Shaolin-do(JP) Sparring clips

[Judge Pen]

Here is the first of some various sparring clips that I'm going to post. It's the first round of a match that went three rounds (I eventually won this match and took third over-all in men's advanced sparring). The rules were promulgated under the CACMA. My opponent was an internal stylist and told me later that he fought mainly from his tai chi. Anyway, it's an example of me fighting in an open kung fu tournament (hosted by Oso) using what I was taught in shaolin-do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMZRBnEKL9s

[Pk_StyLeZ]

was this light contact?

[Judge Pen]

The rules were light contact to the head and moderate contact to the body. In an earlier match, someone had gotten hurt on a throw, so they became very conscious of throws that weren't cleanly executed.

And the hits were a lat harder than this film gives perspective on. We were both larger guys (I'm 6'1" 200lbs and he was about 5'10" 215lbs)--there was some power behind those in-close exchanges.

[Ralphie]

Good job. If this was full go, that kick before the first break might have K him tfo. That guy wanted to clinch so bad, but seeing his striking, I can see why. You punched well off the clinch, and had a nice knee. It was sweet when you were able just to unload with fast hands. Did he almost throw you in that one spot, or was it a stall, so they broke the action?

Things I saw that could be a problem:
1) The front leg looks like an easy target. Someone would test that a lot, if they liked to kick legs.
2) The stance took away from some of your lateral movement.
3) Because your somewhat sideways, someone could set up a shot (prolly a single leg) or lower back clinch. It's harder for you to get your hips back and move to sprawl or break the clinch at the angle you took. You generally punched the best and broke his high clinch when you squared your hips forward and got both elbows framed out in front of you. You kneed him when you had him in a nice clinch and his hips sideways to you.
4) You dropped your guard a lot, watch for a hook.

Props!

[ninthdrunk]

JP - It's hard to tell what moves you're using on the video. Any comments on particular applications from forms, or is this just Shaolin Do sparring ala Master Mullins' camp?

If there are some specific applications, would you point them out for us?

Nice hands, man.


Tai chi, huh?

[David Jamieson]

constructive criticism.

look at your target. Hand follows eye.
move in, pick your targets and go. there was to much clash and not enough taking advantage of position in that range.

train more fire and return drills to sharpen target aquisition and speed to target.
footwork needs a lot of work.

move and sink move and sink, that is important, if you are too high and too close together in yoru step, you are unstable.

keep teh chin down.

spar more to level out on the flinching.

a lot of opportunities to cut power and move in that were not taken.

you can still have good form and dominate a fight even when it is light contact sparring.

a few boxing drills wouldn't hurt either of those guys.

[BoulderDawg]

Does your Shao-lin Do school advocate competition?

I know it is writen in my manual that if you are looking to compete then chose another school.

[Ralphie]

Boulderdawg,
If you ever want to train at a school that competes, look here bjjboulder.com. It's a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu school, and it's not required that you do compete, but it's there if you want it. There are some groups that train mma there as well, but most of those guys have been involved in the sport for a while. If you're happy where you're at, disregard.

[ninthdrunk]

Boulderdawg,

What manual says that? I know there's the quote that "advises" students to seek tournament training elsewhere. That's not quite the same as a teacher saying, "no, you can't be a part of this school if you compete in outside tournaments."

From what I've seen, all SD teachers allow outside competition, it's just the students who don't seek it out.

[Judge Pen]

Good job. If this was full go, that kick before the first break might have K him tfo. That guy wanted to clinch so bad, but seeing his striking, I can see why. You punched well off the clinch, and had a nice knee. It was sweet when you were able just to unload with fast hands. Did he almost throw you in that one spot, or was it a stall, so they broke the action?

Things I saw that could be a problem:
1) The front leg looks like an easy target. Someone would test that a lot, if they liked to kick legs.
2) The stance took away from some of your lateral movement.
3) Because your somewhat sideways, someone could set up a shot (prolly a single leg) or lower back clinch. It's harder for you to get your hips back and move to sprawl or break the clinch at the angle you took. You generally punched the best and broke his high clinch when you squared your hips forward and got both elbows framed out in front of you. You kneed him when you had him in a nice clinch and his hips sideways to you.
4) You dropped your guard a lot, watch for a hook.

Props!

Thanks for the critiques. The guy was very strong and his clinching did sap a lot of energy (I ended up fighting him 5 rounds that day) I was happy to jam up his attempts to throw.

