CLOSING THE GAP PRINCIPLES AND APPLICATION OF KUMITE By Steve Goss 1. Body positioning. · Mindset of positioning. · Centering. · Foot position. · Control of movement. 2. Delivery of techniques. · Immediate assessments. · Relaxation and Sanchin focus. · Maintaining space. · Closing the gap. · Delivering hand and foot attacks. · One is not enough, more than four is too many. 3. Defense. · Evasion and relaxation. · Attacking with defense. 4. Fighting spirit. · Budo vs. jiyu kumite. For purposes of this essay, punches and open-handed techniques will be referred to as hand attacks or hand techniques and kicks will be referred to as foot attacks or techniques. It is not my intention to describe specific sequences of techniques for other than illustrative purposes, but rather to emphasize the method of delivery of techniques. BODY POSTITIONING Kumite is performed with the body. A centered posture, legs, hips and shoulders all contribute to the delivery of techniques. Avoid thinking of techniques as being delivered with the arms and legs by way of punches and kicks, but rather as attacks with the body via the arms and legs. Maintain a good center at all times. The Sanchin center, or body area just above the hips, is the part of the body that guides movements in any direction. Evasive movements of the upper body can be done provided the hips remain centered. Giving up the center during attacks or defensive maneuvers will result in forfeiting your body position to your opponent. Essentially, kumite is done with the legs. Attacks are delivered "from the floor". The source of power of reverse, or "cross", hand techniques is the rear leg coupled with a centering of the hips. Front hand, or "jab", techniques derive their power from both legs. Generally, at point of impact of any hand technique, both feet should be on the floor. The heels of both feet do not need to make contact with the floor provided the attack is delivered from a centered position. The legs should be spaced far enough apart to allow for movement in any direction. A modified Sanchin stance works well. The width of the stance is relatively the same as stance width practiced in Sanchin kata, but the length is increased. The hips are turned in a ¾ position, rather than the full-frontal position of Sanchin kata. This allows for a reduction of target area for your opponent, yet still allows for freedom of movement. For stability, the front foot can be turned slightly off the straight-forward position. The key to movement lies in the rear foot. The rear foot should remain in a full-forward, or near full-forward, position. The rear foot placed perpendicular to the front foot does not allow for freedom of movement in all directions. The rear foot should act as a spring. While moving for position, the heel of the rear foot should not be planted on the floor, as this will reduce mobility. Rather the heel should move up and down in response to your positioning much as a shock absorber works on an automobile. Control of movement of the center should be done with the rear foot, not the front foot. Use the rear foot to propel your center forward and back, side to side, and at tangents. Using the front foot to control the position of your center will not only reduce your mobility, it will not take your opponent long to identify it and take control of the front foot with a sweep or attack from a tangent, an attack position very difficult to respond to if you have "uplifted" your center on your front foot. Practice footwork alone, moving in all directions via control from the rear foot. DELIVERY OF TECHNIQUES Make an immediate assessment of your opponent's position. Look for gaps in his defenses. Are his arms held too close to his body? Is his rear arm, or both arms, dropped too low? Is he weighted more on one leg? At a glance you should be able to take the measure of your opponent. A well-positioned opponent feeds you information as well; you know that you have to make him open his guard before you can press a successful attack. Evaluate your opponent's movements. Does he bring his feet together when delivering an attack? Does he cock his punches back before delivery and telegraph his movements? Does he over-respond to your attacks, paying attention only to your hands and feet? Upon initially facing your opponent, immediately gather information. Try to avoid conscious thought in your assessments, otherwise you may fall into the trap of simply focusing in on hand and foot movements. See your opponent totally at-a-glance. Absorb his motion, evaluate his center. Do not lock onto your opponents eyes, he may redirect your attention, but, at the same time, give the impression you are looking into his eyes, and watch for his eye movements to look to the direction of his intended attacks. Assessments must be fluid and constant. A good opponent will be assessing you constantly and will likely change strategies often, and it is imperative that you be able to modify your strategy to adjust for the changes. Your opponent's areas of weakness will change often. Being aware of his total body movement will allow you to take advantage of the opportunities when they arise, and not when it is too late. Focusing simply on the method of your opponent's attacks will result in missed opportunities. Stay relaxed when you are outside of your opponent's zone of attack. Remaining tense results in wasted energy and fatigue and also results in over-extending your blocks and missing the attack with your defenses. Stay loose! Tightening up when you are outside the zone also significantly reduces your ability to "close the gap". Sanchin focus is required only at contact point of your attack, when blocking aggressively to debilitate or redirect your opponent, when you have grabbed your opponent and are pulling him off-center, and when you are unsuccessful at avoiding your opponent's attack and need to absorb the impact. Always try to control the distance between you and your opponent. Maintain a distance outside of his strike zone while keeping him inside of your zone. If he presses in, circle laterally. Make him turn to meet you. The outside of your opponent's front leg is a vulnerable position for him; he will need to meet your attack from that position with a roundhouse, hook, or wing punch, side or thrust kick, and these techniques will lack significant power. Don't be predictable, however; it won't take your opponent long to "read" this strategy and take advantage of it. Cut your opponent off at and angle. If he circles to take advantage of positioning, angle in to make him turn and re-position. He will be vulnerable for a split-second. Closing the gap is one of the most important aspects of successful kumite. Close the gap between you and your opponent immediately and decisively. Your worst nightmare is an opponent who can close the gap between you and him in the blink of an eye; be your opponent's worst nightmare, you control the space between you and your opponent. Closing the gap can be successful only if you control your movements with your back leg, no other technique works as well. Close the distance by moving your center forward. Do not lead with your head or move in off-center, a good opponent will be able to read bad technique. When you launch an attack, commit and follow through. A less-than-successful attack