ago!




*cough*
Right, Judging Systems.
Ultimately, Winning or Losing is Subjective. You usually know of you overwhelmed your Opponent, and so does he.
But Judges cant be expected to be Perfect. Any System will be flawed - Just work with what you have, and dont stop in the middle of Fights to wonder if you scored a point.
Thats just my Opinion.

And as for Stances, Shotokan keep their Front Leg RIGHT out there. And whilst it may be visually Pleasing for Kata, it isnt the Baseline Standard of Karate, and shouldnt be treated thusly.

And as for YOUR Stances, in Sparring, I think youd benefit from Shortening it up a bit more. But again, just me

 

[Buka]

Tournaments are always difficult, in order for the darn things to run - you have to use who's available for judging. Therein lies the problem (sometimes).
I judged Kata for over twenty five years. Outside of some of the major tournaments, I'm not sure if I ever had the same panel of judges in any two tournaments. So, different people have different opinions on what they want to see. That's always been the weakness of judging.

Tell you one thing, though, I don't ever remember "low, deep" stances in Chinto. As for "going faster", I think that judge is talking out the wrong side of her body. While there's certainly fast motions in Chinto, it's not a fast Kata. I don't believe it's supposed to be and I don't think she knew what she was talking about. There's also a couple schools of thought on Chinto, but I tend to go with old school.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Thanks, everyone! Just to make it clear, this is not me complaining about how I was wronged or anything. It was all good. I had a good time, and I'm not concerned with the outcome as much as I am about how I feel about my own performance. I was just sharing some of the comments I got when I asked the judges for feedback. One thing I think I'm learning is that I'm not going to get better at sparring just going to competitions. I need some more regular and frequent sparring so that I can improve. I am not sure how I'm going to get that, but I'm going to try to figure it out.

 

[Carol]

You're getting out there, supporting the efforts (of putting on tournaments) and trying to make it work. That's awesome!

 

[stickarts]

In the end, it's all that much more experience! Way to go!

 

[Big Don]

Having recently been a judge for the first time, I can tell you that is it's own special kind of nerve wracking

 

[ATC]

Congrats to you on your placements. Keep training and keep getting better.

 

[oftheherd1]

Glad you went and you enjoyed. Obviously you gained experience as a compeditor and in how different people judge. I am not a qualified judge for sparring or forms. Sorry Bill, no help there.

As to sparring, I hope the percentages given by the judge were way off. We don't spar in Hapkido, so I don't have experience at judging that either. But I have watched some matches, and seen a fair amount of video. I do agree there is reason to believe judging is not an exact science. Sadly, I don't think it is as accurate as many years ago either. But I sure am curious what did your opponent do to you that overcame two knockdowns and a throw into the spectator area? A knockdown where the opponent isn't able to immediately do a controlled roll away is tatamount to a TKO, since you will usually continue the attack against a now stunned or at least greatly disadvantaged opponent. Maybe his points were such as to be viewed the same?

As to being a bruiser, that sounds like a comment more appropriate to kata, and not there either. Were you competing in a martial arts contest or a dance contest? You are sure supposed to apply violence (controlled of course) in a martial art. I'm sorry, I just don't understand that kind of a comment.

Anyway, glad you enjoyed. And your self reflection can only help you improve.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Glad you went and you enjoyed. Obviously you gained experience as a compeditor and in how different people judge. I am not a qualified judge for sparring or forms. Sorry Bill, no help there.

As to sparring, I hope the percentages given by the judge were way off. We don't spar in Hapkido, so I don't have experience at judging that either. But I have watched some matches, and seen a fair amount of video. I do agree there is reason to believe judging is not an exact science. Sadly, I don't think it is as accurate as many years ago either. But I sure am curious what did your opponent do to you that overcame two knockdowns and a throw into the spectator area? A knockdown where the opponent isn't able to immediately do a controlled roll away is tatamount to a TKO, since you will usually continue the attack against a now stunned or at least greatly disadvantaged opponent. Maybe his points were such as to be viewed the same?

As to being a bruiser, that sounds like a comment more appropriate to kata, and not there either. Were you competing in a martial arts contest or a dance contest? You are sure supposed to apply violence (controlled of course) in a martial art. I'm sorry, I just don't understand that kind of a comment.

