What to Watch

Watch the head?

The body cannot move without the head moving. To perform a proper spinning technique, the head must start turning before the rest of the body to add speed to the spin and to insure the eyes acquire the target before the technique fires. This lets the kicker detect and block any counterattack and detect any changes in the target’s location or range. If you can detect this preliminary movement of your opponent’s, you will be prepared for a spin attack before it even occurs.

When the weight is shifted to a support leg just before a kick with the other leg, the head will also shift toward the side of the support leg. This weight shift movement by an opponent will warn you of an imminent kick attack.

Although watching the head would seem to be a good choice of a place to watch for an attack, many times these head movements are very slight, even imperceptible, especially during the action of competition. In addition, while the face of an opponent may express his or her emotions and give you some idea of his or her intentions, these expressions can be easily manipulated by the person to camouflage the person’s true emotions or intentions. A person may look fearful, angry, sad, happy, in pain, etc. but could actually be the opposite. If you watch an opponent’s face, the false expressions may trap you into doing the wrong thing.

Some opponents have mesmerizing eyes. If you watch the eyes of this type of person, you may hesitate a split second before reacting, and split second is all it takes for an attack to strike you. If you are watching an opponent’s eyes and the opponent glances to the side, you almost instinctively will also glance in that direction. Some opponents use this reaction to their advantage.

So, while watching the head has some advantages, it too has many disadvantages.