Semi-Contact Fighting

Regular contributor Brian Roberts gives us his take on semi-contact tournament fighting including an overview of the rules, training tips and some of his own experiences.

What is Semi Contact fighting?

Semi Contact fighting is a form of sparing with a set of rules which allocate points on a victorious manoeuvre.

1 Point is awarded for a strike to the body or head with the fist or a kick to the body
2 Points are awarded for a kick to the head

Additional variations are used for different tournaments, in a recent tournament a flying kick was awarded 3 points if connecting with the body, however a flying kick to the head was awarded 5 points if it connected with the head, though the drawback was a perfect landing had to take place with a controlled strike.

Though the strikes are controlled, they do still hurt. In a fight at the British Kung Fu Nationals (Middleweight Seniors), Brian Nelson, many times world semi contact champion, managed to bruise a few of my ribs. (Still, I got 5 points on him).

Protection Required

Head guard, Semi Contact Gloves (Lighter with greater manoeuvrability inside as opposed to standard boxing gloves), footpads, shin pads, groin guard for the gents.

Both combatants face each other with up to three referees encircling them. Upon the command to fight, both combatants feint and move to find the opening. When found, a series of strikes occurs, with the overall goal to be to strike the opponent in view of a referee with a clean strike.

Competitions

Competitions are being run all around the country, regular ones occur at Ellesmere Port (Brian Nelson's Schools) and Birmingham (The Superleague for example in which our own Gavin Tivey is a much accredited competitor). The atmosphere is very tense whilst the fights take place with the schools of each combatant shouting encouragement, and each section of bouts is split into PeeWee, Junior, Intermediate and Senior, which are then split into Gender.

A knockout tier system is used, where two fight, and one progresses to the next stage until there are two left for the final.

The sportsmanship you see at these events is amazing. After more intense fights, the coaches and fighters usually congratulate the other teams coaches and fighters for a great fight.

Training for Semi Contact

The training required for Semi Contact differs than your usual Lau Gar training or even Kickboxing Training. The focus is on speed and accuracy, and the best fighters out there have achieved this through constant practice and many many tournaments. Focus Mit work is one of the best to achieve the focus and speed required with the person with the mits constantly moving and twitching. The idea is to achieve a faster and faster response time to the mit going up.

The stamina and raw strength work is underplayed, though not forgotten, just not as highly prioritised. The focus turns to the right muscles for the strikes used.

Diary

The first time I tried this was at the British Nationals at Intermediate Level. I had done what training I could, but was still on the nervous side. When the time came for my level to congregate we all sat around the matted area as names were called out to ensure we were all there.

I watched the first couple of fights, and thought "I can do this..", when my name was called. Off came the glasses, and I was in a blurry world. I didn't know this person facing me, didn't have a clue, just knew that he wanted to hit and kick me. The first couple of points were scored by him, and eventually something went click inside and I just thought "Right, I'm 'avin im", and proceeded to, clumsily I will admit, win the match. We shook hands, and was congratulated.

Later on in the same category, I was called up again. This was to be my last fight, and unfortunately went into a "I am not going to win this one" mood when at the very beginning we squared off and his foot gave me a solid blow to the head. I didn't even see it. Still, I had made it through to the Quarter Finals of the British National Championships, and that was nice.

The last time I fought was in the 2002 Nationals, and my first fight was with Brian Nelson, as mentioned above. The thing is, I didn't know it was him. I removed my glasses, not really listening to the names, and paced a little, already revved up for the match. As the fight wore on we were tagging each other point for point, for the first few points at least, the ref awarding both of us a point each after each rush, and at one point, I was ahead by one. The crowd was chanting "Brian, Brian, Brian.." and so I felt rather good. Being someone of a tall nature in the middleweight category is not a good thing when you don't use your legs as much, and the counters kept coming under, until finally time was called, and I was down 5-10. A handshake and a little conversation later as I professed my thanks that I bought a new head guard that weekend, and I went back to my team who simply said "You know who that was?", as I didn't.

When told, I was pretty chuffed.

See you at the next nationals.

Links

http://www.laugarkungfu.com/Use of force.htm

http://www.bknlaugar.fsnet.co.uk/briannelsonsifu.htm

Author: Brian Roberts