Monday's lesson: being seen

Sparring class on Monday was quite a blast this week.

An early lesson we had involved studying your opponent: If they make a move twice, expect them to keep doing it.

Warming up with some free sparring, I faked a hook kick to one side drawing my opponent's guard, then followed through with the same leg delivering a round kick to the opposite side of my opponent's head. He congratulated me with, "Wow, nice fake with that hook!"

Worked so well, I did it again with the same result. It was kind of funny, but just drives home the importance of not being predictable in the ring!

I also managed to go about 6-7 minutes with one of our top fighters before losing 5-4. Wow. My developing defenses and counter-attacks actually keep me from being a 30-second punching bag!

He said I deserved the win, actually, since one particularly well-landed kick was not seen by enough judges to award points with a majority decision.

Lesson learned. In point sparring, majority rules for judging an attack; therefore, try to position yourself where the center judge can see you score the most!