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| Bo Staff Competition Do's and Don't's In addition to competing and coaching for sport karate tournaments, I also judge a lot. A lot judges are really good about telling you after you compete what they think you should work on. Some are very comfortable approaching the competitors without being asked to tell them these things, but others (like me) are generally only comfortable offering critiques when they are asked. Plus, at tournaments, both competitors and judges are hesitant to do anything that will keep the tournament from getting finished as fast as possible. Since Marc has started this site, though, there's now a good place for me to share some of the things I've learned through judging, this time specifically for bo staff forms (maybe I'll do these for other weapons later). I can't possibly speak for all judges, but what follows are things that seem to be generally true of what most judges I have worked with are looking for in a bo form. Many of them come from things I have heard said to competitors by good, experienced judges and instructors. Several of the points have video supplements so you can get a visual example of what I am talking about. A lot of the things below may disagree with things you are taught about using the bo staff in your karate school. I am in no way saying that what you have been taught is wrong. But if you go compete on one of the big circuits and at their big events, you find out, sometimes the hard way, that even though what you're doing is correct in your school, there are conventions that go with every single type of division at big tournaments that may declare the “correct way” to do something is in contradiction to what you've been taught. I hope that this article can give you a head start in figuring out what judges at those events are generally going to consider to be correct. BASIC THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND: Hand position on basic strikes I see a lot of people -- especially at smaller local tournaments where you don't have as much influence from the big circuits and their competitors -- who tend to keep their hands very close together on the bo staff when doing basic strikes. It does make you strike a little bit faster, but it looks sloppy (arms/elbows at weird angles) and robs you of a lot of your power. You want your hands far enough apart that when you fully extend your basic strikes, your arm is extended, too, so that it is parallel to the floor, and that you don't have your elbow sticking up. Click here for the video. Hand position for overhand strikes Don't let incorrect hand position for overhand strikes keep you from being a winner! When you do an overhand strike, you should roll your hand over so that your knuckles are on top of the bo staff, facing up, rather than facing off to the side. It takes a little more effort on your part, but it's important. If you want to know why you should do it this way, try the strike both ways and have someone push up on your bo staff. Held the wrong way, you have to exert a lot of strength to keep the staff from moving, your arm from giving. Held the right way, it doesn't take hardly any strength at all to keep it from being pushed up. That's because the “knuckles on top” position turns your elbow joint to the side and puts your arm into a locked position. Judges who know bo staff will kill you on this if they catch you doing it wrong. Practice it the right way all the time and it will become natural for you. Also, with this stike, your right hand is the one that is extended. Your left hand should hold the staff near the bottom end and this hand should rest on your left hip. Your right hand should be far enough out on the staff that, with the correct hand position discussed above, your right arm is parallel to the floor. Click here for the video. Stances Unless you're doing a traditional form (in which case you should probably ignore a majority of this article), you have the liberty of choosing which way you want your stances to face in your bo form. Since you get to choose, you should probably choose the way that will best suit your unique abilities, posture, and physique. There are some directions you can face in a stance that just plain don't look very good. What you need to do is, as you are choreographing your form, try combinations either looking in a mirror or on film to see which directions look the best for each stance and/or combination. If you need to move to the back of the ring using a combination, try the combinations you are using in your form until you find the one that still looks good even if you are going to the back of the ring instead of forward. A good rule of thumb is to not go straight forward or straight backward because your stances and lines will look much better at diagonals or going to the sides. Click here for the video. Lines Lines are an important aspect to any creative routine, with or without a weapon. Since this is the creative, artistry aspect of martial arts, and because you are at liberty to change things as you like, you should seek to make the form as visually pleasing as possible. All of the elements I've already talked about are integral components of this. You should plan the form so that your stances face in directions that make them look good. When you do strikes, your arms in the extended position should be parallel to the floor, and with most basic strikes, the bo staff should be parallel to the floor at the stopping point of every strike. Click here for the video. Targeting Remember