2024-09-18

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Most of tonight’s adult class was spent on kumite drills, and we spent much of that time working on getting out of the way. Moving off the line of attack is fundamental, both to avoiding the attack and to positioning yourself for a counterattack. Why?

1. Humans move forward much faster than they move backward, giving the attacker a bit of an advantage right up front.
2. In self-defense, the attacker tends to be larger than the victim, which typically comes with a range advantage. If you stay on the line of attack, moving back outside the attacker’s reach means he’s outside your reach too.
3. Moving straght backwards to avoid an attack allows the attacker to continue moving stright forward to press the attack, using his momentum to his advantage.

Obviously, the solution is to move off the line of attack. This keeps you close enough to counterattack while forcing them to reverse course if they want to come around for another attack.

(Hilariously, the person in white throws what appears to be a left yoko empi uchi at the train as it goes by. 🤣)

So why is it so difficult to get students to move at angles? Probably because, when we introduce them to footwork and technique, we do so moving straight forward and backward. It’s hard enough to get them to do these funny karate moves without worrying about doing it at odd angles, so that generally comes later. But the trick is introducing it soon enough that “step back and block” hasn’t had time to become the habitual default yet.