Kumite Motivation

Above : The JKA

A little kumite motivation to watch as you train for the JKS competition in Nottingham. A lot of brilliant footage here, but you will need a bit more control in the UK, enjoy, Osu!

Click on the yellow button below to return to the "HOME" page

Home

Can we do some Kumite Sensei?

It is always nice to recieve feedback from students and requests for what they would like to work on.
But, how do you develop a karateka in kumite, when do you start and with what type?
Karate is a balance of Kihon, Kata and Kumite, but many students feel that they are being held back unduly in kumite.
Every association and indeed club will have a differing viewpoint, but here is ours.

Types
Kumite can be broken down into the following:
Basic Kumite - Gohon, Sambon and Ippon Kumite (5, 3 & 1 Step)
Jiyu ippon Kumite - Semi free
Jiyu Kumite - free

We will start beginners on attacks and defence in the standing position. We also have karateka in pairs just stepping forward backwards and to the sides just maintaining kamae and maai (no attacking). We develop to "knee boxing" where karateka score points by touching the knee of the opponent, from a scramble for a young beginner this can be very tactical for the experienced karateka developing tai-sabaki.

Above: Static Attack and defence

The Karateka is practiced in Gohon, or so he/she thinks and want to progress straight to Jiyu, where the excitement is.

Above: Even in Gohon kumite you don't know who you might come up against!

Different types of kumite develop different skills, in Gohan the maai is set, in Jiyu Ippon from Kamae, maai is an optional distance. Jiyu ipppon is a massive step up from basic, Jiyu Ippon is the first introduction to "jissen" actual fighting. You announce the area that you are aiming and the attacker attacks decisively. The defender is free to use any technique to block and counter. The purpose is to put into practice techniques of offence and defence.
When training with either Gullen or Kato Shihan with senior grades much time is spent on Jiyu Ippon. Kato Shihan recently said to us in whitchurch, " This is Jiyu Ippon not Jiyu wazari, you must attack, you must score.... target, target".

I am sure Jiyu Ippon means that the karateka attacks with a single technique, but what Shihan was trying to instil into us is this is Jissen actual fighting. It requires Zanshin, spirit and commitment. The attacker can make use of feints and changes in advancing techniques, not just a straightforward Oi-Zuki. The blocker can advance, retreat or tai-sabaki, shifting the centre of gravity, blocking-finishing in one breath.

I was reading Yahara Shihan interview in this months SKM he talks about trying to survive Yano Sensei, he had to learn good tai-sabaki. Yahara Sensei studied the method of movement of the late Asai Sensei who used special evasion methods that he learnt in Taiwan while studying Chinese wushu.

The feeling of Jiyu Ippon should be if after attacking, the attacker continues to attack or turns the blockers counter against him this would become jiyu kumite. For this reason Jiyu Ippon requires great skill and is not recommended for beginners whose techniques will be poor and ineffective under pressure. For the more experienced karateka it will develop true sight and the sixth sense of attack and defence.

When grading for Shodan I was disappointed that after my Jiyu Ippon that I only had about 30 seconds of Jiyu kumite, but now I realise that I have still to develop before I am really ready for Jiyu Kumite.

Gullen Shihan starts high Kyu grades in Jiyu Ippon in a relaxed manner but requires a simple defense sliding back and block and counter age-uke or soto-uke. An excellent grounding, what this does is gives the defender maximum time to react to the attack. It dosen't matter if the attacker changes side, half steps first or slides in, the basic blocks work giving you not quite all the time in the world, but a lot more time than having to worry about having a certain foot forward for the technique to work. This is then developed into speed and power with Zanshin for brown belts, but still just the basic block....don't get ahead of yourself yet.

If you have jumped into the middle of our blog via a search engine you may want to go to our latest post; please follow the link below that will relaunch the blog
SSKC latest post

SSKC Kata and Kumite Competition May 2007

A Great club competition, thank you to all our younger members that took part. It is invaluable to get used to competition at a young age, before the nerves set in.

Sensei Ash took the normal warm ups followed by some Kihon before the competition started.

The session was more around teaching students about competition and was kept as light as possible, quite a few students haven't even graded yet so we didn't want to frighten them off.

Above: Joe and Dom perform Heian Shodan

Above: Dom and Daniel perform Heian Yondan
Above: Josh and Michael, Heian Shodan - Michael has only been training with the club a few weeks and is due to grade in June for the first time. He is working very hard under the critical eye of his father Sensei Andy Denby who has also recently joined SSKC and the IJKA.

Above: Michael's Sister Georgia competes against Joe

Above: Michael wins through to the final!
He gives Rebecca a really good run for her money, after drawing against her twice the third time goes to the referees decision, not an easy decision for Bernard. Michael gets a highly commended second place, well done Michael.

We were very pleased to welcome Sensei Andy Bailey, an Ex SSKC member and an occasional visitor to the club when he is in the area visiting his parents. Andy kindly did some judging and presented the Kata thophies for us. Thanks Andy.

1st Rebecca Brant
2nd Michael Denby
3rd Dominic Schilke
4th Joe Varga
Well done Joe an excellent result.

Above: Daniel and Rebecca had a long, long fight to decide the winner, how many times can you draw? well they were both very tired and had both received a few hard knocks from each other. In the photo I think Daniel has the upper hand, but Rebecca dug deep to fight back.

Above: Not quite sure why Sensei Helen is in Moksou when she is meant to be judging?

Sensei Ian Culpan was another welcome guest, his parents bought the club the Kumite trophy in the early 1980's and it was an honour to have Ian do some of the judging and present the trophy that his parents had bought so many years before. Thanks Ian.

1st Rebecca Brant

2nd Dominic Schilke

3rd Daniel Kozelko

4th Sam Dennis

Above: The Kata and Kumite winners

Rear Left to Right: Senseis Ashley Dilcock, Andy Denby,Ian Culpan and Andy Bailey.

Front Left to Right: Dominic Schilke, Daniel Kozelko, Rebecca Brant and Michael Denby

If you have jumped into the middle of our blog via a search engine you may want to go to our latest post; please follow the link below that will relaunch the blog

SSKC latest post