Page 14 - Pat O'Keeffe Combat Kick Boxing

Combat Kick Boxing

Chapter Two
Targets and Techniques

Most offensive techniques of sport kick boxing are immediately transferable to
combat kick boxing, giving trained kick boxers their core techniques. However,
because there are no limits to targeting in the street, all the so-called ‘illegal’ areas
of sport kick boxing – the throat, kidneys, lower abdomen, calf, groin and so on –
are available to be attacked.
Standard sport combinations such as left hook to the body/left hook to the jaw
can become truly devastating when ‘street-adapted’, to left hook to the groin/left
hook to the throat. Likewise, jab/cross to the head followed by a roundhouse to
the head can be transformed into jab/cross to the head followed by a roundhouse
to the groin, thigh or calf.
The appendix has a number of diagrams showing all the target areas referred to
in this book, and specific diagrams are included in this chapter for the sake of
clarity.
The speed, power and fluidity of sport kick boxing combined with streetsmart
targeting is a sound basis for combat.

Stance and Guard
Ring fighters are constantly taught the value of good stance and guard. In gyms
you will hear coaches calling out, ‘Keep your chin down,’ or ‘Keep your elbows
close to the body,’ and the infamous, ‘Don’t cross your feet!’
In street situations, particularly when you are the victim of an attack, you will
rarely, if ever, have time to adopt a proper stance and guard; therefore all techniques
and combinations must be practised from ‘natural’ positions. However, once in a
dangerous situation you must protect yourself with a realistic guard. Failure to do
so will see you quickly taken out of the action. In the case of a gang attack a tight
guard and nimble footwork may be all that you are able to attempt in terms of
realistic defence.
Attacks sometimes arise out of steadily escalating situations, such as overheated
arguments. In these circumstances there are covert stances and guards that you
can adopt without making the other person more angry or alarmed. Further, your
position in relation to your potential assailant or assailants and the environment
that you find yourself in – for example, back to the wall or back to a staircase –
will undoubtedly affect the outcome.

Cross Arm-Ready Stance
In figures 1 to 4 we see an argument in progress. As the larger man becomes
more aggressive, the smaller man performs a series of small changes to the way
he stands.
1) He turns slightly, so that his body is angled away, thereby reducing the target
options of the other man. (Fig. 1)
2) He crosses his arms, so that they are in a position to either strike or block. (Fig. 2)
3) He drops his chin slightly so that it is not open to a fast knockout punch. (Fig. 3)

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