Accuracy Training

[pguinto]

Using a ball, as a opposed to a naked stick, has its purpose:

1. there is a tendency to hit the stick just about anywhere, whereas the ball becomes the focal point;
2. you can immediately tell the difference between hitting the ball (primary target) or the stick (secondary target)
3. a league ball is roughly the size of a balled fist, a bent elbow, the deltoid, a knee cap, heel or ball of the foot, or ankle, (and even the bayag area, unless a peanut shell is used for a cup)

[eskrimakaliarnis.com]

Yep, all good points.

Try a marble though, harder to hit and makes a nice sound when you do

Takes a bit of practice though. Like Phil's example, the end of a spinning stick is about the same size too.

[gagimilo]

I forgot to explain why I use sponge...see, i use this type of training in my apartment, so every now and then one of those pieces hits something else in the room. However, the sponge simply bounces off, without breaking anything, hence saving my ass from conflicts with my wife ;-)
Regarding hitting the tip of the stick - I do that sometimes with my training partners, as a reaction drill. The feeder starts off in a neutral position, without presenting the target, but then they put it somewhere in space so that you have to use an appropriate strike. You can either do it in a prearranged pattern of angles, or go random...

[Ryno]

We've got a bunch of somewhat firm foam balls that we throw at each other. We play lots of silly little games. Power striking only, shielding block only, abanicos, defend and area like a goalie using whatever, etc.

[William]

Well,
Besides a live target, here are a few things I’ve done for accuracy (hand-eye coordination) training in the past….

I created a stick dummy out of a 4 x 4 post that was cut into two sections with spring loaded chair swivels. Holes were drilled at various position and angles along its length where I could insert sticks giving me multiple targets to strike at. Striking a stick would cause the dummy to pivot and then swing back. Later I added hanging targets from each of the sticks on the dummy. I would take a tennis ball and punch a hole through opposite ends and run a rope through it and knot it. The other end would be tied to one of the sticks. Then I took electrical tape and wrapped them up so the tennis ball wouldn’t eventually get ripped off the rope. Start moving around the dummy and strike at a hanging targets. A hit would swing the dummy getting all the targets moving. The goal was to be able to use your footwork to move around the target and be able to hit moving targets while you are ranging in and out. It’s very effective.

Another thing for hand/eye coordination is to get a racket ball or tennis ball and go into an enclosed space and start hitting the ball around. Try to keep it moving like you would in racket ball. It’s hard at first but you’ll be amazed at how good you can get at hitting a small fast moving target with a rattan stick.

As has been mentioned already, hitting branches and leaves on three while running around in the woods works as does hanging strands of rope and other targets.

When I was training with john Daniels his uncle Terry Blackeagle would come over some times and work with us. We would use a long stick/Staff with a large block of wood attached to it. The holder would move it around varying the angles and heights as well as thrusting at you. We would use single and double sticks to strike at the moving target. More fun was using live blades to attack the target. Single blade, double blade, as well as utilizing different grips in slashing and thrusting attacks and counter strikes. He also had a staff with a ball on the end that we would work the same thing on. Great at working your footwork, hand/eye coordination, and reaction timing and reflexes. Funny this came up because I was actually watching an old tape of us doing this last night. I was able to get some stills out of it that I’m going to throw up on my web page one of these days.



William

[William]

Oh yeah,

Related,

One of my instructors would make us face a wall with our backs to him. He would then turn on a bright light behind us so that we could see our shadows on the wall. Then he'd start hucking tennis balls at us. Didn't help with accuracy, but it did really help your reaction time as well as your ability to quickly acertain threats with your peripheral vision and move accordingly.

Ah, fun, fun, fun.



William