I was recently asked to submit comments on tournament kumite to black belt magazine. I thought the information might make an interesting topic for this months instructor notes.

In the SKA we have roughly 5 types of kumite we should be familiar with. While nothing is like real fighting, all of these have obvious as well as hidden elements pertaining to a real situation. It ' s important that instructors see the relevance of these without focusing too much on structure and pass this on to students. The 5 types are Ippon, Sanbon, Jiyu-Ippon, Tournament Jiyu, and "Dojo" Jiyu kumite. Ohshima Sensei feels black belts should have knowledge pertaining to all of these.

Over the years tournament fighting has not been a high priority in SKA, but approached properly it can enhance our training. To maximize this I feel there are key areas to be focused on. We'll discuss these in 2 or 3 parts over the next few months:

1) While point tournaments are considered a game, prepare seriously a few months prior with a dedicated schedule; this helps motivate training during periods of boredom. As time nears for the day of the tournament, focus on the process of calming your anxieties and developing your confidence. Replace all negative thoughts about injury, looking bad, loosing, etc with positive thoughts. This helps lay the groundwork for this process of preparation which helps develop our mentality and motivates hours of Jiyu kumite training and is much more beneficial than who wins the tournament.

2) Knowing that fighters get hurt in tournaments (and it's never fun to loose) is best handled with a mentality that you'll express yourself 100% without intimidation within the established rules. This is similar to real combat where one must not worry about injury or outcome as these create hesitation. Even in a losing situation on the street we must learn to express 100% of our mentality. In this way a tournament can benefit your real reasons for training. Many black belts downplay tournaments saying competition is not for everybody, but quite often this is a cover up for avoiding the situation. Very few can sit at NISEI week waiting to fight and not have a battle with nerves especially after watching the previous fighter get his face splattered. This anxiety (while not as severe) is similar to anxieties we may face before a real fight and can be a great learning tool if we focus in the proper direction.

3) Know the rules of each tournament regarding acceptable techniques, amount of contact allowed, out of bounds, tolerance, etc. The best competitors adapt to all of these and still perform strongly.

4) Many feel fighting the "Tournament Game" creates bad habits (some of which we'll discuss later). This only happens when basic practice as well as kata and our other forms of kumite are pushed aside and ones sole purpose in training is to "score points" in a tournament. Handled properly, the benefits of tournaments such as timing, speed, facing unknown opponents, and dealing with body contact can enhance traditional training.

5) Some tournaments have warm up areas. Occasionally fighters use this as a premature display. Being observant of others during this display may assist in your strategy.

6) Watch matches and see what the judges are calling for points. Get a feel for the level of acceptable contact and any biases the judges may have for specific techniques or targets.

7) When the referee begins your match, kamae (step) FORWARD and demonstrate a posture of readiness.

8) Don ' t be fooled by excessive arm waving or distractions by your opponent. If you keep a tight MA (distance) just out of reach, your only concern is your opponents forward and backward adjustments. The nature of this distance is a key to many fight environments (including tournaments) and will be discussed in more detail with upcoming articles.

In future discussions we ' ll continue to discuss differences and similarities between tournament and non-tournament Jiyu Kumite. Also preparation drills will be presented. For many, tournament competition can motivate and enhance our practice if approached properly.

To be continued..........

Greg Scott Garden Grove Shotokan

We appreciate any questions or comments on training
Until next time,
Greg Scott
Garden Grove Shotokan