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Old 11-02-2012, 11:17 AM   #8
Krystal Locke
Location: Phoenix, Oregon
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 407
United_States
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Re: Aikido and sparring: how to?

Quote:
Long Trinh wrote: View Post
Well, that's exactly the problem... How can you Irimi if there's nothing to Iriminage into???? Like in Aikido we always have distance between uke and tori, but in sparring, I would be face to face with the guy and his feet is like, right next to my feet (but instead of holding my hands he's trying to jab the crap out of my face) There's no room to taisabaki or irimi. I would try to back side way to tempt them to charge, but instead they simply close the distance to sparring distance. No attack from a proper distance to channel a technique...

And I'm not so sure I'm ok sparring naked with my buddies They can save those parts for their wives
Use your tai sabaki to maintain distance or regain it once you've been crowded. Slip a jab and iriminage of some sort is right there, almost always. Use a trained sparrer's retraction to connect with their arm and enter along the line of the punch.

None of this comes quickly or easily. Train more, and train in what you want to learn. If you have trouble with sparrers crowding you, get your aikido ukes to compress their distance for a while. Or, figure out the "trick" of expanding your ma-ai so that you are seeing an attacker's intent and mechanics from far away so that you can respond before you are in range. Look very carefully at body mechanics and ranges in your stances. A simple, barely perceptible weight shift can add 6 inches to a punch's range without moving the feet at all.

What does your sensei say?
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