Matthew Sylvester has been training in the Martial Arts since 1991. He currently studies Ao Denkou Jutsu, Kempo Ryu Karate, Tae Kwon Do and Shunryu Kempo.

Nearly every style of martial art allows some form of sparring, even if it is only to allow students to get used to the feel and randomness of having someone attacking you in an off the cuff manner. In these articles PMA will attempt to put forward techniques that the author(s) have found work for them, so that others can, should they so wish, incorporate them into their own training and their own repertoire.

Drill One - Dummy backfist, chamber, lead roundhouse kick, chamber, medium side kick
Drill Two - Defensive outside lead leg jam to roundhouse kick, counter front kick
Drill Three - High hooking kick, hanging chamber, lead roundhouse

Drill One

In this drill, you are the attacker.

	From the face off, throw a fast and snappy dummy backfist towards the opponent. If you score with this all well and good but the effect you are looking for is either an attempt to block the 'attack' or a shifting of the body backwards.
	As soon as you have thrown the backfist, you should start to move into the lead roundhouse kick.
	With the roundhouse you should be aiming high. Again this will hopefully either score or cause the opponent to lean back. It can also aid in misleading the opponent. So far you have thrown a hand attack, rapidly followed by a high leg attack to be followed by what? The opponent should hopefully be mislead by the rapid change of attacks.
	Bring your leg back into the chamber as fast as possible and then slam out a mid-section side kick. At this point the opponent with either still be recovering from the lean back or moving in for a counter-attack. If it is the former then not only with their side/ chest still be open they will hopefully still have a high guard (due to the fact that you threw a roundhouse at their head). If it is the latter then they will most likely be trying to score with a reverse punch or a flying back fist. Either way a snap side kick will stop them in their tracks. Be careful with this kick however. Even the wussiest kick can result in disqualification if the opponent comes at you hard and fast enough. My ribs were broken by just such a technique and I was trying to get out of the way!

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Drill Two

This is brilliant for disrupting the opponent's balance, both mentally and physically. If thrown properly it can set them down on their backsides with only their pride being injured. You may also get some points! I saw this thrown by Paul at a  tournament to good effect and apparently it is something that Ninjutsu uses a lot in their drills. (Ed's note: Ninjutsu is not at all sport orientated. This is a practical technique that has been adapted for the mats).

The opponent launches a roundhouse kick. Lead or rear, it doesn't matter. If the attacker is using their right leg raise your left, if they are using their left leg, raise your right. Try to tuck your guard so that your elbow touches the thigh of the jamming leg.  Keep the bottom half of your jamming leg as relaxed as possible and bend the supporting leg. This is very important as you must retain your balance. You can see from the pictures what this technique looks like from both sides.

From there, and preferably before the opponent has the time to withdraw their leg, throw out either a front snap or a front thrusting kick. Due to the fact that they are still recovering from the roundhouse they should still be off-balance whereas you, since you bent your supporting leg and grounded yourself, will still have the ability to commit such an attack.

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Drill Three

This again is an offensive move and one which I've scored with time and again.

	From the face off throw a lead leg hooking kick at the opponent. If you hit, 3 points are yours and you can have a breather. If it doesn't score i.e. they duck or it goes to high, take it over  their head.
	You can see in picture two how white has ducked under black's attack. This is where you have to be a bit patient! Re-chamber the leg without letting it touch the ground and let it 'hang'. You are now relying on your opponent's greed for points.
	I have found that despite my leg hanging, people tend to think that because the hook 'missed', my attack is over and they can have a go. Wrong.
	As soon as the opponent even starts to move in, jab out a roundhouse kick a couple of times. In the last tournament I was in I hit my opponent three times before the referees stopped us for the point. Slam out the kicks as fast as possible. For some reason, fighters always drop their guard after a kick has gone high and then move in for a counter attack without considering why the leg is still there. Granted if you are in a  tournament where sweeps are allowed you aren't going to want to hang it there for long but you don't have to. The whole sequence should really take no longer than 1 or 2 seconds. You must be careful with this sequence however. As mentioned before, the opponent can contribute to the force of the kick by moving in hard and fast. You do not want to knock them out by accident as it will ruin the atmosphere of the tournament so please be as careful as you can.

Matthew Sylvester has been training in the Martial Arts since 1991. He currently studies Ao Denkou Jutsu, Kempo Ryu Karate, Tae Kwon Do and Shunryu Kempo. With grateful thanks to Senseis Dean Martin (Kempo).