Sparring with friends for fun and profit

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Ok, I'm going to see if I can't keep my comments and such to under 40 minutes. Urk, that's seems rather long.. let's try for 25 minutes.

The bouts were 3 minutes, with bare feet (!) on a school soccer field. It was rather hard ground, with lots of tough brush, not the soft grass you might think. A slight breeze, no direct sunlight -- pretty good conditions.

[Fight 1: Reg vs Brian (1/3)][2/3] [3/3] Brian has lots of pep and energy, with a pretty good, fast sidekick. I also like his footwork, and how he squares up before attacks. It's too bad I missed the takedown -- I had to switch to a lower resolution in order to get more time per clip (memory card related issue, I think). The ground fighting seemed somewhat ineffective with the gloves on.

[Fight 2: Hwan vs Brian (1/2)] [2/2] Ok, I left my bandana at Reg's place, is why I'm using that ridiculous elastic for my long hair. At the 11s mark you can see Brian catch me with a reverse sidekick, and I was more or less winded after that -- no energy at all! I went to the hospital the next day when the pain hadn't subsided, but nothing was broken or cracked. Anyway, that'll learn me to expose my midsection. You can see my right arm favouring my ribs. I am very disappointed in seeing my stance, which if anything should be that much lower when fighting a shorter opponent. Man, I look SO tired in these clips. I should've switched to my left side to avoid those extra hits on my right.

[Fight 3: Reg vs Hwan] I like that Reg has picked up his energy and his mobility here a bit. I look like a wounded chicken! I can see that I need to work on my flexibilty A LOT, especially when I'm trying those higher kicks. Again, my right arm is scared to leave my side, though my guard definitely falls when I kick.

[Fight 4: Reg vs Brian] Brian throws lots of combos, which works well for him. Again, upon seeing these ground fights I would suggest we go glove-less (or wraps only) if there's ground work involved.

[Fight 5: Hwan vs Brian] I can see that I favour kicks, short fast kicks, with my right leg. At the 1m03s mark Brian gets a fast strike to my ribs in, knocking the wind out of me again. Ugh.

Overall, I'm disappointed that I didn't use many techniques or combos that I've learned. They are not yet programmed into my "fighting" mind. Of course my cardio sucks too, and I need to keep my form and stance while kicking, especially in regards to having my guard up. Much to improve on.

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