Quote:
Originally Posted by FoolsTP
we're told that it's like there's a poll running through someones head down through their body and into the floor and that's what you are walking around. like if you walked around a tree or something.
it seems like a defensive and defeatist attitude to see it as you being in the center and your opponent being on the outside cause wouldn't it feel like you are not the one with the control?
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I've been invited back into the thread (Yipee!!) so I wanted to address this statement. TTEscrima did it pretty well already, but since I'm a know-nothing on the actual topic of the thread, this is the only one I'm really qualified to answer.
In many martial arts (and martial sports) dominating the center is an important tactic. It's one of many, and I can't think of a single martial art I've ever even casually looked into that ONLY takes the center (in terms of footwork). Still, commanding the center is important for any number of reasons. First, it requires far less effort and movement on your part because you aren't forced to move around as much. It allows you to
make the opponent move more, and in so doing, creates openings and fatigue in the opponent. There are times when taking the center simply means "pressing the fight." A fighter like Joe Frazier, for example, almost always took control of the center and forced his opponents all over the outside of the ring. In that sense, it means making the other person move in response to what you're doing rather than simply responding to what he's doing.
If you look at most great chess players, you'll find that they all have a handful of what they call openings. These are moves and combinations of moves that allow them to get strategic pieces on the board with the express purpose of controlling the center territory of the chessboard. In nearly every form of combat, controlling the center is important.
The only stretch for this is when you're dealing with multiple attackers and you're all by yourself. Then, you have to be on the end of a stack. You want to control the middle by stuffing people in line and putting yourself on the flank so that they have to fight through each other to get to you.