ABSOLUTE ASCENDANCY

Koshiki Karatedo Tournament Report (WKKF)
Australia, New South Wales, Tamworth Regional Invitational, April 2019
Hosted by Chaffey’s Blackbelt Academy

Commencing Operation . . .

Overview and Preparation

I’m supposed to be on vacation, but the opportunity arose for me to compete in Tamworth. Even though I hadn’t trained for months in Koshiki or Kickboxing (these two fighting systems, among others, focus on full contact fighting). I was still however training regularly with a local karate club near where I was staying. They train in the WKF (World Karate Federation) system which employs a semi / light contact fighting. Training with them has been beneficial as it allowed me to focus and develop my speed and footwork, which absolutely transitions into Koshiki fighting. We also spent a couple of sessions doing some heavy hitting striking drills on the pads, which were useful tournament preparation.

I gained a newfound appreciation to an oft-overlooked karate kick, the Mikazuki Geri – crescent kick. It was a technique that was often covered in their syllabus and a couple of times we did some sparring sessions where we were forced to find an opportunity to use the crescent kick (among other techniques). During this training, I realised how beneficial this kick could be in my bag of tricks. It gets around the guard, it can be used safely, and it is an effective scouting move. It is similar to the Mawashi Geri – roundhouse kick in that they both attack the side of the target but because you do not need to rotate your hips to the side for a round house, you can recover much quicker when using the crescent kick and therefore it is tougher for opponents to punish or counter attack.

For this reason, the crescent kick also makes an excellent scouting weapon as I can choose to keep my body weight back and commit only my leg to see how my opponent reacts. You must have great flexibility; however, to throw a crescent kick out long rather than just high to scout. Honestly, I can only achieve this with my right leg as the asymmetric nature of my body only allows my left leg crescent kick to travel in a short but wide arc.

It is possible to achieve a similar result with a roundhouse. Nevertheless, the crescent kick has a faster recovery time compared to a roundhouse. This is not a hard and fast rule though, as there are versions of the roundhouse where you don’t twist your hips as much, trading power over quicker recovery but generally speaking at least for me personally, I have found that using a combination of roundhouse and crescent kicks to be effective. Despite the above, all things considered, I was going into this tournament unprepared, but that was something I knew and accepted at the outset. At least for kata, I could practice that on my own, so I was confident I would perform well.

Tournament

West Tamworth Leagues Club was where the tournament was hosted, and it made for a great venue. The room temperature was regulated, and there were two arenas with ample seating available to the crowd. After paying the tournament fee, I make my way over to meet and greet Scott Chaffey, Nick King, and Andrew Riley, all of whom hold the title of Shihan (Master). The opening ceremony consists of an introductory speech followed by the Australian national anthem, after which the tournament is underway.

Kata

Kata is up first and in my division, Open 1st Kyu and above there are six competitors. I am up last, and one of the performances of the kata Kankusho was extremely strong and solid. I knew this was the guy I had to beat to take first place. I perform my kata Koshiki Kusanku, which is the Koshiki interpretation of the same kata. I started off a bit slow, I think but picked up momentum as I went through the motions. Unfortunately, I ended up losing by one point and took second place. I feel that either one of us could have taken the top spot as I believe we both did great performances. There were solid performances from some of the younger Karateka also. The future is looking strong. Overall I felt that the judging was pretty good, there were a few instances where I personally would have scored performances differently, but most of the time, I was in agreement.

Shiai

After kata, there is a demonstration performed by Shihans Scott Chaffey, Nick King, and Andrew Riley, showcasing Koshiki Shiai striking and demonstrating what is and is not allowed. A short intermission for lunch and then onto the fighting. For those who do not know, there are four weight divisions in Koshiki Fighting. For males, the divisions are as follows.

· Light weight (under 63.5kg)
· Middle weight (between 63.5kg to 73kg)
· Cruiser weight (between 73kg to 82kg
· Heavy weight (above 82kg)

I fight in the lightweight division, and as there was only one other lightweight fighter, it was straight to the finals. Bouts are three minutes in length and participants wear the Anzen Bogu (chest guard and helmet) protective gear. A groin guard is optional, but that is it. Mitts and shin guards are not permitted unless there is a specific medical reason for a competitor to wear them. After each exchange or a natural break in the fight, the competitors are sent back to their starting positions and points are assigned. Points are only given when strikes are made to the Anzen Bogu. One point is granted for a punch and two for a kick.

Sensei Wok (Greg Smith) and Shihan Nick King help me warm up before the fight. I do Bogu drills with Shihan Nick and pad work with Sensei Wok. I will highlight some aspects of the battle below, but the video might showcase it better than I could explain.

The demonstration earlier confirmed the use of low kicks with the same rule as leg sweeps – must commit an attack after the low kick or sweep. This worked out nicely in my favour as quite a few times I set up a punch from the low kick. The two main things I wanted to try out at the tournament were the crescent kick and the bob and weave evasion. I scored with the crescent kick but at the time I didn’t think I connected the kick, but after watching the video I was surprised to find that I actually did land one or two of them. The idea behind the crescent was to use it to knock down the opponent’s arms to set up another strike, but I ended up just using it as a standalone technique in the end and using the low kick as an entry move for my punching.

As for the evasive actions, I had decent success in using it to get away after striking, but one time when I was short on breath and bobbing from side to side, my opponent caught me with a roundhouse to the face. I was fortunate he didn’t have enough power to knock me down cause he could have ended the match otherwise.

I gassed out quite early but managed to pick up my second wind pretty quickly. I think the take-downs used up a lot of my energy as I am sure in hindsight that my opponent was heavier than me. I was trying to stall the clock and protect my lead but perhaps should have stuck to long distance fighting instead, which is what I am better at. At one stage my opponent counter attacks with a throat strike but fortunately it hits the soft part underneath the visor – he asks if I’m okay and I give the double thumbs up. I was about to hip throw him in that exchange, but the exchange was ended.

Conclusion

My opponent was a respectful fighter, and we shake hands after the bout ended. I managed to secure the victory and claim my trophy. The lightweight division is very fast paced, but generally, the audience gets a lot more excited in the heavier divisions as the force of impact generated is greater. There were great fights throughout the day, a few instances of poor sportsmanship but on the whole, solid and clean fighting.

The day ends, I say my goodbyes to everyone, and I am pleased that I will be returning to the United Kingdom with a couple of trophies in hand.

Mission complete – Overlord Drakow signing out.