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The question is, how do you win when your opponent’s legs are too long? Well, I’m actually 6′ 3″ and I can tell you firsthand what works for me and what doesn’t. Most of my Taekwondo fights have been against opponents my size or smaller. Even at nationals, the Taekwondo division heavyweight has several 6 foot guys weighing around 200.
Every time I went to smaller tournaments, that’s when I was matched up with the 5’8″ or 5’10” guys. She hated it. In fact, I shouldn’t be too quick to say that I hated it. He hated when they knew what they were doing.
First, let’s talk about what’s not working…
Going face to face with me. Let’s hope that’s obvious. You never want to trade kick for kick with someone who is 4 to 6 inches taller than you. There is an area that everyone has. I call it your red zone, red symbolizing “warning”. Everyone’s red zone is different and its size is determined by the range of your kick.
Since I’m 6′ 3″, I have a bigger red zone than most. This also means that if you’re shorter than me, you get into my red zone before I get into yours. In other words, while you’re trying to Get close enough to kick, I’m already scoring you.
Next, you might want to try overwhelming me with speed. Not a bad idea, but not the best either. Every time I get in the ring with someone shorter than me, I assume they are going to be very fast. The first thing I do is create some distance, then I go out for a while. I study how fast they can really move. I can see how quickly they can close the gap between us. After seeing how fast they really are, I just adjust my gap so I can start scoring.
The bottom line is that speed is good, but when dealing with a taller opponent, they will just make up for it with distance. Against a taller opponent, too much distance is your enemy. Your opponent has a stride that is probably 1 ½ times yours. After taking 2 steps forward, your opponent is already 3 steps away, so WHAM… they’ll hit you with a roundhouse kick.
So what is the best strategy? If you want to dominate your tallest opponent in Taekwondo, you must use a method called BTC. This stands for Bait, Trap, Counter. Pay attention, because this is the best Taekwondo scoring method against taller opponents, and I hate it! Of course, only when used against me.
Is that how it works…
When your Taekwondo match starts against a taller opponent, you WAIT. In fact, you wait in a high defensive mode. Be ready to whojin (slide back) and unleash a spinning hook kick or back kick if your opponent is too aggressive. Otherwise, wait a moment, then we start the BTC strategy
We will slowly sneak up on our opponent, making sure not to engage too soon. This technique is known as baiting. Basically, we’re making ourselves susceptible to an attack with the primary goal of counter-attacking before they have a chance to score.
The best time to counter is during the trap. The split second that your opponent loses to you is known as the trap. As a side note, this is why it’s very important to kick and lower that leg to the ground right away, so you don’t get caught in the trap. The higher the opponent, the longer it takes to lower the leg. This makes it an easier trap. During this trap, this is when you unload your counter attack.
If your strong point is a back kick, then bait in an open stance (belly is facing in the same direction) and try to take the roundhouse kick out of your opponent. If your strong point is a spinning hook kick, bait in a closed stance and try to get your opponent’s quick kick out (skipping the lead leg roundhouse kick). If you really are one of those shorter, faster fighters, then you can sidestep and do whatever kind of counter you want, right after the bait.
Well, what happens when your opponent realizes what you’re doing? Well, you become even more attracted to each other, at least to the point where you are still successful on the counterattack.
When that has run its course, it disguises BTC by aggressively moving around the ring. He moves aggressively, then quickly baits, causing his opponent to panic and hopefully attack.
Good luck with your training!