Perception of Attacks (Patreon)

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When you're sparring, you can't look down at your feet (or at least you shouldn't). You also can't look at yourself in the mirror. Your eyes must be on your opponent, and your body must orient to them. Since your eyes face out and you can't see your body or get a bird's eye view of you and your opponent, the only clues to your body position and your orientation to your partner are what you see before you. The art of understanding your positional relationship with your opponent is wayfinding.

Your opponent gives you all the information you need regarding your body position and your orientation to them and their orientation to you. When you see your opponent directly before you, they are in front of you. They are in the path of your front attacks, such as the front kick and, later on, jabs and rear straights.

Think of your visual perception as a screen. When the opponent is at the center of your screen, they are in front of you. This might seem intuitive and easy to understand, but it's not easy to recognize since most people have never spent time thinking about what being in front means or what that looks like, especially with the added dimension of closeness and farness. It takes lots of practice.

On your first day of sparring, you might think your partner is in front of you, but are they actually in the middle of your screen? When your opponent moves slightly off center, they are no longer parallel and straightforward but adjacent. Since they are close to center, you might not recognize you are no longer facing your opponent, but they are facing you. You'll be in line for their attacks, while your front attacks might miss.

You might also move adjacent to your partner and not recognize it, missing your attacks altogether or losing balance.

If your opponent is slightly to the left, you've lined them up for your left front kick. You've also moved your vertical center line away from their right attack.

If your opponent is slightly to the right, you've lined them up for your right front kick. You've also moved your vertical center line away from their left attack.

In the previous "Direction of Attacks" module, I explained how the front kick, side kick, and back kick are essentially the same attack oriented in different directions. When your opponent is in front of you, you front kick; when they are beside you, you side kick; when they are behind you, you back kick. But how can you recognize when they are in front of you, beside you, or behind you? If this were easy to discern, everyone would be at pro-level from day one.

You can't look at your feet; you can't look in the mirror; you have to recognize your positional relationship with your partner by looking at them and feeling your body. When your opponent is beside you, they will appear at the edge of your screen (or out of the corner of your eye).

Get in your stance, whether L or J. Imagine an opponent standing to the left or right of you. Without moving your feet, turn your head and body to look at them. You'll feel a stretch in your neck and a twist at your waist; these sensations also tell you how you are oriented. This combination of perception and proprioception is your sense for your opponent, and the more attuned your game sense is, the better you can navigate the game of sparring.

Later, when we get to turning kicks, taking a turning kick to the hamstrings or glutes is also a sign that your opponent is beside you. You can't obstruct (block) a kick from that position, but you can, however, side kick.

How can you tell your opponent is behind you? When they get to the side of your screen and then vanish. You can no longer see them out of the corner of your eye, and you can no longer twist to face them. This can happen in many ways, such as when you miss a kick or it's swiped. If you can't see them, they're behind you.

From L-stance, if they vanish to the left of my screen or the right from J-stance, I can back heel turn with my rear and back kick with my lead. As you heel turn, you'll see your opponent again over your shoulder.

For safety reasons, make sure to look at your target before delivering your blow. Avoid throwing blind shots when possible, especially with powerful maneuvers like the back kick. Since it's such a powerful attack, you must also learn to pull your blow at the moment of impact. This often means letting your leg go limp.

Pulling (withdrawing) your blow is essential for safe training. For example, when you see your blow will accidentally hit your partner's knee or groin.

If they vanish from my screen, I can also turn my head the other way to face my opponent and rear-leg back kick.

Since my opponent is already moving to my back, I can also shorten that distance by bringing my back to my opponent with a lead-leg back heel turn and kicking with my rear. This causes mutual impact (my foot and my opponent run into each other for more significant impact), which might mean pulling my kick to ensure partner safety.

Summary

Since the front kick, side kick, and back kick are the same kick oriented differently, when I see my opponent in front of me, I front kick. When I see them out of the corner of my eye, I side kick. When I have to turn my head to see them, I back kick. However, fighting is asymmetrical. These orientations should not happen equally. In fact, I would argue that you should avoid letting your opponent get to your side or back altogether.

My Personal Preference

How you apply this road map is infinite, and these concepts around perception and proprioception will keep reoccurring in later modules. This is the scaffolding for all of defense and offense and how to seamlessly blend them together.

Personally, I see side kicks and back kicks as opportunistic maneuvers rather than aims. If I miss a kick and my opponent gets beside me, I side kick to prevent their attack. If I get swiped into a bad position, I can use the back or side kick as my get-out-of-trouble card. If my opponent kicks me into a bad position, I have my get-out-of-trouble cards.

However, if all goes well, I'm always looking to face my opponent or slightly keep myself off the center of their screen. I prefer to keep my opponent from getting an orientation on me where I can no longer block their turning kicks. If I can't block their turning kicks, I can't deliver my own turning kicks.

I used the analogy of movements as tent poles that hold up the canopy of my martial arts game. Back and side kicks are the ends of my tent poles; there are no tent poles beyond them. That means I can't build anything off of them.

I want sparring to be unconscious because unconscious is faster than conscious actions. I want to perceive and react rather than perceive, think, then react. For this to happen, I have to flow. Flowing means everything I do connects together, and being at the center of my martial arts canopy, rather than the edges, allows me to do that.

If I do get to the edges, it's not the end of the world; it just means I need to reset. But if I reset, it'll take me a while to get back into a flow, and a round only lasts so long. Sometimes I must reset because I'm caught in my opponent's flow. Resets can be unavoidable, so I don't want to further increase their frequency.

What happens if my get-out-of-trouble cards miss? The back kick especially is hard to land because there's a stretch where I can't see my opponent. It also consumes a lot of energy. If I miss the side kick, I can still back the opponent away, giving me time-space to face them again. However, with the back kick, if I miss, I might chase them away or expose my back.

If I think about what's available to me, most of the time it's the front kick, sometimes the side kick, and rarely the back kick. Since this is wayfinding, take the road sign that's there, not the one that's not. Flow with what's available.

– Sam