We got to the place around 950ish, just before wushu demonstration began at around 10. Saw Brian Wang, our former social chair -- everytime I saw him I would now and then have the song "Good Morning" by Kanye West. It was a fitful song for that morning actually, very chill and relaxed, with some hidden tides wavering around underneath everyone's thumping hearts. At least it was in mine.
okay, i began warming up, man that excited feeling came back again, and jumped to the surface right away when I started doing punches, Ba Duan Jin (八段锦), footwork, and etc. Ate a banana, put medicine pads on my ankle, and then went see the point sparring between kids. They don't hit each other so much but rely more on kicking for its long range I guess or because they were from the same school.
It's my turn to spar!! S-16.
Where is my glove!! T_T
So I went asking for gloves to borrow but then Brian Wang lent me his. And foot pads. Thanks Brian.. ^_^
At first it was point sparring, which means that each time a hit/point happens, the referee will pause the match and wait for confirmation from scoring referees and then resume the match again. Allowed area for this particular match is body, groin, head. 1 for striking, 1 for groin, 2 for kicking. First 5 points win.
I signed up for beginner level, but since there's only one signed up -- me, they moved me to the intermediate level - one level above. I went against Matt (Red head gear guy), who actually already fought a round.
Here's couple lessons I learnt from this.
1. Duck! - As vincent said, in sparring, become small and low makes opponent hard to target me.
2. Fast! - Since it's point sparring, one who get in a solid hit would get points.
3. Hit! - Not SLAM.. If you see the video, I got a warning for using a side hammer into that guy's head. So clear hits, not smack around. A previous fights between Matt and Jose (Brown stripe shirt guy), Matt was smacking Jose but none was counted because it looked as if the hit just slipped away.
4. Smooth! - A calm mind will dictate smooth movement, and when I was there, even it's just point sparring, but when matt's movements got fast, I began to panic. So advice from "The Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy" -- DON'T PANIC, is well served at Any point.
We got to break point but then I made a mistake of lowering my guard to wing chun stance (a constant mistake throughout the fight actually), and strike too fast, (instead of testing the water with small jabs, I was stirring the water with wing chun strikes and opponent's movement just got muddy and opaque). Once I lowered the gate and throw out one strike, he side stepped just a tiny bit, and hit straight to my head. I Lost the game.
Secondly is the continuous sparring where you spar continuously for 2 min, 2 rounds. Not gonna lie, I remember still clearly to this day the feelings of headshots towards me like bullets. All the teachings are out the window and all the style, conditioning are all out of the question once the mind was blinded by fear, ignorance, and even excitement.
We could all discuss and learn on and on from the fights, technique wise, or what aspect to work on -- let it be conditioning of the arms -- 3 star block; horse stance, transition, footwork, endurance, reflex, applying the body mechanic, etc. The main focus is to set the mind straight at first. Without a straightened mind set that says "okay, im gonna use this technique because its ... ", or "right, im gonna doge the kick like that and come back with a side hammer".. or something like that - with a thinking mind.
We all have a thinking mind, at times or another, large or small in quality, stretchy or focused in method, emotional or rational in style, etc. Now how can the thinking mind be used most effectively? It's with a calm mind, and that requires training.
What I learnt from the experience? To sum it up, it's about footwork, synchronization of forces, reflex, body endurance and most important of all -- its the calm mind.
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