Need some advice Stat

[LingChuanPai]

Anyones theories and comments are most welcome.
I'm attending an open tournament this weekend. Their sparring division is point sparring. Mostly Karate opponents, im guessing? I'm used to continuous sparring and have very little experience in point sparring. Does anyone have any suggestions or theories pertaining to a point sparring match? Hidden or sucker attacks are most appreciated!LOL!
Thanks

[Oso]

find someone who knows the venue and get them to teach you.

you should be able to use your...mantis?...skills in any venue and succeed.

You just have to learn how that particular game is played.

talking about it probably won't help.

good luck.

[LingChuanPai]

thank you Oso

[Chief Fox]

I attended a point sparring tournament a couple years ago with zero experience at it. Before I knew it, the match was over. I was able to score one point with a spinning back kick.

My advice is the same as Oso's. Find someone that is good at it and practice with them.

One thing they do sometimes is rush in and attack right away. You can sometimes keep them at bay until your ready to strike by using a push kick. Raise your foot up and push them away. You can even sometimes score points like this.

good luck and try to have fun.

[Oso]

don't let the yelling get to you.

in most karate comps they yell every time they even swing at you.

the strategy is that it makes the judge look at them more and score them.

if you want to pizz them off, yell back but do it in a funny way.

a buddy of mine did that during a sport jujitsu match and it was hilarious.



also, block everything, even if it's a foot a way from you.

often times, they will score face shots that aren't even remotely close IF you don't have some sort of defense in line. sometimes to the body as well.

do you know what format it is?

or is it just a local thing?

[Chief Fox]

It would be hilarious if you clucked like a chicken as you were fighting instead of yelling.

"buc, buc, buc, BA-GOCK!"

[mantis108]

I agreed with Oso.

It really isn't the forte of what I would do. But we did enter local Karate open tourney twice. First year, with no experience in their scoring system, our guys managed to get a silver in their black belt division and a bronze in their junior division. Our strategy was simple:

1) Footwork in and out quick and dance arround them. This confuses the hell out of them and could intimidate the less experienced.
2) Hook grab pluck, straight punches mainly. Too many round house strikes would be deem as frailing by their rules. It won't score high even receive warnings. But you should check with the organizer about that.
3) Block kicks with kicks not with hands. return kick immediately.
4) Keep the guard up at all times.
5) block and strike at the same time.
6)Don't break up and don't let him regroup.

This year we only enter a pre teen girl. She lost but have fun with it. She had never fought girls of her age, in front of big crowd and minding the rules simply overwhlem her. So all these factors are important. She is more used to fight MMA esque format and with the guys. She doesn't have to hold back with us.

Incidently, there was a TKD guy, who used to come train/sparr with us, used the experience that he had with us and manage to upset one of his opponents (A Karate BlackBelt instructor) and get the guy totally out of his "zone". The Karate guy ended up fought like a free style guy for awhile. Actually, he did that to every Karate guy. Anyway, the TKD guy got so much foul that he lost. The organizers weren't happy about him at all citing bad behavier on and off the mat. BTW, we were not at very good terms with the TKD guy at that point because he challenged one of my students, his "training" partner at my place. Nothing came out of that (he didn't show up for his own challenge). Anyway, he might wanted to prove a point about the point fighting format but he did it with poor taste and he pretty much burnt all his bridges with almost all the serious club in town. So .. Control your emotions even if you don't believe in the point sparring system. Play fair and play nice. Winning or losing is not that important. Getting the experience and having on the other hand is way more rewarding.

Just some thoughts to share.

Regards

Mantis108

[-N-]

often times, they will score face shots that aren't even remotely close IF you don't have some sort of defense in line. sometimes to the body as well.

Yep, can happen if the division calls for no head contact.

Watch out for light flicky flicky backfists and roundhouse kicks to the head. They can be fast, and may not have anything behind them, but point sparring is like playing tag, so they might score on you.

Mantis continous footwork and combination attacks can overrun your opponent. Close fast and make sure your final killing strike is very visible.

You can hide a low outside roundhouse to the lower calf in your closing footwork. Make the kick sticky and continue to close. You can turn him and score while you seal off his counter attack.

Make sure you are comfortable fighting against left side lead.

Fung Tung Chui is your friend You don't need to grab his wrist if trying to trap or control. Just get the gi sleeve.

Watch out for flashy "impractical" techniques. Spinning backfist, jump turning kicks, etc. Some people practice those a lot and can score with them in a point sparring setting.

Maneuver your opponent so his target areas are visible to the majority of judges. They need to see it to score it.

N.

[Oso]

the point of any venue is to win by the rules of the venue.

otherwise go play a different game.

that's why you should only consider competing in a different venue as 'fun' and not worry about winning becuase if you don't compete in that venue often enough your head is not going to be in the right space to really win.

part of the game in a fight where judges are looking at you is TO MAKE SURE THE JUDGES CAN SEE YOUR TECHNIQUES. Even in UFC, Pro Boxing, etc. you have to win by points if you don't KO or TKO.

When I was doing sport jujitsu and judo last year part of our training was to understand that fact and train with the strategy to be in good position in the ring so that the judges wouldn't miss a technique.

In point comps, IF THE JUDGES DIDN'T SEE IT, IT DIDN'T HAPPEN.

The flipside of this is that you can get good enough to pull a 'dirty trick' where the judges can't see it.

This isn't really too unethical...tricks like that are taught even by high school wrestling coaches: using the chin to grind into the back, neck or chest of your opponent and knuckle rubs and such.