Anyway, glad you enjoyed. And your self reflection can only help you improve.

The 'bruiser' comments were directed at our sparring, not the kata. I think it was meant as a kind of compliment, in that we were both 'big guys' (he was muscular, I was just, er, heavy) and I was knocking him down a tad, which generally takes some force when one is not applying a throw or sweep.

In the case of my knocking him down, it's not a point-getter in point-sparring, unless there is an immediate application of a blow to the prone opponent (I think you have 3 seconds, per my last competition). I didn't do that; in both cases, I knocked him backwards and onto his back and I was not able to follow up before the ref called for us to break (I think he stopped it the moment my opponent went down). Both times I knocked him down was due to his throwing a kick that I grabbed and tossed up high, followed by moving forward towards him so he had no choice but to go over on his back. I'm rather good at jamming kicks that way, but I am finding that in point-sparring, it's a skill of little use. Almost never gets me a point. I knocked him into the spectator rows through application of continuing to move forward into his attack, which I also tend to do. Unless the person I'm sparring is physically heavier or stronger than me, I just keep advancing. In this case, he went back out of the ring as I counterpunched and eventually fell over backwards over the first row of seats.

I have noticed that in very rare instances do I back up. I tend to fight forward. When my opponent is also one who steps in, we have a clash and go hammer and tongs at each other. When my opponent steps back, either because he's a more defensive fighter or because I've intimidated him or just physically pushed him back, I tend to chase them all out of the ring. I very seldom find myself on my side of the ring when they call for a break.

I'm not saying that like it's a good thing; I often lose points by walking into a kick or a punch; it just appears to be my 'natural style' to want to advance when sparring. I did it as a child when I'd get into fist-fights. I'd keep moving forward even if I was getting my face punched in. Maybe not a good thing...

 

[oftheherd1]

I really think you would enjoy a little study of Hapkido after you acquire your BB. I will send you a PM soon.

 

[jks9199]

Judging forms is very inexact, especially when people are judging different styles which use different sets of principles. For example, the power generation used in Isshin-ryu is a bit different than that of TKD. A judge may not see the elements that are used to generate power, and may then decide you didn't have "enough" power. Or they may look for more power in places than Isshin-ryu may not, especially since you ARE learning applications. Maybe you'll do a technique as a parry or speed technique to set up a power technique, and that's not what they're looking for. (I think there's actually a thread about this somewhere from about a year or 18 months ago.)

 

[Cyriacus]

Judging forms is very inexact, especially when people are judging different styles which use different sets of principles. For example, the power generation used in Isshin-ryu is a bit different than that of TKD. A judge may not see the elements that are used to generate power, and may then decide you didn't have "enough" power. Or they may look for more power in places than Isshin-ryu may not, especially since you ARE learning applications. Maybe you'll do a technique as a parry or speed technique to set up a power technique, and that's not what they're looking for. (I think there's actually a thread about this somewhere from about a year or 18 months ago.)

Similar Logic to Jab Punches - When people see them, they assume its a feint, or a speed strike. If you torque your collar bone just right, it can be much more powerful than people give it credit for. But unfortunately, it only shows when you use it on a person, or a BOB. Judging is hard - But Judges are subjective.

 

[Mark Lynn]

Just got back from a small open tournament just outside of Toledo, Ohio. It was interesting. I competed in kata for the first time, and point-sparring as I usually do. Won 2nd place in kata, 3rd in kumite. They didn't have a seniors division, so I had to compete against young adults.

Bill, first off I commend you for competing in both kata and sparring and especially being older and as you said somewhat over weight. That said; open tournaments (where anybody can participate) from my limited experience can be very different from say closed tournaments (tournaments that only select schools are invited to attend). Years ago when I competed and tournaments were few and far between 1-2 large tournaments a year maybe and a few mid size in our area, now there are tournaments the majority of weekends in the our area (much more than in the early 80's). However the open tournaments have gotten bizarre to say the least so I personally believe it is hard to judge your performance from that kind of a standard.

