KimWingChun
04-25-2007, 05:28 PM
In an attempt to make the discussions on this forum more informative, constructive and to make the communication between participant more clear I would like to suggest a few definitions that describes what context we are referring to when talking about "fighting". Although fighting skills in a lot of ways are universal the debate can (and often has) been obstructed by what I think is a lack of understanding or awareness of the different perspectives that people have when it comes to the contexts of application. Anyway, here goes my suggestions (inspired by some of Geoff Thompsons work):
#1: "Match fighting"
Any scenario where we are faced with a single or multiple opponents where both
parties are aware that a fight is going to take place before the actual altercation starts. Examples include full contact type of competitions, pre-arranged street fights, or challenge fights. This kind of fighting is typically identified by both parties starting off from outside of each others reach and in some kind of fight-ready configuration (stance, guard etc).
#2: "Self defense fighting"
As most of us would agree, self defense fighting has alot more to do with awareness (and avoidance), threat recognition (such as reading verbal and non-verbal cues that an attack is imminent) and psychological tactics. The self-defense fighting scenario is characterized by creating the opportunity for ourselves to be pre-emptive, finish the fight before our opponent has a chance to act or employ tactics such as stun-and-run. If we are not able to finish the fight with our pre-emptive actions or get away from the scene, the circumstances may easily change into those of "match fighting" (as both parties are now aware the fight is on). This kind of fighting doesn't necessarily require alot of fighting skill per se.
#3: "Ambush fighting"
This is the scenario where we are attacked without any opportunity to have previously assesed the threat and we simply do our best to deal with the situation at hand, which will be dealt with by virtue of the things we have ingrained as habits.
As everyone can see these different settings will in some aspects require drastically different tactics and responses and it is therefore vitally important for the sake of clarity that we state what kind of fighting we are referring to when discussing anything from technique to tactics.
If a lot of people, like me, think these kind of distinctions and clarifications will be helpful and constructive then maybe a moderator can make this post a sticky and we can all try to be more clear in our discussions.
#1: "Match fighting"
Any scenario where we are faced with a single or multiple opponents where both
parties are aware that a fight is going to take place before the actual altercation starts. Examples include full contact type of competitions, pre-arranged street fights, or challenge fights. This kind of fighting is typically identified by both parties starting off from outside of each others reach and in some kind of fight-ready configuration (stance, guard etc).
#2: "Self defense fighting"
As most of us would agree, self defense fighting has alot more to do with awareness (and avoidance), threat recognition (such as reading verbal and non-verbal cues that an attack is imminent) and psychological tactics. The self-defense fighting scenario is characterized by creating the opportunity for ourselves to be pre-emptive, finish the fight before our opponent has a chance to act or employ tactics such as stun-and-run. If we are not able to finish the fight with our pre-emptive actions or get away from the scene, the circumstances may easily change into those of "match fighting" (as both parties are now aware the fight is on). This kind of fighting doesn't necessarily require alot of fighting skill per se.
#3: "Ambush fighting"
This is the scenario where we are attacked without any opportunity to have previously assesed the threat and we simply do our best to deal with the situation at hand, which will be dealt with by virtue of the things we have ingrained as habits.
As everyone can see these different settings will in some aspects require drastically different tactics and responses and it is therefore vitally important for the sake of clarity that we state what kind of fighting we are referring to when discussing anything from technique to tactics.
If a lot of people, like me, think these kind of distinctions and clarifications will be helpful and constructive then maybe a moderator can make this post a sticky and we can all try to be more clear in our discussions.