A Warrior's Thougts on the Martial Arts

No comment on this one. Just lean back and enjoy the show. So long, take care

This winter’s Shinergy[battle] made me think about the role of the individual defensive system we practice in training and how each of them has its place in combat. Although definitions on the subject may (and surely will) vary, a defensive system , for me, is pretty much everything that keeps you from being (severely) hurt/damaged by an attack. So, without further ado, let’s take a quick look at each of those systems: Evasion and soft blocking : From my point of view, it’s always best to simply not be where the opponent strikes or kicks. Now that might seem like a no-brainer at first, but actually, most intelligent fighting systems make quite a lot of fuzz on that matter. Now on the one hand, you have western boxing, where a basic bob and weave is amongst the first things you learn. On the other hand, consider Wing Tsun (or early forms of JKD, for that matter), where most if not all blocks aim at redirecting the attackers force and ultimately using it against him. I won’t bother ela...

No comment on this one. just lean back and enjoy. So long, take care

Last Saturday, this year’s first Shinergy[battle] was on. Great fights, great event, Fighters competed in four divisions: Men, full contact sparring, +80kg Men, semi-contact sparring, +185cm Cadets, semi-contact sparring, catch weight Women, semi-contact sparring, catch weight For a short recap considering the rules, let me summarize the key points: Fights are “best of three”, so it takes two won rounds to win a fight Each round is two minutes, with one minute break in between rounds Low-kicks, throws and takedowns are prohibited. Pretty much everything else, including but not limited to the following techniques, is fair play: all kicks above waist level all hand strikes (closed and open hand) above waist level knee strikes above waist level, also to the head elbow strikes above waist level, also to the head, foot sweeps it goes without saying that dangerous and unsportsmanlike actions such as fish-hooking, biting, eye-gauging, etc. are prohibited full-contact bouts...

The event Last saturday (2012-12-15), the Shinergy[battle] winter 2012 was held in Amstetten, Lower Austria. The event was also something of an opening ceremony for [Dietmar's] [new dojo] . First, the children (-10 years) competed in contests that relied on agility, speed and technical skill. Then, the youngsters (+10 years) had some semi-contact sparring. From my school, there was only one competitor, David. This was David's fighting debut and he dealt with the situation just fine. You see, the fight was scheduled as a "best-of-5" match, meaning that it takes three won rounds for victory. In a best case scenario, the fight is over after three rounds, worst case is five. The latter was the case with David's match. Each of the boys took two rounds, so the fight was decided in the fifth - by just a couple of points. Seems like the match-up was nearly perfect in this case. Now the thing with David is that he always shows up for training, always pays full atten...

In my [post here] , I've mentioned something cool coming up. Never had the time to cover it afterwards, though. So despite the fact that it's been a month since then, I'll still fill you in on one of the coolest (imho) and most sensible event of the year: The Shinergy[charity battle]@U4Behave The idea To sum the idea up in a nutshell, the event was all about fighting for something instead of fighting against something. To be more precise, the agenda was to fight for ZUKI, a charity organisation here in Austria that raises money for children in India. ZUKI is short for "Zukunft Kind", which translated roughly to "Future Children" - though that translation gives the whole thing a slightly different meaning. Anyhow, you can check out their homepage at www.zuki-zukunftfuerkinder.at Ronny, founder and head of Shinergy[international], came up with the idea to promote a fight night where selected Shinergy competitors would meet in fightclub-style bouts. ...

So with this fight, I'll finish analyzing the fights that were fought at the Shinergy[battle] autumn '11. We're looking at the bout between Felpe (Shinergy[stadlau]) and Gerhard (Shinergy[zone vienna]). For both boys this was the second fight on that evening. In Felipe's first fight, the columbian proved he could deal with brawlers quite well. Gerhard, on the other hand, already proved he's a decent boxer and strong - if slow - kicker. They say that styles make fights and this one promised to get interresting. In terms of action, this certainly was no dissapointment. Both guys got at it from the start. Kept a proper distance, too - the fight never got slowed down by either clinching (too close distance) or standing off (too far distance). Over the course of first minute, it looked like this was a more or less balanced match-up. It was easily to be seen that there was a technical advantage on Gerhard's side, but nothing drastical. However, Felipe got too confiden...

This time I actually have an excuse for not posting for such a long time: on 1st of March, I had my last exam for my BSC studies. Obviously, that involved quite some learning. Training suffered, too. However, now I'm done with that, in a couple of weeks I'll have my papers and officially be an BSC. Anyhow, back to the topic at hand, it's time to look at another fight. This time, I'll analyze Gabriel's second fight at the Shinergy[autumn battle] 2011. He was up against Florian, a boy from Tom's Dojo in Liesing, Vienna's 23rd district. I guess you could dub that fight "Speed VS Power". The whole fight had something of a play of catch after the first couple of seconds: Florian chased Gabriel across the mat, Gabriel tried to land indirect counters. Having said that, let's take a (very brief) look at the details. Gabriel Let's start out with the positive things. Gabriel consistantly made those direct roundhouse counters work. This can already be...

Ok, it's been a while. Now properly analyzing a fight means going through the details over and over again, watching the fight endless times, observing a different aspect each time. This is not something I can do on the fly. So, since I was pretty short on time, I decided not to write a half-hearted analysis but rather postpone the thing a bit. Now, I've got some time on my hands again, so here we go. Having said all of the above, this analysis was actually pretty easy as the whole fight was somewhat one-sided. Today's installment will cover the only fight fought under redbelt rules at the last Shinergy[battle]. The matchup had Tino, a young yet relatively successfull semi-contact fighter (he scored some national medals at semi-contact kickboxing under WKF rules) fight Michael, one of my guys. Now both contestants can be considered Veterans in that they've both had their share of Shinergy battles in the past. Knowing both fighters and their respective background, I estim...