The last open tournament I went to (and took students to) was in this past June. While they had plenty of judges and it was well run, it was crazy as well. I saw black belts twirling toothpick Bo throwing them up in the air and catching them (it looked like baton twirling), one BB competitor got down in front of the head judge and tossed his aluminum kama (with what looked like plastic spikes on the ends along with the plastic handle) from behind his legs upwards and tried to catch it in front of his legs. (He missed and then he bowed out.) I saw brown belts making their own katas up and getting to the edge of the ring and then walking back to the middle to do their spinning front leg roundhouse kicks (think of any bad MA movie and this move is in their taking out a whole slew of bad guys or ninjas). And I kid you not as I was filming the teen age brown belt division I over heard (I might even have this on tape) a student tell his instructor that he wasn't going to compete because he forgot his form and the instructor tell him in no uncertain terms to not worry about it,"Make something up the judges won't know the difference", throw in a few kicks, a few twirls, a somersault or two and you've got a winning form.

The Open tournament I went to the year prior 2010; I saw what use to be on the fringe, the extreme, so far out there when I saw a competitor do the same type of kata in the 1983 Pro Am in Ft. Worth they scored a whopping 8.0. I kid you not. I actually saw a competitor in BB specialty twirl an aluminum katana between his fingers. That's right. All dressed up in japanese sensei grab this guy gets out there and demonstrates different cuts and thrusts and then starts twirling an aluminum demo blade between his fingers. I learned a powerful lesson then because I figured it was the clothes and not the twirling of the katana that made the kata score high. I mean the guy back in the 80's who scored so low only broke a brick over his head to prove his KI powers and then twirled a steel demo blade, but he wore black kungfu pants and a purple undershirt. At that tournament too I was told by a proud mom, that her son (a blue belt) made up his own bo form and he was ranked #3 in the state at the time for kata in the intermediate specialty division. Watching her son there was no real combative value to the form but it was a baton twirling gymnastics routine (and a good one at that). Lest you think this was only in specialty divisions, there were Orange belts doing senior brown belt forms (Chug Mu anyone) or as I saw in the mid 90's at a open tournament Chungi Modified (where the last move is a jump torn kick).

As I said I commend you for getting out there and competing and prepping yourself for competition. However that is where I believe you really learn is your training and your prepping for the competition. The standards can be so varied it is hard for you really to judge yourself by what you scored.

I did Chinto kata, and came second to a young brown belt who was Shotokan and did a kata that reminded me at least somewhat of Isshin-Ryu's Seisan. I asked him later and he said it wasn't, but that they have a Seisan kata and it's not like that one. In any case, when I saw him do his kata, I actually thought I had him beat. I thought my kata was strong, smooth, and powerful. So I was surprised when I came second.

Your kata might have been strong smooth and powerful but it might not have been as flashy or as difficult as the brown belts. It might have looked like Seisan but it could have been a made up one too. Who knows? Again to me the main point here is that you stepped up and competed against younger more athletic competitors and you did your best.

Again using the previous examples I gave, how can a judge give a student a fair grade/score on made up katas, or ones that they run out of room and get to walk back to the center of the ring and then continue their form? The point is different judges will judge things differently. If I was judging a kata comeptition and someone runs out of room and has to start in the middle again I'd grade them down for it. They didn't start in the right place, and to me the student who does start in the right place should receive a better grade. I teach my students where to start their katas so I grade on this. I speak from experience here: as an Orange belt I started Dan Gun in the middle of the ring, My 3rd punch coming down the middle was right over the Time Keepr's/Socre Keeper's head (KIA!!!!) I then proceeded to turn and box block on top of the head judges feet and I didn't miss a beat stomping on their feet as I truned around as well.

I asked the judges one at a time after the event was over, so I could find out what I could improve on for next time. One told me that he thought my Chinto was great, he really liked it. When pressed for something that made me not win, he said that the kid used more power in his punches. I'd like to take that to heart, but I'm not really sure that's what I saw in him or myself. But, I was not the judge, so perhaps I can find a way to crank more power into my punches in kata. The second judge said that my stances were too tall and narrow, she likes to see low deep stances. That was an interesting comment also, since Isshin-Ryu stances are in general higher and narrower than, say, Shotokan's. The third judge (the young lady) said she thought I should go faster. Well, I did ask. However, I'll give it some thought and see if there's something I can do with their comments.

Here again I think you are to be commended for seeking out the judges and asking their opinions. It just that since everyones opinion in open tournaments can be so varied, I'd seek out your instructor and ask him if you are doing the kata right by their standards. I wouldn't put much stock in a young 18 year old BBs opinion even if they got their BB when they were 8 years old. But that is a different thread that I believe hasd been beat to death on this forum or site.