BoulderDawg: My school has no problem with me going and crossing hands with whomever. Seriously, if they did, then I would be afraid that they were hiding something.

9th-drunk--I had been really working on 5 animal form and Tiger-crane which lots of hands and upper-cut techniques which did come natually in the clinch even though I don't fight many people that activly try to clinch and throw (and the knees against the clinch are in our Tiger-Crane. My sparring partners are limited and this guy's technique was very different than what I was used to fighting, so I was glad that even though I could stand to improve a lot that I adapted on the spot and still did well by avoiding his throws. Of course, as I became fatigued later in the day some more of my sparring weaknesses reared their head.

[BoulderDawg]

The exact quote is:

"If your primary interest is tournament skills, I advise you to seek your training elsewhere!"

Grandmaster Sin Kwang The

*******

That's fairly straight forward and if I was interested in competing I would find a find a school that would help me in that reguard.

[tattooedmonk]

I have nothing to say other than this.... you did a good job!! I could see your shaolin spirit, you held yourself well, and it takes a great deal of balls to post that good or bad....

It is very difficult to spar with the pads and protective equipment on because they create a considerable amount of resistance and restrict your range of motion... so it should be understood that seeing any type of technique other that basic strategems,punching ,kicking, knees, and elbows is to be expected....

Do you wear protective gear sparring within your school??? How often do you spar?

You said something about throws and that someone got hurt... were throws, takes downs, and sweeps allowed or was this mostly a striking competetion??? and I noticed that they discouraged the clintch...was chi na/ grappling allowed?? and was there any ground work involved in any capacity??

I am asking these things for a specific reason because I would have commented on it to a greater extent but considering that I do not know you or your backround I felt that it could be viewed as judgemental and /or disrespectful ...so I did not...

If you want to ask me for advice or to critic it I will... but I figured I should get some of the specifics and get to know you first before I come to any conclusions...

I have a few other questions but I will wait to see your reponses to these before I ask..once again good job!!

[BentMonk]

The exact quote is:

"If your primary interest is tournament skills, I advise you to seek your training elsewhere!"

Grandmaster Sin Kwang The

*******

That's fairly straight forward and if I was interested in competing I would find a find a school that would help me in that reguard.

Dude, the only thing that's straight forward is GM Sin saying that the "primary" focus of Shaolin Do is not tournament skills. Any match that has any rules, and uses any protective gear is a sporting event, not a fight. As everyone knows there are no rules in a fight. JP posts a clip of himself winning a match, and all you can do is make a comment about a quote in a training manual? Where's the positive commentary? Where's the constructive criticism? Where's the, way to go JP for having the stones to post yourself for public scrutiny?

Great job JP. However, you are still no match for my Bent style! BWAHAHAHA!

[John Many Jars]

JP - I'm a long time lurker (little over a year) and have been waiting to see this since you first mentioned it.

It took me about 10 viewings, trying to figure out how you could have possibly won that match, to realize you weren't the guy in the short sleeves. Then it all made sense. Great job.

I really liked how once in clinching range, you stayed there and kept the punches (and knee) coming. It seems to have thwarted many of his attempts to grab a hold of you.

Thanks for posting the video. Looking forward to more of them. =)


BoulderDawg - I'm at the Denver school and what ninthdrunk said is correct. Since I've been here it's never been encouraged but at the same time never discouraged. There are some students, I'm sure, who think we do enough training that there's no need to test what we've learned outside of class but it's my opinion that to make the most of this art (or any for that matter) crossing hands w/ people of different styles is very important. You might be surprised how much it will change your approach to training. Just my opinion.

[Judge Pen]

Here's the second clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4_3SYj41U0

This guy was freaky flexible, but he often gave up balance and position for a leg-technique. I won this round but lost the match (I think that I should have won the 2nd round too, but hey-that's the breaks right.) I was humbled a bit at the end of th e match in that I got a bit over-confident and the scissor take-down caught me off gurad, but I hit the ground kicking. He won first place in the tournament in fighting.

TM: We don't usually spar with the equipment in our school. Occassionally, but not regularly. It makes a difference, but that's not an excuse--you adapt.
As for the rules, yes, sweeps, throws, clinching were allowed. They gave you 3 to 5 seconds in the clinch before they broke you up. Chin-na was not allowed nor was ground work. As for being critical, that's fine. I expect it by putting it up here. I take it with a grain of salt--good advice is good advice, but I also understand there's going to be a lot of key-board critcs that aren't posting but just talking. Such is the KFO experience.