that, regardless of it being a creative/extreme routine, the bo form is still supposed to be a simulated fight. You should always be looking at your opponent. This is generally easier to remember when doing basic strikes, but when you move on to more complicated techniques, it becomes more tempting to look at the bo staff instead of at the person you are supposed to be fighting. Keeping targeting in mind can also be helpful when you are trying to figure out how to balance your tricks and basics, something I'll cover a few points from here. Generally, if you have to look at the bo staff to do a technique, you probably shouldn't be doing it. Click here for the video. Power Most people know that power is important, but they'll let other things, like pulling off difficult combos, trying to be fast, or even just trying to remember the form, distract them from making their strikes solid and powerful. Be sure to practice your form remembering that you're supposed to be fighting someone, so you better hit them hard; otherwise all you'll do is piss them off. =) Space This may sound basic, but I see this mistake a lot: people don't plan well on how much space they will need to do their form. Few things are surer ways to get downgraded in your score than making the judges lean back in their seats and spend your performance worrying about whether you're going to hit them with your weapon rather than concentrating on the great form you've put together. And nothing will break your concentration better than seeing the judges leaning back in their chairs and wincing as the bo staff comes within inches of their faces. The best way to make sure this does not happen to you is to, either in your dojo, your back yard, or wherever you practice, mark off a ring. Most rings will be at least 18' by 18', and some of the bigger tournaments will have them as big as 25' by 25'. Only plan on 18' by 18', though, and figure out where you need to start your form to give the judges a good couple feet of safety from your swinging bo staff. If you are ending up too far forward, shorten up the angles on some of your combinations so that you go more to the side and less forward. ADVANCED ELEMENTS: Intensity Intensity is more than just yelling loud. When a performer has good intensity, there is an urgency about what they do, like they really are in a fight. The urgency of it shows in their facial expressions. It is demonstrated through their speed and power. And this is where targeting comes back in. You should always know where your opponent is, and your eyes should be on them at all times. Keeping this in mind makes it easier to keep your intensity up. It can be hard to keep your intensity like it should be if you put together long combinations of tricks and difficult moves, but I'll get to that in a second. Pacing Pacing plays an important role in moving from the bottom/middle of your division to the top of your division. If you look at the top bo competitors like Casey Marks, Lauren Kearney, Ross Levine, Terri Jacoby, and Andrew Schmetzer, just to name a few, they put a lot of time and effort into making sure that they have a great mix of fast combinations to show off their speed and power and pauses that show off their great, strong stances and their great intensity. Pacing like this gives the audiences and judges a break and lets them appreciate the competitor's basics, plus it gives the competitor a break for a second and a good place to do their kiai (whereas being in constant motion robs you of the opportunity to get out a good solid kiai). Sometimes people mistakenly believe that rushing through a form and doing it all fast is better, but I've been present for both forms and weapons divisions where people do this and judges remark that they need to slow down some. A good rule of thumb: fast-fast-fast PAUSE! After you've got that down, work on creative transitions between combinations to keep your form from seeming disjointed, which brings me to my final point… Click here for the video. Balance of Tricks to Basics As promised, I am addressing targeting one last time. It can be tempting to throw in absolutely every bo staff trick you can do, to do tons of flashy spins and bo staff tosses, etc, but DO NOT LET IT TAKE OVER YOUR FORM! Those same people I mentioned with pacing have a great mix of good basics and cool, creative tricks. However, none of them lets the flash take over his or her form. You may do the coolest bo tricks in the world, but if I'm judging your division and someone else does no tricks at all but has fantastic basics, power, speed, and intensity, I will give them the win over any day if you are missing strikes and basics, or if you have them but do them poorly. And so we return to targeting. If you stop striking long enough during a trick combination that it seems awkward to keep your eyes on your opponent, your trick or trick combination is too long. Think about whether it would be realistic to expect an opponent to leave you alone for long enough to complete the trick or combo. You're not dealing with absolute reality in a creative routine, but there should at least be traces of it. My recommendation is that you make tricks transitions into strikes, transitions from one striking combination to the next, and/or a grand finale for your form. Again, I say that I can't possibly speak for all judges, but these are tips that most judges I have worked with have either given as advice themselves or would most likely agree with. Submitted by Kristen Miller |
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