Does danniboi07 even compete?

[danniboi07]

Well...not so much in Judo or BJJ anymore, though i should really get back into that.

Recently I've been competing in FMA, though, so here's some footage!

The rules for this tournament were:
-no grappling, punching or kicking, weapon shots only
- clean strikes earn a point
----clean is defined as hitting the opponent with the stick and not receiving a return hit for 3 counts. (you'll see the ref wave his hand as a count)



I get there and there's one other guy from my school also competing. We're warming up, psyching each other up and then wouldn't you know it....we're paired up for the first match.

I'm in the black shirt and black shorts w/ blue&white stripe.

Probably my ugliest match too. Mostly flailing around, and towards the end just getting lazy from not warming up properly enough.



Winning that round, I came to the second match better warmed up and having a more clear head. My teacher gave me some advice to improve myself and it shows in the video.



In that round I was much more relaxed and aimed my shots better.


Now came the finals. This match was a lot of fun.

He had a more brawler style which wasn't ideal for the rule-set. Anytime he kept swinging at me, I just needed to keep swinging at him and then no point would be awarded. This led to some ugly exchanges. However, it's the clean shots that I enjoy in this match. That and the ending too...



In the end, got 1st place. My second 1st place in FMA (beginners divisions), so I gotta keep working hard at this.

[danniboi07]

Now....that was the stick division.


For this tournament I also signed up for the knife division, which I had never competed in before. We had trained in knife sparring at school, but not as extensively as stick sparring. Plus I didn't tell my teacher I signed up for the knife division so that didn't help. Not only did we not spar as much in knife, but my teacher also had to leave after the stick division. Luckily HIS instructor was still there and helped me out a bit.

So here's round one. The funny thing to note is I was still in stick-mode, and I'm swinging a knife as if it was a stick, and not hitting anything. It's actually pretty hilarious. I tried utilizing my check hand more than I did in the stick division, but that stuff is difficult. I still got a long way to go.



Lost that round. Went back and got some good advice from guro about changing the mentality and tactics in knife sparring. This advice really paid off in round 2.



Much improved. Utilized feints more. Plus the whole disarm thing.....yah.

On to round 3....with a massive height and reach disadvantage.



As much as I appreciated guro's advice, I still need to train more in the knife aspect. This guy was much more clean than I was. Completely flailing and I was pretty tired too. Regardless, the spectators liked it and the ref even said to both of us "good round, you guys stabbed each other in the face plenty!"

Plenty to take back and learn from. Any additional advice and/or criticisms are welcome!

[Fuzzy]

Good stuff!

After watching the very first video I was going to say "Watch your legs", but you seemed to sort that out in the later rounds.

Props for competing and posting vids.