Zizou Tsuki

[Bill Glasheen]

How about that Zinédine Zidane and his head butt at The World Cup championship game. It's all the talk of the international news! Even aimed at the chest as it was, that had to hurt!








Years back I remember one of my students (David Powell) at his shodan exam in the Brockton dojo. David was a bit of a physical genius, and could execute some of my best ideas. I teach head butts all the way through Uechi kata. So here's David in a clench, and Wham! - he does a perfectly-controlled head butt a fraction of an inch off the nose of his opponent. I thought Bobby Bethony was going to have a cow. That's not your normal "sport karate" technique! "NO HEAD BUTTS!!" But wouldn't you know that - a year later - Bobby announced that head butts would be allowed in the dan test sparring match.

But... Butt... THAT'S NOT UECHI!!!

It sure as hell is. I love it when someone like Raffi comes to our dojo and starts teaching flow drills. You have the skeleton drill that you do ad infinitum. Then when you can do it without thinking, you throw in all these moves in-between the moves. And your kata go the same way. Many parts of our kata are just skeletons, waiting to be fleshed out by a creative, resourceful fighter. Whenever you get close in a clench, that head butt is right there.

And if you want to insist that it's not Uechi because you never saw Kanbun do it, well go for it. But if you think you're going to let the bad guy get inside your Uechi perimeter (of doom), you'd better be ready for a little surprise.



- Bill

[Bill Glasheen]

Knock yourself out!



The Zidane Head-Butt Game

Headbutt as many Italian players as you can! They're yelling and taunting you...go get even!

[Mary S]

I'll repost what I posted on Van's forum about headbutts....

... respectfully, I'm not sure that I agree that the headbutt is all that great a tool. I see more cons than pros....

Any force expelled onto a target is also going to extert force on the contents of the skull....not great for the old brain cells.

Throwing a headbutt is not that easy to do....where you hit with your head is probably more important that how hard you hit (i.e. forehead, hairline, top of skull).

Losing eye contact with an opponent by putting your head down is, to my mind, a dangerous tactic.

There are a few articles out there on the web that discuss this more indepth that I could .... interesting reading.

http://www.defendu.com/headbutting.htm

[Dana Sheets]

It is a fine example of how under stress you will use the weapons you train.

[AAAhmed46]

I'll repost what I posted on Van's forum about headbutts....

... respectfully, I'm not sure that I agree that the headbutt is all that great a tool. I see more cons than pros....

Any force expelled onto a target is also going to extert force on the contents of the skull....not great for the old brain cells.

Throwing a headbutt is not that easy to do....where you hit with your head is probably more important that how hard you hit (i.e. forehead, hairline, top of skull).

Losing eye contact with an opponent by putting your head down is, to my mind, a dangerous tactic.

There are a few articles out there on the web that discuss this more indepth that I could .... interesting reading.

http://www.defendu.com/headbutting.htm

I understand your reasoning. But sometimes when you have nothing else............

[Bill Glasheen]

I think Dana was spot on.

Zizou knows heat butting. He hits soccer balls with his head for a living. If you've ever played soccer before (as I have), it's no biggie. For the record, I played halfback in the early part of my short career (also running track at the time), and goalie in the last year (when I started martial arts).

The goal (no pun intended) is to hit with the frontal bone.



Here's the starting position...



... and the finishing position.



Note how when you hit, you're contacting with the very thick peak of the frontal bone. As long as you don't do that every day, you aren't going to lose too many brain cells. At least no more than you would if you went out for a night on the town... And it's certainly a LOT harder than your fist, and perhaps even your palm heel.

Structure
The squama and the zygomatic processes are very thick, consisting of diploic tissue contained between two compact laminæ

If you're going to do it, the goal is to hit the peak of your frontal bone on the nose of the opponent. If you miss and hit either the cheekbone or the temple, you're still ahead. (a head...) If the person pulls their head back, you could still crack their teeth or crack their jaw. The worst-case scenario would be hitting frontal bone on frontal bone. But that's no different than two white belts kicking at the same time and hitting their shins together.

Ask anyone in boxing how dangerous a head butt can be.

Here's the flip side. Decide not to use this if you want. But if you go inside with your southern Chinese art and ignore the possibility that it could happen to you, you're in big-time danger. A quick head butt in a street fight can be a show stopper.

Personally I prefer having this technique in my secret bag of tricks. Hands by the sides and I'm no danger. Right?

- Bill

[IJ]

This is definitely in the kata. Starts in Kanshu with the hiraken yanking--pulls someone right into the headbutt, then as they recoil back, head looking up, you get their neck.

Yes, it is a strike on your own head, but I've TKO'd someone by this (he was cranking my fingers the wrong way, and I meant to fake a headbutt, but ooops! I didn't feel a thing--this was prekarate days) and know it works. Lot safer than using a fist. Frontal bone is pretty tough. And I'd much rather end the fight fast on my terms than spare some brain cells 2 seconds and end up eating something he threw on his terms.

From Raffi's drill, the techinque where you take their incoming "shuto" and accelerate it down with the mirror image arm on the wrist and opposite forearm on the inside elbow, lead directly to a head butt.

[Stryke]

I think it`s a great weapon , the way i do it I feel minimal risk with greatest reward .

It`s just an effective technique ,executed well it has higher risk reward than a closed fist IMHO

[Mary S]

It is a fine example of how under stress you will use the weapons you train.

I agree Dana, and given the degree of stress that might be present, I would use anything I could!! Personally I'm not comfortable enough with the technique that I would count on it but I do like the fact that there is an element of surprise to it and that it is an extremely powerful move.

This is a great thread btw!!!

[Stryke]

theres also the risk of being ignorant to it , if you dont train how do you get to recognise the oppurtunitys for it ?

when tied up clinching how does one negate the headbutt ?

[Bill Glasheen]

when tied up clinching how does one negate the headbutt ?

Dave Young, who trains LEOs and will be at his second Uechi camp this year, teaches his officers to turn the face slightly away when clinching close to a perp. He teaches a particular way of clinching onto the BG and staying lock-step with them which reduces the risk of that happening to you.

The important thing is that we have an example of a professional who starts right out of the box teaching field officers that the head butt is common and the possibility of it happening must be dealt with.

- Bill

[AAAhmed46]

http://www.wallak.net/zidan/

[Stryke]

The important thing is that we have an example of a professional who starts right out of the box teaching field officers that the head butt is common and the possibility of it happening must be dealt with.

the important thing is we dont ignore it as it`s not in Uechi

that HAPV list is looking a good place to start

it`s all about the addressing right questions IMHO .

which dojos going to address headbutts if they never train to do headbutts ?

[AAAhmed46]

The important thing is that we have an example of a professional who starts right out of the box teaching field officers that the head butt is common and the possibility of it happening must be dealt with.

the important thing is we dont ignore it as it`s not in Uechi

that HAPV list is looking a good place to start

it`s all about the addressing right questions IMHO .

which dojos going to address headbutts if they never train to do headbutts ?

GOLD

[Van Canna]

which dojos going to address headbutts if they never train to do headbutts ?

Good point. In addition to the 'tactic' the student needs to know what it 'feels like' _ I used to take a soccer ball to the dojo to 'initiate' the 'feeling' _