Anyone else think that a deeper stance is more 'impressive' to judges at kata competitions? I will say that my own sensei commented recently that he thought I could take a little bit wider stance, because I'm a 'big' guy (fat) and a narrow stance makes me look it. I'm not sure if that's the same concept, though. Thoughts?

Actually I do think deeper stances play a part and are more impressive at least to me when I have judged. I'm not talking about deeper and wider front stances (forward stances) where you get deep and wide by spreading the width of your legs apart so your groin is totally open. There is a way to do a forward stance where you are deep such as in Shotokan or Japanese style karate and your groin can still be protected and there are ways that instructors teach where you get deep by spreading your legs wide in a forward stance to look like you know what you are doing to win a trophy but is insane in real life.

However I attended and competed at a small local tournament in Oklahoma in the eraly 90's and there I saw in BB forms two Gojoryu stylists doing a form in which they had to get way down in a horse stance and do some powerful looking pressing blocks punches etc. etc. These guys were ROCK solid in their performance, I mean back straight and thighs level in a horse stance solid. But some other high rankiing instructors did TKD brown belt level katas (Chug MU, Wha Rang) that had the fancy kicks in them. Guess which won? The high kickers. I have a vauge memory of doing Bassai so I think I competed, I don't know if I placed or even how I did. I just felt the Gojoryu guys got rooked because their training for those stances and their katas and their performance of them far exceeded the brown belt katas these mid level 3rd-5th dans were doing. But this happens tradition gives way to flash all of the time.

Sparring was OK. Nothing special. There were three of us. One guy got the bye, so it was me and another guy for 1st and 3rd; the guy who got the bye would fight the winner of our bout for 1st and 2nd. I came third, so I didn't win. But I performed better than I did at the IHOF in Chatanooga recently; I wasn't upset with myself afterwards. I drew a young guy would obviously spent a lot of time in the weight room. He had some good strategies, but both of us had trouble getting off the fight line and not fighting linear. He tried a couple kicks on me, and he did get some points for his trouble, but I also knocked him on the ground twice and threw him clear out of the ring into the spectator seats at one point. I was surprised, this guy had arms like beer barrels, but the judge told us we were both 'bruisers' and needed to tone it down. In any case, points aside, I dominated him physically, and that really surprised me, because he was physically intimidating-looking.

Reading your other posts about how you threw the guy out of the ring, I thought was great. However again the fact that you went up against an younger opponent, who looked to spend a lot of time in the weight room and with arms like beer barrels and you dominated him when you are big and over wieght is still commendable. It sounds to me you had a good experience and you did well.

We again only had three judges, and the center judge told us up front that most judges miss 90% of the points, and give people points that they didn't get, so just get used to the idea that the points are probably wrong, and if you lose a point you think you should have won, just remember that you probably got some points that you didn't actually earn too. That was kind of strange advice. I have to agree, though, that it's hard to judge point-sparring accurately. It does seem like points get awarded for misses and blocked kicks, and sometimes don't get awarded for solid hits and counterpunches; on both sides, I'm not claiming I was wronged. What are your thoughts on that?

Judging sparring is very hard, because two people are moving at sometimes high rates of speed and you can think you saw a point and it not be one (because from the other side or other point of view it was actually blocked). For the most part I believe the judges that are calling the bout are doing their best. But it is also very subjective as well. You are only supposed to call a point that you see land, often times our brains tell us that person scored and I should recognize the point when in fact from my angle of view I couldn't see the point actually land, therefore I shouldn't call it. But in the heat of the moment you forget that.

Even though I explain to my students exactly (well close to) what that judge told you, I also have my students volunteer to referree mathces in my classes to help them see what it is like to judge and then also explain to them "OK how did you see that technique land when his back is to you?" I try and use things like that as a teaching lesson. I stress that the main thing is that they stood up and entered the competition in the first place. That they faced a fear of squaring off against the unknown adversary and dealt with it.

