You get good at what you practise doing. Or as Aristotle said, “You are what you repeatedly do” – it’s strictly hearsay of course but I have it on good authority!
One of the kicking drills we engaged in recently required a step with the back foot before firing the kick in to the opponent with the front foot. Naturally a lot of emphasis was placed on the kick itself and everybody was able to connect cleanly. Of course as a matter of logic we shouldn’t view the kick in the abstract. Why? Because it isn’t delivered in the abstract. The kick, or any technique for that matter is delivered in the context of a live opponent who to a greater or lesser degree is resisting. The fight could be jiu ippon and pre-arranged, it could be jiu kumite and not pre-arranged at all, it could even be a real fight. So, in short, the footwork accompanying the kick needed just as much emphasis. To have overlooked this aspect would have resulted in spending time practising something that wouldn’t work in a month of Sundays and possibly even developing it to a level where it wouldn’t work in a year of Sundays!
We focussed on developing an explosive initial step, and thus practised something worth developing: a kick that would work!
We practised the kick in a functional way!
SOUTH NOTTS KARATE 