Fighting Against Expectations.
Sometimes in sparring, it is easy to get used to the people that you practice against. After awhile, you start getting to know habits of an opponent and you start trying to exploit their habits. This makes a lot of sense in some ways, however if you're fighting some one brand new, how would you know what their habits are?
What I see is that most people tend to just attack a person they do not know. Now, I can see a certain purpose of that, however in a real match with real swords, would you be willing to do that? If you're going to "test" a reaction, that might be the action that can get countered and get you killed.
When I talk to most people, people say they would just attack, or react to whatever the opponent gives. Now if your style practices any 2 man forms, even in a controlled set of movements, what is stressed is how you pressure and the strategy to use. Every style has a philosophy that directs their strategy and movement and that is the best part of practice for me. To learn the different perspectives to make these strategies work.
One thing I always stress is that you can't react to what the opponent gives to you, you MAKE the opponent do what YOU want them to give. The strongest fighters are the one that doesn't change their technique to match an opponent, but the ones that make the opponent match to what they want them to do. Understanding a mind set or how to manipulate it is what the forms are supposed to teach you. So if you are learning these forms, but don't or can't apply it to when you have a free form setting, then what are you learning? How do you understand how it works if you can't make it work? Of course it's going to work against an opponent who's movement is already preset but what if an opponent has a choice in whatever they want to do?
Many times, I fight a new person, I never consider them a beginner, or veteran etc. My challenge to me always is to get an opponent to react to me. If I can accomplish this, that means when I practice kata or two man forms, at least I understand WHY it's done a certain way, instead of just following a designated set of movements aimlessly. That's always a great challenge to take on.
What I see is that most people tend to just attack a person they do not know. Now, I can see a certain purpose of that, however in a real match with real swords, would you be willing to do that? If you're going to "test" a reaction, that might be the action that can get countered and get you killed.
When I talk to most people, people say they would just attack, or react to whatever the opponent gives. Now if your style practices any 2 man forms, even in a controlled set of movements, what is stressed is how you pressure and the strategy to use. Every style has a philosophy that directs their strategy and movement and that is the best part of practice for me. To learn the different perspectives to make these strategies work.
One thing I always stress is that you can't react to what the opponent gives to you, you MAKE the opponent do what YOU want them to give. The strongest fighters are the one that doesn't change their technique to match an opponent, but the ones that make the opponent match to what they want them to do. Understanding a mind set or how to manipulate it is what the forms are supposed to teach you. So if you are learning these forms, but don't or can't apply it to when you have a free form setting, then what are you learning? How do you understand how it works if you can't make it work? Of course it's going to work against an opponent who's movement is already preset but what if an opponent has a choice in whatever they want to do?
Many times, I fight a new person, I never consider them a beginner, or veteran etc. My challenge to me always is to get an opponent to react to me. If I can accomplish this, that means when I practice kata or two man forms, at least I understand WHY it's done a certain way, instead of just following a designated set of movements aimlessly. That's always a great challenge to take on.
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