is better than an attack aborted part way; an aborted attack leaves you extremely vulnerable to a counter. Hand and foot attacks should be delivered with the body, via the arms and legs. Try to avoid thinking in terms of punching with a fist and kicking with a foot. Front hand techniques are delivered from a centered position, with power moving from the floor (a good foundation), slightly through the hips, and strongly through the back and shoulder. Rear hand techniques come up from the rear leg and strongly through the hips, back and shoulder. Leg techniques are delivered with strong center of the supporting leg and through a raised and torqued hip. Raise and extend the hip much the same as the heel-lift of jumbi undo. Attacks should be delivered directly from your defensive position. Do not chamber, "cock back", or otherwise change the position of the attacking limb. For example, when leading with a front hand attack, close the gap while starting to extend the attack in a forward motion. Do not pull your arm back to deliver the attack. Start the attack in a completely relaxed fashion, and, inches from contact point, start to focus. At point-of-contact, focus, drive the power from a centered stance, through slightly torqued hips, through the back and shoulder, and drive through. This should place a reverse hand attack, should you choose to use it, in a naturally set-up position, slightly cocked back (but not "fully chambered") position. Torque your hips in a reverse direction, drive the power up from the back leg, through strongly torqued hips, though the back and shoulder, and on to contact point. Remember that the body remains relaxed in order to generate speed until contact point. Do not reverse the direction of an attacking limb in order to move it forward. The proper way to generate power is through body mechanics, not "chambering" limbs. A single attack can be effective, but a properly executed combination usually will provide better results. Training with combinations also has the benefit of avoiding "deflation", or a let down of guard, after a single technique. Try not to think of combinations in terms of one-two-three, or punch-punch-kick. This creates a mechanical, robotic quality to combinations and will be quickly read by a skilled opponent. Try to think in terms of a combination as a single entity, but be careful to keep each attack within the combination clean and focused. It is a matter of a changing body position over a good center rather than independent attacks delivered in a series. A single attack is nearly never enough and a combination of more than four techniques is usually too many. For example, three hand techniques followed by a kick can be very powerful, while a "windmill" of five hand techniques will be weak. A lead with a kick, followed by two, or maybe three, hand attacks can be effective, but a kick followed by four hand attacks will lose driving power. Devise and practice combinations, analyze them for power, speed and effectiveness, and discard weak series of movements. Closing the gap with lightning speed will not produce the desirable results if it is coupled with a weak combination. If any techniques do not work in poor lighting and with bad footing, place them in the "for fun" category and use them for play, not for serious kumite. DEFENSE Defensive techniques should be done several ways. One of the most effective defenses is simply to be outside of your opponent's strike zone. Soft defenses and "attacking" defenses are effective as well. When your opponent initiates an attack, move out of the way. If your opponent limits himself to only one or two techniques in an attack, moving just out of range of the attack can leave you in a position for an immediate counter. Sometimes it is enough to remain centered near your opponent and simply evade by moving the upper body, giving you the advantage of springing your upper body back up over your center while initiating the counter. Remain relaxed in order to defend yourself effectively. Staying tight while outside of your opponent's strike zone results in fatigue. Stay relaxed when using soft blocking techniques as well. Deflecting hand/arm blocking techniques are most effective when done in a relaxed fashion. These techniques are most efficient when you maintain a mind-set that you are just going to place your hand or arm on your opponent's attack, thereby breaking the momentum of the attack. Tenseness while performing these blocks results in over-extending the block or missing the attack entirely. "Attacking" defenses should be initiated in a relaxed fashion, as with every other technique. However, at point of contact, you should focus in the same manner as an offensive attack. These defenses should be applied with the intention of breaking down your opponent's means of attack, or to deflect, or upset, your opponent's center. One of the most effective "attacking" defenses is to strike your opponent first, as he is attempting to strike you. Whether or not he makes contact is of no concern; his strike will lack power. As always, you must remain very relaxed when initiating this technique in order for it to be effective. Always respond to your opponent's motion; do not react to his technique. Read your opponent's motion and flow with it, or you may over-respond to his feints. Limit your blocks just to the outside of your body; it is not necessary to block air. Try to think block/counter series as one unit, not block, then counter. FIGHTING SPIRIT Jiyu kumite differs from budo kumite in that jiyu kumite is practiced with point techniques in mind. After a successful technique or combination, the combatants break off to "reset" positions. Combatants should exercise a high level of control in their techniques to avoid injury. Budo kimite is done non-stop. After a successful series of techniques when practicing budo kumite, combatants should move just outside of the strike zone while continuing to maintain considerable pressure on the opponent. After a break-off, combatants should be ready to immediately spring back into attacks. Considerable control should be exercised when delivering techniques while practicing budo kumite without armor, but with armor in place, contact can be increased. A strong fighting spirit should be maintained at all times when practicing kumite. Total concentration should be directed toward your opponent at all times. Never let your opponent out of your sight. Allowing your opponent to get out of your range of vision cedes entire control to the opponent. It is much better to go down with an opportunity to continue defending yourself than to fold. Initiate your attacks with the attitude that there is no way your opponent can defend against them, and defend with the attitude that there is no way your opponent can get through it. Unnerve your opponent with a glare in your eyes and pervasive pressure. Practicing kumite is as much a mental exercise as a physical one. Think about techniques and whether or not they are effective. Analyze your own weaknesses and apply your knowledge to exploit your opponent's weaknesses. Break down the practice of kumite into segments by practicing footwork, single attacks and combinations. Practice beating your training partners to the punch. Practice blocks. Improve your kumite skills by practicing often. _