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4 TANG SOO DO SPARRING TECHNIQUES
Author: Robert W. Young
Korean martial artists call it jayu dae ryeon. Its name, which translates as simply “free sparring,” falls somewhat short of conveying all the intricacies that play out on the competition floor and all the strategies that run through the head of the successful practitioner. It also fails to hint at the preparation that must be done before engaging in it, and it definitely fails to communicate all the benefits to be enjoyed while doing it.
To fill in those gaping knowledge chasms, Black Belt spoke with Chun Sik Kim, a firm believer in jayu dae ryeon. As president and founder of the Pittsburgh-based International Tang Soo Do Federation, he has had ample opportunity to perfect the methods by which it is taught and performed. “Free sparring is important because it makes you focus on natural movement, which is what you get when you have freedom in sparring,” he says. “You quickly find out that made-up techniques and combinations seldom work and that natural movements, natural blocks and natural attacks are what score.”
Basics First
A common mistake martial artists make is jumping into free sparring before they are ready, says Kim, who has practiced tang soo do for more than half a century. “You have to learn the basics first, then practice one-step sparring and three-step sparring. The basics teach you good balance and good stance. One-step sparring teaches you how to focus, and three-step sparring teaches you how to move forward and backward, as well as how to use distancing. Together, they give you the confidence you need to successfully block and attack in jayu dae ryeon.”
One thing you need not do to prepare for free sparring is pump iron or wale on a heavy bag to increase your striking power. That’s because contact is not made in the tang soo do ring. “We practice control, not contact,” says Kim, who was Black Belt’s 1995 Man of the Year. “We stop our techniques close to the target. Then, if in a real fight we decide to hit the target, we can do it easily. The theory is that if you make contact constantly, you will have a hard time controlling your techniques when you need to. But if you always practice control, you can easily choose to hit when you need to.
“And if you constantly make contact during free sparring, your mind will become wild,” Kim claims. “But if you practice controlled sparring, your mind will become more controlled.” Both states of mind can spill over into your life outside of class, he adds.
Because full contact is prohibited, you have no need for heavy-duty protective pads, Kim says. “Using boxing gloves and [thick] foot pads tends to make you like to hit hard. And when you hit while wearing that kind of pad, you have no feeling of whether your technique is correct.”
To avoid that problem, you should opt for light pads on your knuckles and insteps. They are sufficient to prevent injury when contact accidentally occurs, Kim says. “I have been teaching this way in the United States for almost 30 years, and I have never seen a major injury in my schools or in any branches of the International Tang Soo Do Federation.”
Self-Defense
“Jayu dae ryeon is perfect if you want to improve your self-defense ability,” Kim says. “You can combine any techniques you want: kicks, punches, sweeps, takedowns, anything.”
Whether your free sparring is oriented toward competition or street fighting, you should strive to improve your endurance, he says. “That’s one reason you need to have good basics and good one- and three-step-sparring skills; they develop your endurance.“Remember that it is not going to happen immediately,” Kim continues. “It usually takes two or three months to build endurance. A big part of it is breathing. You have to breathe at the right time when you punch and block.
If you hold your breath when you do a technique, you can still do the technique, but you will get more and more tired as time goes on. Eventually you will lose your ability to continue. On the other hand, each time you inhale and exhale correctly, you extend the amount of time you can continue to fight.”
In the Ring
When tang soo do students engage in free sparring, they usually start with two- to three-minute rounds, Kim says. Under-belts spar one-on-one, but black belts also practice two-on-one to build their awareness and endurance for competition, as well as to boost their ability to handle multiple attackers in self-defense.
Whether you are in the ring or on the asphalt, accuracy should play a key role in free sparring, Kim says. When you see an opening, you should not think: “I’m going to punch. I don’t care where it lands; I just want to punch something.”
Instead, you should aim for specific targets like the solar plexus, the nose and the neck, Kim says. “You don’t just strike anywhere on your opponent’s body. We call this traditional tang soo do philosophy il gyeok pil sal, which means ‘one technique stops the enemy.’ That’s the reason tang soo do never became a sport like taekwondo and kickboxing. We believe when you must hit with your fist, foot, knee or elbow, you should hit the person’s weak area so you can put him down.”
Obviously, making contact with such deadly free-sparring techniques would have serious consequences, Kim says. That’s part of the reason tang soo do stresses non-contact in jayu dae ryeon practice.
Typical Response
Practitioners of most Asian martial arts start out by learning to detect an incoming technique, then blocking it and counterattacking. That methodology is so widespread because it works well—but only if you have developed your blocking skills. “I make all my students concentrate on blocking because having a good defense means you also have a good offense,” Kim says. “No matter how good your kicking and punching techniques are, part of your body is always exposed,” he continues. to your enemy.
“Some martial artists respond to a kick by immediately attacking—without blocking first,” Kim says. “But our philosophy tells us to block first. Then we counter depending on the opponent’s stance and method of attack.”
If you are confident of your tang soo do blocking skills, you can use them against even the biggest and strongest opponent because all the art’s defensive techniques are based on sound physical principles, Kim says. Nevertheless, against such an aggressor you may want to look at one of the following strategies.
Down Under
“Your response to an attack should depend on what type of technique your attacker uses,” Kim says. “If he throws a powerful mid-level kick or high kick, you may want to avoid his foot by dropping to the ground.”
Perhaps the most important component of this strategy is landing in a position from which you can attack and, if necessary, defend yourself, Kim says.
In other words, you shouldn’t just drop like a sack of potatoes and then try to figure out your next move. You should construct your game plan first, then strategically squat to evade the blow before launching your counter-assault.
The target of your counter depends on the size of your opponent, Kim says. “If he is average height, you can go for his face, but if he is 6 feet tall or more, you should probably aim for his solar plexus with a back wheel kick or a side kick.”
Retreat and Advance
“In tang soo do, we teach two ways to block: One is to block physically, and the other is to block with your rhythm, with your step,” Kim says. “When your opponent steps forward to strike, you simply step backward. Then you move in quickly and counterattack before he can recover and plan his follow-up technique.”
The retreat-and-advance strategy proves particularly useful when your opponent charges forward before you have had a chance to prepare to defend yourself with your hands, he says. “In that case, the best option is to move backward one or two steps—depending on his attack—and then respond with a round kick, a back kick, an inside-outside hook kick or a turning side kick.”
Angling Forward
Perhaps the most advanced tang soo do free-sparring strategy is the angled advance. “If you slip out of the way of your opponent’s attack by stepping off at a 45-degree angle, you don’t even have to block,” Kim says. Then it doesn’t matter how much power his technique has, and it doesn’t matter how quickly he can set up for a second strike, he adds.
“I like this method very much because it reminds me of a snake,” Kim says. “A snake can move forward quickly, but it cannot turn quickly because it is so long. If you think of your opponent as a snake, you can move to the left or right and make him miss. Then you can find an opening for a kick or punch before he is able to turn and attack you again.”
This angling strategy is more difficult to develop because human nature makes people want to back up when they are attacked, Kim says.
“You have to train your body and mind to do the opposite, and you have to be able to instantly determine whether you should move to the left or right of your attacker. It takes concentration and a lot of practice, but the payoff is worth it." ...