Drill Post #16: One More Destruction

Previously we've talked about a stop-kick/low side kick as a counter to kicks, punches and general advances, and in the last post we talked about two do-able destructions (injuring the attacker's incoming strike). Although the average street fight does not involve kicking very commonly, even with all the MMA popularity, it would not be shocking to encounter someone kicking. The low round kick ("hook" in JKD terminology) is often defended against by either evasion or "shielding," a block using either the shin or outside of the calf. The shin shield, however, takes a lot of conditioning, and while it will be painful to the kicker's shin, it doesn't feel great on the receiving end either. The calf shield doesn't feel as painful to use but it doesn't really hurt the kicker either. The kali knee shield is a good alternative. The proper execution involves getting the thick bone just below your kneecap to the instep of the incoming kick (which really can't be conditioned worth a darn). Done correctly, your leg will feel fine and their foot may be broken or be so painful as to be hard to stand on. It would be understandable for someone to point out that it takes much more accuracy to do than the standard shields, but it takes much less time to develop the accuracy required than the conditioning of a shin shield which makes this a great solution in a number of ways. An important point in the execution is to draw back rather than advance as you shield, because that way you are replacing the intended target, your thigh, with your knee. If you advance in any way, you will end up crashing shins. By using a slight retreat (possibly just pulling you weight onto the rear foot to be able to point the knee inward or outward at the incoming instep) you also move back out of hand range should the kick be a fake to be followed by a hand attack. If you have good shin/instep pads, then the trainer can put them on, move around freely and firing light round kicks to the inside or outside of the trainee's lead thigh, which he defends against with a "point shield," that is, one that drives into the kicker's instep as we have described. This can be a real show stopper.