random attacks

[Blindside]

I am curious when other schools introduce their students to random attacks.

I've visited alot of kenpo schools and most of the time I see standard "tech lines" where the tech is assigned ahead of time. At what point does this change? When is that attack not assigned?

At what point is a student typically ready for this sort of training drill? Why?

[Ray]

We do a circle...punch, kick and grab. Someone at random attacks the person in the center with one of those attacks at random. However, there will be one punch, one kick and one grab -- so on the third attack, at least the defender knows which category it'll be.

When I was coming up, we once had a police officer as a fairly new student. He was in the middle of the circle and when the first guy moved to attack, the officer was trying to draw his side arm. Funny thing was, he was in a gi and didn't have a gun.

[RDCParker]

We also do a circle as an alternative to the line. The instructor will pre-assign attacks to people, and then he'll stand behind the defender and quietly point to an attacker to initiate. This way, although the defender knows who is doing what attack, he doesn't know who is attacking next. The instructor will also float and initiate random attacks just to keep us on our toes.

[Martin Seck]

Somewhere between yellow and orange for a truly random attack.

We may have ok I will either right hook or left hook ... I dont consider that random as its only two choices.

[Rob Broad]

I voted Orange belt, because I have students learn to improvise defenses against Random attacks when they are learning the techniques for Orange Belt.

[Sentinel]

I think that at orange belt, it's not a bad idea to get students' feet wet with light random attacks for which they already have techniques. In our school, tests for each belt color green and above include random attacks.

[T-Bo]

We don't work these types of drills/lines as often as I would like, but when we do them, we involve everyone in class, regardless of rank. Of course we change the intensity based on the skill level of the person being attacked. We go much more slowly and introduce less variables to a yellow belt than we would for a brown or black belt. We tend to have a bit of fun with the instructors when they take a turn.

[jdinca]

I'll incorporate random attacks as a teaching tool to my group classes, which could have white through green belts in attendance. I don't expect much from students below purple though.

[thedan]

"white/yellow"

Difference is that the scope and intensity changes depending on skill and rank. For a novice, throw something slow and easily so he can respond with good, full range of motion and properly structured, technique. Otherwise, you just build a flinch reflex and some bad habbits.

For you BB's, well, let's just say you either catch the thing right, or the colored guys get some revenge *you don't have a smiley evil enough for this one*

Dan C

[Arizona Angel]

I am only a yellow belt, but learned all the orange and one or two of the purple belt techniques, and I find these technique lines very useful to me. Makes me think, and get more confident with the techniques.

[Anoise]

I havent done that yet Although I am already trained to react with something even if I dont know the 'right' move. But I think that's a good idea...I wonder though if it would really make things difficult for me in that I have a hard enough time remembering what to do when a tech is called out...I always get confused with thrusting salute, triggered salute, thrusting wedge...etc...a lot of them sound alike.