Pere (FRA) v Nobida
This was my first fight. My opponent is Pere, of France. Although I had seen Pere around the sports center for a few days, I had no idea who he was because I'd not yet seen a name attached to his tare or keikogi. My first inkling that he was my opponent came the morning of the tournament, when he donned his bogu, tare name placard and all.
When the match started, I did what I traditionally do when I face someone new: I let them make the first attack, so I can judge who and what I'm up against. He began to circle me ... but didn't throw an attack until maybe 20 seconds into the fight. His opening move was a kote attack, and I wasn't impressed with it. It lacked the distance or even the power it needed to really make me feel threatened. Moreover, he almost seemed to hop when he used this attack, which made if very easy for me to see it coming. A few seconds later, I answered his kote attack with my own kote-sune combination. I remember taking a split second to think that his reaction time to my attack was very good. And then, tight when I started thinking that if I had been a tad bit more on my game, I could've gotten him, he opened up with couple of very big, beautiful moves that I barely had time to recognize and react to. It kind of woke me up, actually, as for some reason I did not expect this quality. For the next 10 or 15 seconds, I remember thinking this won't be easy, I'd better just try to feel him out and probe him with a few attacks to get a better gauge of who I'm up against. In the end, I was impressed. He fielded my probing attacks with big, basic but extremely well-executed counters, forcing me cover and block after almost every attack. Sometime around the 1-minute mark, I think I decided I'd better get really aggressive with him, because his timing was a little too good for comfort ... the plan was to smother him with consistent attacks to keep him off balance and to keep him from being able to time me well.
I was impressed yet again. Although the video shows that I definitely picked up the pace, I wanted to mount maybe twice as many attacks as I actually did. Pere was not only fielding my attacks well, but he was countering with what I considered excellent timing ... keeping me from really doing what I wanted.
About 2 minutes into the match, after a couple of spirited (and fun) exchanges, I managed to get him with an almost lucky sune attack. I was so happy I was up one point on him. But I didn't spend time to gloat ... as soon as the judge called for the match to begin again, I attacked him with a basic kote-sune combo that he again fielded well. His counterattack came very quickly ... in fact, it came so quickly it caught me off guard again ... but again, my body went in toautopilot mode again and blocked his sune counterattack, knocked the naginata out of his front hand, and attacked his leading leg sune to score for the win!
Nobida v Van Houte
Although I considered the Pere match to be my funnest match of the tournament, my match with Van Houte (NED) match was nonetheless a very interesting one for me. I don't think I'd ever fought such a high-energy fighter before. Because of my extensive karate and limited boxing backgrounds, I'm the one in naginata usually more prone to moving in and out of my opponent's distance playing with the maai ... throwing fakes and leading attacks to disrupt timing flow and open up my opponents to a bigger second or third techniques. Whether he knew it or not, Van Houte seemed to do everything I'm fond of doing, so I felt almost like I was fighting myself, albeit a me who's younger, faster, and more prepared for the tournament. So in the midst of the match, I found myself thinking: I'm fighting me, what would I do to defeat myself?
I actually had heard of this guy before I arrived in Belgium. Someone had told me that the Netherlands had this young guy whose been training in Japan for a few weeks prior to the event. They warned me to be worried about him. To be honest, I don't care if he'd rained for a few weeks in Japan, Russia, Costa Rica, or the darkest Congo -- you put anyone in front of me and I'll do my best to beat them. No worrying about anything. Besides, I told her, someone who trains in Japan for a few weeks doesn't make them much different a fighter than before.
Anyway, from the opening attack, I was impressed with Van Houte's speed. He actually opened up with what I considered a ballsy opening attack against someone he's never really faced or seen train. He did a very long-distance men attack. Pretty damn quick, too. And suddenly I was having flashbacks of when I fought that young Venezuelan karate badass five or six years ago at the Okinawan Karate Kobudo Pan American Championships in San Diego (fast as lightning that guy was ... I was outclassed, but kept the fight close at I think 4 1/2 points to 5 1/2 points). Just as I relied on timing and smoothness (not speed) when I fought that karate guy, I relied on timing and smoothness when I fought Van Houte. I don't know what happened, but my body just went into autopilot and I did a basic sune counter and timed his opening attack well enough to score. Being up 1-0, I tried to put it away with a quick kote, but he was too quick.
We went back and forth for about a minute. He was definitely the aggressor and kept me on my toes throughout the whole match. At one point, my naginata came out of one of my hands ... I remember thinking that how he reacts to this predicament of mine would show how good of a fighter he is. As soon as he saw the naginata come out of my hand, he was on top of me. It was kind of weird, but I remember thinking "Nice" as he started his attack for me. Thank God he came at me with a big attack, which allowed me a fraction of a second more to compose myself, than an attack that required less of a wind-up.
This is my fight with Kousuke Tanaka of Japan. It was nowhere near as active as my previous two fights, but it was much more tiring. There was an intensity even in the stillness. Yes, I lost, to a very beautiful technique he threw. I can say I lost fair and square and he was the better competitor. He had a bigger jump than me, he was quicker in both his long and short attacks, and he was a much more experienced competitor. I loved fighting him though. I know I'll be a much better fighter going forward becuase of the experience.