Today I'll cover quite an interresting fight: Andy M (Shinergy[stadlau]) VS Gerhard (Shinergy[zone vienna]) Now this fight is interresting in that winning wasn't an option for Andy to begin with. You see, Andy was pretty badly handicapped by knee pain, so he was in no condition to throw kicks. To make things even more challenging, Andy competed in the adults division despite only being 16 years old. Also, it was only his [second] tournament (and third fight), while Gerhard took gold at a previous Shinergy[battle]. Hence, basically all advantages (bigger technical repertoire, weight, experience) lay with Gerhard. Knowing all this, we decided to treat the whole thing as a specialized sparring session rather than a tournament fight. Andy's task was to out-box his opponent and resist the temptation to throw any kicks whatsoever at all cost. Now while this approach sometimes actually leads to success in kickboxing bouts, it takes quite a big advantage in another area (experien...

Today, I'll go over another bout that was fought at the Shinergy[battle] autumn cup '11, Felipe (Shinergy[stadlau]) VS ??? (Shinergy[zone vienna]) Now after analyzing [Andy VS Pierre] , this fight was a completely different game. Felipe (black trunks) had his second fight after [facing Stan] at the last battle. Now I must say he improved quite a bit, technically and tactically. Obviously though, lots of work lie before him still. Can't say about the other guy, haven't seen him before. Therefore, I'll focus very much on analyzing the fight with a focus on Felipe. Before doing so, however, I'll do a brief gross analysis of the fight and sum up my thoughts in a nutshell. Little strategy on both sides, lots of hard knocks, quite a few forbidden maneuvers. From the looks of it, I'd say those guys were out for a kill. Definately a crowd pleaser, that one. Having said that, I do believe both boys got better even during the course of that very fight. While the ...

Today, let's take a closer look at fight #2, Andy (Shinergy[stadlau]) VS Pierre (Shinergy[zone vienna]) . That fight was particularly interresting in that it probably was the most tactical fight on that evening. Both competitors kept alternating between offensive and defensive styles. While it seemed that Pierre rather preferred a rather counter-oriented strategy, Andy was more interrested in attacking. However, none of them limited himself exclusively to his preference. Instead, they adapted and changed gears constantly. It was nice to see that kind of flexibility. Still, there were some points on both sides that need to be adressed. First, I'll focus on Andy, as he's one of my boys. After that, I'll analyze Pierre's perfomance. Let's start from a tactical point of view. If you look at Andy's very first action, as seen in clip #1 from 00:03 - 00:06, you'll notice a mistake that could have been avoided. Andy successfully feints an attack and causes Pierr...

Finally got a hold of video that covers all fights of the Shinergy[battle] autumn cup '11. In the coming days, I'll post those videos, one at a time. Also, I'll give a short technical and tactical analysis for each of those fights. I'm totally aware it's always easy to sound smart when analyzing a fight, whereas it's a totally different game to actually fight. However, since I absolutely know what it's like to lose a fight (there's enough video footage here on this blog to prove that), I ask you not to see my commentary as criticism, but rather an attempt to offer advice. Without further ado, let's take a look at fight #1, Gabriel (Shinergy[stadlau]) VS Fabio (Shinergy[liesing]) The bout was under point/stop rules, so after each clear hit the fight was interrupted for a moment. Since I'm Gabriel's trainer and coach, I'll first take a look at his performance. When it comes to dominance and aggression, the fight definately goes to Gabriel. ...

Yesterday I got my hands on some more video footage of the Shinergy[battle] autumn cup '11. Below you can see Gabriel and Andy, two of my students. Both performed pretty well. Gabriel fought under Point/Stop rules. That's pretty much our equivalent to "Semi-Contact" Kickboxing. The main difference is that, although the fight is interrupted after each clear hit in order to score the point, strikes are always performed with full force. Andy, despite being 16 years old (therefore officially falling into the 'youth' division), competed in the 'adults' division. Also, he's suffering from some knee trouble at the moment, so kicking was not an option. Considering that and the fact that Andy faced the guy who in the end won the whole thing, Andy really impressed me (and a couple of spectators, who approached me after the fight). Anyways, here you go - enjoy! Gabriel #1 Gabriel #2 Andy #1 As soon as I have it, I'll post Felipe's fights as well and ...

On Saturday, November 19th, 2011, the Shinergy[battle] autumn cup '11 took place. Obviously, my guys did great. 5 fighters from my Dojo competed, of which two took gold, one took silver and one took bronze in their respective weight- and belt-divisions. The fifth had a rib broken but still won the fight. Tough guy, that one. Unfortunately, he couldn't advance to the semi-finals due to his broken rib - but winning a fight with a broken rib means more than any medal ever could, anyways. On Thursday, I got hold of video footage of one of the fights. Here, it's Michael from my school (sleeveless shirt) against Tino from the Shinergy[zone vienna]. I have to head for the Dojo in a couple of minutes, so I'll not comment the fight right now. Just sit back and enjoy! Round 1: Round 2: Final round: Of course, as soon as I can lay my hands on more video footage (most likely come wednesday), I'll put it up here. Also, once all vids are up, I'll comment each fight. So long, ...