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Old 07-14-2009, 01:03 PM   #27
JimCooper
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 66
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Re: Best karate style for aikido?

Quote:
Mary Malmros wrote: View Post
This claim about having "plenty of time" to avoid or trap a kick is often made by those who have never trained in a kicking style. No particular knock on you, Jim, I'm sure you're repeating the words of others
No, I'm not actually. I'm basing that statement on 20 years of karate practice.

Quote:
Mary Malmros wrote: View Post
but if that statement were true, don't you think no one would ever land a kick in karate kumite?
Scoring kicks to the head are extremely rare in kumite, IME. I've certainly never managed it. Kicks to the body are also rare, except in TKD competitions where they don't bother to try and block them.I knew one guy who was very good at them, but most people are rubbish, actually :-)

The problem is one of range. Your foot really does have to travel a very long way. Also, it's hard to avoid telegraphing. You can hide the type of kick somewhat, but only somewhat.

There are ways to use kicks in self-defence scenarios, but they are rarely practised (they are never practised in most karate dojo, IME). They are **never** high kicks. High kicks are a recent introduction to karate, in fact, and kicks were never done above the waist in the "old" days.

If you really feel it's necessary, the best way to do a kick to the head is to get the opponent on the ground first. It's a pretty vicious thing to do though.
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