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The Complete Guide to GKR Karate |
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6 TIPS FOR STRONG KUMITE
Because the kumite is a more free-flowing activity (ie: not choreographed) it is easy to overlook the basic ingredients that go towards building a strong kumite fighter. Outlined here are a series of ‘kumite-specific’ basic tips that can help you add another dimension to your sparring ability:
1. Walk, then Run – Keep the techniques simple for at least the first year or so of your sparring. It is tempting for lower grade students to watch higher grades spar and then attempt techniques themselves that they cannot execute with effectiveness or safety. ‘Patience is a virtue’ and is needed to first perfect the simple things!
2. Conscious Before Sub-conscious – In the early days of sparring, the pace needs to be slow and the techniques more measured. Reflexes are a sub-conscious reaction that has been developed through conscious repetition! To go too fast too early is only going to speed up the bad habits and unskilled reactions that you probably started with when you took up karate.
3. Build the Fortress – Your guard is your fortress! Whilst everybody’s guard looks slightly different, it is imperative that we start good habits early by ensuring that we learn how to present a commanding and confident looking guard to an opponent. Sparring someone with a loose or undisciplined guard gives you confidence by just looking at them. Your guard in itself should make a statement to your opponent that getting through is going to be tough!
4. Thanks for the Lesson – If a technique passes through your guard, then your kumite partner has just provided you with a valuable lesson. It is important that students treat is as such, and acknowledgment of the technique scored is the first step towards building both a respectful and educational learning environment.
5. Footwork – the ‘Invisible Weapon’ – Have you ever known students who had solid basic punches and kicks, strong focus and fighting spirit but who can’t seem to gel them altogether when they spar?? In most cases the flaw is their footwork. I have called it the ‘Invisible Weapon’ because it is easy to overlook skilful footwork and give the credit to the effective fighter’s hand-speed or kicking prowess. It is the footwork that takes the fighter swiftly into the ‘strike zone’ to score and then slides him back out again before being countered.
6. North, South, East and West! – Don’t just go in one direction when sparring. Practice going forwards and then backwards. Lateral movement should also be encouraged. Traditionally speaking, you would use attacking techniques when going forward, and defensive strategy when moving backward. At more advanced levels however, offence can still be effectively launched when moving backwards or laterally! There are dozens of different scenario’s to adopt but the main message here is to avoid flat-footed and one-directional movement – even at an early stage of your training.
Sensei Gavin Samin
Senior Instructor
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Whilst
all facets of karate training help to develop a stronger character, there
are many, many students who measure their confidence based on their
opinion of their own kumite. Even though dojo kumite only involves the use
of a limited array of basic karate techniques (ie: there are no elbows,
shuto’s, or strikes to vital areas), students take their ability to handle
the simulation of an attack or fight very seriously!