"The ultimate aim of martial arts is not having to use them" — Miyamoto Musashi (Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy)

"You can only fight the way you practice" — Miyamoto Musashi (Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy)

Here is a drill that I would like to pass along about competing at tournaments. I learned this from Master Warren Graham from Charlotte, NC and it's called "S.K.I.P.P." SKIPP is the best thing I have heard for helping anyone at tournaments, and I would like to add an extra "P" to the word. S - Stances! Stances are one of the most important things that a competitor can do to increase their chances of winning. Nothing says I have put in the time and effort into my training like good stances. If the stances are weak and sloppy, your score will be reflective of that. So you have to make your stances lower! K - Kai! There is a lot to be said about Kai. First you must make the kai come from the right place. Too many time people do kai from the throat and not the dantian. The next time that you sneeze, yell out a kai. This is the right place from where it should come from. The next most important thing to keep in mind is to not do too many of them. Kai should be done like an exclamation point at the end of a sentence and not - after! each! and! every! word! This! makes! reading! the! sentence! a! little! ridiculous! This is the same thing when the judges watch a competitor do the same thing. Think of a kia as a kill shot and you are putting everything you have into that very move. I - Intensity! When you do your forms you need to have the intent in your actions. Be focused on the move the you are doing right then and there and not the ending move. This tells the judges that you have no feel for the moment and that you just want to get to the end. The judges will feel like you are lacking the spirit that you need to train with each and every time you workout. The bigger story that it tells ME (Sifu Mike Meadows) is that I worry about how you will do in a real self defense situation on the street? If you cannot put the intensity in the moment and you want to just get to the end, this is where mistakes are made in the street. And that my friends is far worse than losing 1st place at any tournament! P - Power! I don't really have to say much about this as it kind of ties in all the above. P - Practice! When it comes to this point a lot of people over look some of the things that makes a champ. One way to stop from doing the auto pilot to just get to the end of the form is the break the form up into sections and work on it over and over. Master Graham, used to work on a section of his staff form where he would take his Bo and swing it to the side and make it "pop" on his belt. He would practice this with a weight bar to help with the "power" and "intensity" of that section of the form. The week before the tournament, Master Graham, would then switch to his competition Bo and when he would then do the form it would sing in the air. And my added "P" is for Performance! Going back to the thought of auto pilot and just trying to get to the end of your form is just like listening to Ben Stein read you a bedtime story...you will be asleep in no time! OK, maybe that is what you want for a bedtime story, but that is not what you want to do to the judges. Your form should flow with speed and slow, and hard and soft, the same way that you would tell a bedtime story to a child. This helps to pull a judge into the story you are telling when you go out on the floor to perform. And if you can tell a good story it will show in the scores that the judges give you. These ideas will work on traditional and well as form you may have created. I hope that you find these tips useful to you and that they serve you well! Until next time! Sifu Mike Meadows Chief Instructor of Huo Ma Pai Kung Fu 115 - B Albemarle Ave S.E. Roanoke, VA 24013 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

If your enemy is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. If your opponent is temperamental, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them. If sovereign and subject are in accord, put division between them. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected. - Sun Tzu, the Art of War