My Kenpo instructor has said several times, "There's two ways to get hit: Intentionally and unintentionally." At first I was a little confused. Why would I ever get hit on purpose? But he is talking about the other guy's intention. Usually, he's trying to hit you in a specific place. But there are times when you do a silly move, like what I did last night, which makes him hit you in a way he did not intend.
Mr. Steinman told us a story about how he was training with a 6th degree black belt and another black belt. He was firing off a complicated technique when his circling arm caught his opponent's arm causing the other guy to slap him in the face. He was hoping nobody noticed when the 6th degree jumped up and said, "Awesome!" But he continued, "No, no! It was awesome how you made him slap you! Priceless!"
Last night we were doing a multiple attacker drill. With one person in the middle and three around him, we each attacked the middle guy with a different attack as he responded with the appropriate technique. While this is somewhat staged, it does help us learn to transition from one attack and defense into another from a different angle very quickly and smoothly. It so happened that I was one of the attackers and I was stepping in with a roundhouse punch just as the guy in the middle was finishing his technique on the other attacker. One thing that we do on some techniques (the person attacking and receiving the technique) involving chops to the neck is to place our hand, palm out, in front of our neck so person executing the technique can chop and make solid contact without hurting his partner. As the guy blocked my punch and started firing off strikes across my head and body, I tried to move my right hand across to the left side of my neck, knowing his last 2 strikes would hit there. One of his shooting hands knocked my own knuckles into my lip, busting it open! Well, I thought, that doesn't work! I better leave my hands down!
A moment later blood was oozing from my lip, though I don't know how much because there were no nearby mirrors. A teenage boy asked me, "Are you bleeding?"
I nodded, "Yeah a little bit."
One of the older guys said "He's tough!"
I just smiled with my fat lip and said, "Well it's been a lot worse."
The teenager asked his dad, who was the one who hit me, "Did you do that?"
I answered for him, "No, I did that. I tried to move my hand through the flurry to cover my neck and found out it doesn't work on this technique. Ended up hitting myself."
We all had a laugh.
So I managed to get through seven months of applying and "being applied on" with nothing but bruises. It is pretty amazing really, considering all the crazy moves we do and how close we get to damaging our targets. I think it says something about our control and consideration for our fellow students. But I worked with a purple belt and green belt last night (middle ranks on the way to black), and they actually hit me with impact, but without really hurting me. So I think as I progress, and as my control develops more, it should get closer and closer to the real thing.
Just when I start feeling comfortable and confident with moves and forms, my instructor makes us do something simple that shows me how weak and clumbsy I really am (like doing a super slooooow kick, or a crouching, twisting stance) and I have to struggle to keep my balance, even though no one is attacking me.
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