Timing, Sensitivity and Distancing

Back when I taught Sport Karate to teenage athletes at an international level the tricky part as a coach was developing alive drills or games that improved the qualities of timing and distancing. Since Sport Karate is ultimately a glorified game of tag, these two factors most often influenced the outcome of a bout, when participants were of a similar skill level. Now that I coach Jiu Jitsu I have come to realise that teaching timing is equally important and that the quality of sensitivity replaces distancing since, in most instances, you are in physical contact with your opponent. When you think of how well Jason is doing on the mat at the moment it is these two things (timing and sensitivity) that set him apart. Its not in how many techniques he knows but in the application. Thanks to Randy Couture and Matt Tornton for getting my head around this concept. I have added a definition of Sensitivity to my list of nine qualities that are required for execution of Jiu Jitsu techniques against a resisiting opponent.