GRAPPLING SEMINAR
10/05/2009 21:53 Filed in: Seminars
Up close and personal, Sandokai gets to grips
with grappling.
On Sunday, May the 10th the Helston dojo hosted a
four hour course with Kevin Derrington of Pure Grappling from Penzance.
In attendance were (from left to right) Richard Collet, Rob the Jock, Alex Blamey, Kevin Derrington, Josh Hughes and Ben Rigby. Anthony Woods was the photographer and video man.
Sensei Alex Blamey trains with Kevin on a regular basis and thought it would be good for the karateka of Sandokai to learn some grappling skills as karate is predominately a striking art.
Kevin introduced himself and the way in which he teaches, which is very relaxed and informal. The instruction is based on building up to a non compliant partner (i.e the other person is not standing still letting you do whatever you want to them).
After a short warm up it was straight into partner drill work. Kevin always teaches partner training drills, never solo drills. This is part of his grappling ethos.
As it was non compliant pair work students started to gasp for air quite early on in the training. Practise is a lot more demanding when your partner is not letting you put a technique on! Also, some students found the close body contact a little disconcerting at first.
The drills worked on wrestling both on your feet and on the floor. Kevin demonstrated basic concepts of this range such as the correct position for your head, the importance of getting grips on your opponent whilst denying them their own.
Arm control followed, focussing on the underhook and overhook. Kevin showed that the underhook, with a dominant head position, was a very strong platform to control your partner from in the clinch. Small timed drills on each of these positions were used to practise the techniques. Everything started in the 'Introduction phase' and was initially practised very lightly with virtually no resistance before we 'went live' in the 'isolation phase' with a less co-operative opponent.
Kevin propounded his "I" method = Introduction, Isolation (where you should spend most of our time) and Integration (general rolling or sparring).
After working on with these fundamentals the single collar tie position (holding with one hand and hitting with the other) and a thai knee drill were added. Again, starting with the Introduction, then working towards uncooperative opponents in the Isolation phase. Finally, wearing MMA gloves, the students worked a couple of rounds combining all aspects of the clinch surfing drill.
After a short and much needed break, Kevin covered the skeleton of SBG's ISR (Intercept, Stabilize and Resolve) Syllabus that's used for both civilian and law enforcement in the USA.
Kevin showed how to cover your head using both hands with a technique called "the helmet", then to crash into your opponent with the aim of being on the end of their strikes for as little time as possible. From this position you work for an underhook with one hand as you push your opponent's face/ear area away with the other.
The emphasis was on moving away from your opponent to get a straight arm between them and you, rather than to try to use muscle strength as your opponent is likely to be bigger than you are. Having established this "underhook and pike" position, potential escapes from the position were examined. The three main avenues of escape from this clinch control position are [1] Your partner tries to head lock you, [2] they try to tackle you, and [3] or they try to power up and out of the hold.
A response was practised for each of the escape attempts using the "I" method as the coaching model.
Finally, with gloves on again, the day's lessons were put to the test, and in virtually every case the students managed to utilise the material that they'd practised against a partner offering close to 100% resistance.
Tired and sore, a small group of Sandokai karateka now have some extra skills to add to their arsenal of close-quarters self-defence.
In attendance were (from left to right) Richard Collet, Rob the Jock, Alex Blamey, Kevin Derrington, Josh Hughes and Ben Rigby. Anthony Woods was the photographer and video man.
Sensei Alex Blamey trains with Kevin on a regular basis and thought it would be good for the karateka of Sandokai to learn some grappling skills as karate is predominately a striking art.
Kevin introduced himself and the way in which he teaches, which is very relaxed and informal. The instruction is based on building up to a non compliant partner (i.e the other person is not standing still letting you do whatever you want to them).
After a short warm up it was straight into partner drill work. Kevin always teaches partner training drills, never solo drills. This is part of his grappling ethos.
As it was non compliant pair work students started to gasp for air quite early on in the training. Practise is a lot more demanding when your partner is not letting you put a technique on! Also, some students found the close body contact a little disconcerting at first.
The drills worked on wrestling both on your feet and on the floor. Kevin demonstrated basic concepts of this range such as the correct position for your head, the importance of getting grips on your opponent whilst denying them their own.
Arm control followed, focussing on the underhook and overhook. Kevin showed that the underhook, with a dominant head position, was a very strong platform to control your partner from in the clinch. Small timed drills on each of these positions were used to practise the techniques. Everything started in the 'Introduction phase' and was initially practised very lightly with virtually no resistance before we 'went live' in the 'isolation phase' with a less co-operative opponent.
Kevin propounded his "I" method = Introduction, Isolation (where you should spend most of our time) and Integration (general rolling or sparring).
After working on with these fundamentals the single collar tie position (holding with one hand and hitting with the other) and a thai knee drill were added. Again, starting with the Introduction, then working towards uncooperative opponents in the Isolation phase. Finally, wearing MMA gloves, the students worked a couple of rounds combining all aspects of the clinch surfing drill.
After a short and much needed break, Kevin covered the skeleton of SBG's ISR (Intercept, Stabilize and Resolve) Syllabus that's used for both civilian and law enforcement in the USA.
Kevin showed how to cover your head using both hands with a technique called "the helmet", then to crash into your opponent with the aim of being on the end of their strikes for as little time as possible. From this position you work for an underhook with one hand as you push your opponent's face/ear area away with the other.
The emphasis was on moving away from your opponent to get a straight arm between them and you, rather than to try to use muscle strength as your opponent is likely to be bigger than you are. Having established this "underhook and pike" position, potential escapes from the position were examined. The three main avenues of escape from this clinch control position are [1] Your partner tries to head lock you, [2] they try to tackle you, and [3] or they try to power up and out of the hold.
A response was practised for each of the escape attempts using the "I" method as the coaching model.
Finally, with gloves on again, the day's lessons were put to the test, and in virtually every case the students managed to utilise the material that they'd practised against a partner offering close to 100% resistance.
Tired and sore, a small group of Sandokai karateka now have some extra skills to add to their arsenal of close-quarters self-defence.