BASICS - The Road to Tournament Success

by Keith Geyer

 

During 19 years of competition karate, I came to realise the vital significance of basic training.

The Basics

From the beginning of my career I always tried to develop the kind of techniques that would cause severe damage to an opponent if not properly controlled. Combined with this was my belief in the necessity to possess the correct mental attitude - one of karate's fundamental maxims.

Attitude

Assuming that we accept the guiding principles established by the founders of karate, we know that we are required to treat our opponents with the proper etiquette and courtesy and also in a spirit of humility.

It was always my belief that if I was able to acquire the ability to execute devastating power in my offensive techniques, plus the required discipline and control to use them without damaging an opponent, I would be coming close to realising my aim in tournament karate.

It seemed obvious to me, considering the hundreds of years of study and practice that have gone into the development of the fundamentals of the ancient art of karate, that the closer I kept my tournament strategies to the basic skills, the greater would be my chance of success.

Weak Points vs Strong Points

What very often concerned me however, was the fact that in tournaments, points were often awarded for techniques that lacked "kime" . In my view this unfortunate practice undermines the objectives of the art of karate. It was always my aim to deliver punches and kicks of force and "kime" . My thinking was based on the assumption that the stronger the technique, the more difficult it would be to block it.

Added to this was my effort to develop a variety of scoring techniques, which I attempted to link to an ability to make use of the appropriate one at the right moment and with maximum explosive power.

Experience then taught me, that to control an accurate and powerful blow or kick on a moving target (particularly one coming forward), demanded a tremendous amount of willpower and discipline. To my mind these can only be learnt from many hours of basic training.

The Secret

The secret is for one's body to become totally accustomed to the execution of basic techniques. Once this happens, one is able to use the most appropriate and correct procedures with very little conscious effort when one faces an opponent in a tournament. I always found that the less I concentrated on my own movements, the more I relied on and applied the basics.

In tournament karate one faces so many vastly different opponents with totally different styles, that it is an absolute necessity to become as proficient as possible in the use of the formal, fundamental techniques of attack and defence. That is the key to success and in my mind there is no alternative to learning and practicing basic movements step by step, stage by stage.

Different Opponents

To be able to deal with different opponents, all with their own individual style, I found it essential to practice over and over again fundamental leg movements such as shifting, stepping and swivelling. In fact the more I practiced my basics, the better organised I was able to keep myself while doing a variety of free fighting techniques.

What I am saying is that behind every consistently successful tournament fighter lie hours and hours of basic training. But then that surely is what the majority of karate-ka love. Tournament is merely the means of putting to the test what we have learnt so laboriously and with so much sweat and effort in the dojo.

 

 

Reprinted courtesy of SA JKA Today