Stick defences on the ground?

[edsko]

Hi,

Any pointers about stick defences while defender is on the ground (attacker probably standing up)?

Thanks,

Edsko

[phlegmon27]

Re: Stick defences on the ground?

Pray?

[don]

Re: Stick defences on the ground?

IMO:

No easy way out.

Ideally, you’re only dealing with the BG empty handed until you can arm yourself, preferably with something better than the BG’s stick (if not, then you’ll just have to deal with it empty handed as best you can).

If you’re unarmed and facing an impact weapon (e.g. a stick/baton), you either want to be outside “optimal stick range” (running away or creating as much distance as possible with footwork and/or other obstacles/barriers) or inside “optimal stick range” (tying up weapon/weapon hand and doing as much damage as quickly as possible or following up however you prefer).

If you’re unarmed and on the ground, the principles are the same – it’s just that much harder for you to evade or burst in because your mobility is severly compromised. You have to get up and away or up and in as quickly as possible – if you stay on the ground, you’ll just end up taking more and more damage.

Practice getting up as fast as possible forwards, backwards, sideways, etc. Practice covering up while doing so. Play around with the scenario with your partners and padded sticks. Try to look up some stickfighting videos (not just the stand up only fights/competitions but the ones that go to ground too) – I’ll look later too when I have more time…

[kirsten]

Re: Stick defences on the ground?

On the ground: Do your defense as needed (ie off angle, straight, baseball), trap an arm and leg if possible and buck then roll. I will have to play with these to see how they work, but just at a first glance I don’t see why they couldn’t be applied. Just as usual, make your defense inside at the arm and not at the stick so get up as high as you can. If they are in a high mount then you may have to give several combatives and try to defend as you work your way down to complete the defense.

Standing: Don has it! I would get either in or out and get to my feet. Move to where you can keep your feet between you and the attacker in a good ground defense position and kick when they come in, but to the KNEES and LOWER LEGS. If you try to kick higher, they will be in closer to you and you risk still being hit with the impact weapon.

Great question. Going to address this in my next instructors class!

[edsko]

Re: Stick defences on the ground?

Thanks for the responses, guys. Will have to play around with it (we’re planning a stick seminar for October, would like to incorporate some of this). Kirsten, did you try it out? Any conclusions/further suggestions?

Thanks!

[jamesh-d30]

Re: Stick defences on the ground?

If you’re mounted, there wont be much chance that baseball type swing will happen with any blunt object with reach. Also, your reaction time will be seriously shortened, so you should choose 1 defense to default to. For me, it’s the re-directing defenses, overhead or off angle, it’ll be obvious which one. Trap and roll even if you get the wrong arm…the most important thing is that you eliminate space between you.

If you’re on your back and the attacker is standing, you’re going to get punished slowly on your arms, mid section, and legs if you rely on kicking. One thing on your side is the nature of the weapon in the attackers hands tends to cause them to give you ‘slightly’ more space. Consider getting at least halfway up (to one knee) on your right side (with right handed attacker) while ready to make overhead defense with your left arm from that position. Then burst FORWARD while getting up, not back as usual.

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