Subject: The study of footwork
Happy Monday Everyone!
I had a question this week on how i broke down the study of footwork
Footwork and positioning of the body in combat is one of the few things that will combat speed and power. I usually break down the study of this subject into three areas;
1. basic footwork study
2. Transverses and
3. Stalking/Play
Basic footwork study is the ingraining of basic foot placement and movement in various patterns to propel the body. This level of study trains the student to move their feet in a manner so they will avoid crossing or tying up the feet to stall their movement.
Transversers is the term i use for the intelligent combination of footwork that has a purpose of good placement or position of the body. it is true that You can combine the basic footwork into combinations but until the student starts to break down an intelligent plan for where he is going to end up and how he will place himself into a better position around the opponent I do not consider it a higher level of study, it is just a bunch of footwork connected together. Usually Transversers usually consist of two to three foot movements that will draw a reaction and place you in a good angle of attack. the student will also begin to see that it is more about the placement of the body and not necessarily where the feet are that is most important.
Stalking is another term i use for an environment designed for the student to play the "game" of footwork. To reach a level of mastery in any area the student must have an environment to play and improve strategy, timing, ETC. I call this game Stalking, it is set up like a chess game of body placement and footwork, through continued play/training the student will forget about where his feet are placed and begin to focus on where he needs to be to put his opponent out of position and have an effective attack, they will also begin to ingrain all the previous training into the body so it will become more of a reaction based response to what the opponent is doing. after there is a good understanding of movement the student will add breaks in time and fakes to throw the opponent off, draw them out of position and increase the possibility of a successful attack. Sifu Alan, from the AMAC Team.
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