“You never see a boxer with a book.”

The above unattributed quote is one that I continually endeavour to fight against. I want to stress that I do not condone any members of our group to devote all their time on the study of combative arts at the expense of life’s other more important facets.

Our families and our continual mental education are on a higher standing than personal combat skills. We must be able to distinguish between needs and wants.

A punch drunk fighter does not contribute much to society, neither does an absent parent or partner who spends all of his/her precious time and resources in the juvenile dream of being a greater combatant.

When we meet let us train hard, let us use our training time to its greatest endeavour, but also let us know when to stop.

Davide Crevatini’s first fight experience

Congratulations to Study Group member Davide Crevatini recently competed in a amateur western boxing event to gain a little fighting experience. He wasn’t expecting much, but he won!

He fought one bout of five rounds, the rules were Queensbury and he was obliged to wear 10oz gloves and a open helmet. Despite these ‘restrictions’ he won the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th rounds unaminously.

They were a bit confused about this technique, however.

So three cheers for Davide.

Michael Bark’s May competition experience

On Sunday 17th of May I entered a fight competition in Padova. I occasionally enter such events to gain sparring experience outside of the group’s environment.

An outline of the rules are as follows:

Open weight – any weight could enter.
Open style – any system of martial art could enter.
Open grade – any grade of martial artist could enter,
No gloves or other protection – aside from a groin box.
Full contact kicks and knees – to both the head and body.
Full contact hands and elbow strikes – to the entire body.
Stand up with take downs – no ground work.
3 minute rounds – maximum of three rounds with about 10 seconds pause in between.

I had three fights in total that went the entire distance, one of which I won. The entire tournament was full of great learning experiences, on and off the mats.

Concerning my actual fights I saw the following points from which to learn from:

I noted that my stamina was pushed to the limit. Nine minutes of almost continual fighting really took its toll on me.
I realized that in the heat of battle the elbows of my punching arms at times lost connection and flayed out somewhat, which meant that I skimmed over my opponents’ bridges rather than cutting into them.
My legs were not strong enough to take the low round house pounding with ease, in fact as I write this, over a week after the event, I am still incapable of training.
In relation to this point, after I had initially closed the distance I failed to retain or stick close to my opponents, instead allowing them to break off, regain distance and pound my legs.
I saw that more study needs to be carried out in how to effectively take an opponent down.

I am sure that there are many other points that current allude me, but I’m sure these will surface in time even if I fail to write them down.

Throughout the whole event I was delighted by the acts of chivalry all about me. Men who only moments earlier had been pummeling at each other were aiding each other’s injuries. During my own downtime between each match, as well as after all my matches were completed, I received recovery advice and treatment from a competitor’s coach whom I had never seen before. Away from the mats the congratulations were shared and backs slapped in a completely uncondescending manner.

All in all it was a great experience, even if I am a little ‘inconvenienced’ as a result of it!

2008 year round up

When 2008 started I had a number of hopes for the training year, and as some of them bore fruit it turned out to be an interesting 12 months. It saw the group gain and lose a few members. It saw us donating a little, buying a little and saving a little. All in just measure.

Here are a number of photos in order to enable us to walk the year’s paths again.

Now that 2009 is well on its way. I trust we will fill it full of shared training experience. The year thus far has been a little slow, but I have hope for the remaining months to come.