You know it is all subjective the kata, the sparring, the judges. I competed in a small open tournament where they had a 8 yr old White belt in with us 20+ yr old Orange belts in beginners division. He didn't stand a chance and I took 3rd place (this might have been the tournament where I stomped on the judges toes), he showed more guts competing than I did. As a intermediate belt (blue or green I think) I once lost a match by a point that made me lose placing in a big tournament, because of the head judges indecesion and then time ran out. I held a grudge against him for a while and then come to find out he was one of my instructor's closest friends and I ended training a lot with him over the years at my instructors dojo. Holding a grudge wasn't worth the mental effort.

Ultimately Bill it sounded like you did well, you showed up, competed, you were respectful to the judges, you wanted to better yourself. I think you did good.

 

[Mark Lynn]

The 'bruiser' comments were directed at our sparring, not the kata. I think it was meant as a kind of compliment, in that we were both 'big guys' (he was muscular, I was just, er, heavy) and I was knocking him down a tad, which generally takes some force when one is not applying a throw or sweep.

In the case of my knocking him down, it's not a point-getter in point-sparring, unless there is an immediate application of a blow to the prone opponent (I think you have 3 seconds, per my last competition). I didn't do that; in both cases, I knocked him backwards and onto his back and I was not able to follow up before the ref called for us to break (I think he stopped it the moment my opponent went down). Both times I knocked him down was due to his throwing a kick that I grabbed and tossed up high, followed by moving forward towards him so he had no choice but to go over on his back. I'm rather good at jamming kicks that way, but I am finding that in point-sparring, it's a skill of little use. Almost never gets me a point. I knocked him into the spectator rows through application of continuing to move forward into his attack, which I also tend to do. Unless the person I'm sparring is physically heavier or stronger than me, I just keep advancing. In this case, he went back out of the ring as I counterpunched and eventually fell over backwards over the first row of seats.

I liked your comments on tossing the kick up high and throwing him. Now if this is something that gets you penalized then I wouldn't do it. However if not I think it gives you a decent training opportunity in applying the technique (defense against a kick) with an uncooperative opponent. With your getting instant feedback if it works or not, which it sounds like it does.

I have noticed that in very rare instances do I back up. I tend to fight forward. When my opponent is also one who steps in, we have a clash and go hammer and tongs at each other. When my opponent steps back, either because he's a more defensive fighter or because I've intimidated him or just physically pushed him back, I tend to chase them all out of the ring. I very seldom find myself on my side of the ring when they call for a break.

Having the aggressive attitude and taking the fight to them I believe can also be a good thing.

I'm not saying that like it's a good thing; I often lose points by walking into a kick or a punch; it just appears to be my 'natural style' to want to advance when sparring. I did it as a child when I'd get into fist-fights. I'd keep moving forward even if I was getting my face punched in. Maybe not a good thing...

But here is a problem, not from just a competition point of view. It sounds as if you rely on your size and attitude (taking the fight to them, advancing all of the time) to carry you through. In the ring it works, you toss the person down and the ref stops the fight, you get hit in the face (scored on) and the ref stops the fight. But what happens in the school or outside of the school in the real world? I mean do you rely on your strength and intimidation factor then? I'd say yes but that down side to that is it could lead the other person to escalate things and have you walk right into it. What if the person who is baiting the confrontation has a weapon a concealed knife and you walk right into it, again just thinking of your size and the intimidation factor. What if you train for the high kick that never comes and instead they zone to the side and take your front knee as you wade right into the fray. A kick or a punch during a sparring match can be the loss of a point or at most a trophy. Taking those shots when the person has boots on or a fist load can be devastating.

I would recommend that you take a serious look at your particular strategy and maybe adopt a new one or tweak your current one. Instead of relying on your size and intimidation factor instead rely on a different strategy maybe take a 1/2 of year and decide I'm going to learn how to be a defensive fighter and stand my ground instead of moving forward. I'm going to make it my goal to reduce the amount of times I'm hit in sparring class by not wading in but using distance to set up my techniques. Try to create space to set people up instead of taking it way from and closing the gap.

Just a thought.

Back to the throwing issue, to me it is more important that your technique worked to throw the person instead of worked just to score a point. Unless your goal was to score a point. Just like I think it would better to try and adapt your strategy of fighting to your opponent instead of always just moving forward. I keep thinking of a sumo wrestler and the crash of them slamming into one another. Always moving forward. Instead I think you should adopt a variety of fighting strategies and switch in between them at will during competition and during class.