Mind the Gap
In his
The Book of Five Rings, famous swordsman
(1583-1645) writes about identifying an enemy's weaknesses, finding the chinks in his armour, and exploiting openings. What he
doesn't tell you, however, is that at the start of a fight, there'll be no weaknesses, chinks, or openings whatsoever to exploit because everybody will still be composed and on their best behaviour, in perfect balance, strongly motivated, with their guard up, and always maintaining a safe distance. Your opponent's 'fortress' will look forbidding and impenetrable, a sight that always makes sparring rookies despair - how to overcome the yawning distance separating them from their opponents without being immediately shot down with a counter? How to kick to the midsection without banging their insteps or toes against the other guy's elbows, or kick to his head when it seems so well protected by a raised guard?
When playing in the circle, capoeiristas never stand still and change direction all the time. Being elusive and unpredictable are major virtues in capoeira, and I think us straight-arrow karatekas should adopt a similarly sneaky mindset - successful point-fighting competitors have already come to the same conclusion, independently and by trial and error; sometimes all you can do is try to save your skin and evade until your opponent hopefully gets over-confident and incautious. While head-on clashes
do happen in karate tournaments, they're inefficient and chaotic as well as frequently inconclusive. It's much better to prepare an attack by moving into an opponent's range, then immediately out of it, switch legs a couple of times, break the rhythm of your skipping, try to disconcert your opposite number by means of feints, and then maybe, just maybe, there'll be an opening, a brief moment of inattention, a temporarily unstable stance, and if no gap in your opponent's defences opens on its own, you have to create one
yourself and then charge in with a combination. The best (and safest) way to open gaps is feinting, to see where the other guy will jump, whether he overreacts although not really threatened.
The Semaphore Game: the task was to react instantaneously to a visual cue (hand signal) indicating the sudden emergence of an opening.
What's more, you have to reconcile yourself with the fact that not every opening can be exploited. When your weight is on your back leg and you see an opportunity for a jab, it'll be too late to attack, especially if the distance is too great for making hard contact. Gaps will open, gaps will close, sometimes predictably so in less experienced competitors (but better not count on it). Most often they'll only appear when an opponent is attacking, and standing firm and stopping an attack cold with a punch to the midsection really takes guts in such a scenario. In contrast to pre-arranged partner exercises that always have a 'happy ending' where the defender invariably triumphs over the aggressor,
counters frequently fail because the opening you spotted, e.g. a lowered guard, won't be there anymore, or when you're so stressed out by the vehemence of your opponent's attack that your own punch will be too weak or too late - which
shouldn't happen but does happen all the time.
Even legendary books on combat tactics like Musashi's
The Book of Five Rings can only provide suggestions and ideas, not silver bullets. Accordingly, spotting an opening isn't a guarantee for victory - it's an opportunity but nothing more, and there are other ways of winning fights (and many more of losing them!). It doesn't take much to botch an attack or defence, e.g. when a slightly raised shoulder stops a punch or a kick. An aggressor may take an unexpected half-step back or throw off your timing by suddenly leaning a bit to the side; as they say: "No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy." What Musashi described in his book were patterns he had spotted in his over 60 duels, and with enough sparring experience anyone can identify them as well. However, it's always best to confront an opponent without any thoughts of these patterns, expect the unexpected, and otherwise keep one's mind empty.
