Wiralaga; The Art of Tournament Fighting

1. Imagery Training,
2. Goals Setting (most easily understood),
3. Changing Attentional Focus,
4. and Deepening Concentration Exercises.

For all those 'things that can happen before a fight', I have a few rules that I adhere to to stay healthy:

1. Never, ever sleep late the night before a fight, even if that fight is in the afternoon. You might get headaches that lasts the whole day.
2. During the duration of the competition itself, avoid doing unnecessary things that can potentially injure yourself. Things like motorcycle racing, bunjee jumping, singing in the rain, etc.
3. Never, ever, go on a long jog the day before a fight. You'll make your leg muscles sore. Some fighters had to go jogging a few days before a fight to reduce weight. This can't be helped, of course, but then again if you're a national athlete, you should be wise enough to check your weight periodically, go on a diet if you have to, and when the competition dates arrived you should not have any weight problems. Unless, extenuating circumstances apply, of course, like twisting your ankles during a bunjee jumping session.

Actually, to me the main concept of distancing in wiralaga is quite simple. There are only two ranges; close range and long range. When I fight, I always stick to this rule; when he's in close range, I punch-When he's in long range, I kick. It makes life a lot simpler.

Of course, that's only the main concept of distancing. There are, of course, other aspects on distancing which deserve greater attention, which is why I wrote an article on it. At the time of writing it may not be fully complete; I may decide to add in things that I recalled in the future. As for now, it's seems quite okay. Anyway, if you have any comments, do let me know.

Those that are good in takedowns are usually the champions in silat fighting. There is a reason for this. Consider this scenario; a silat fighter kicks his opponent squarely on the abdomen. Both fighters are at the center of the ring (small white circle). Each has fighter is backing a juror (refer to the article on 'The Gelanggang'). The 3rd juror is on the right or left of the fighters, depending on which fighter we are refering to. The kick, theoretically, will score 2 points from the three jurors. But the only juror that will give the 2 points may be the 3rd one. This is because the other two jurors may not be able to see the kick. It is blocked from view by the two fighters. Even if they hear a hitting sound they still may not give the 2 points. They only trust visual confirmation.

Incidentally, it is said that the Indonesian National silat fighter's training includes an approach to somehow overcome this deficiency in gaining points. They seem to have a formulae to better able the jurors to see their strikes. It involves (I think) positioning of the fighters during striking. Unfortunately, I have little information on the subject. If I gain any more information about this I'll put it here.

Incidentally, the Indonesians are the 'giants' of silat fighting.

However, the above is not true for silat takedowns. When the exponent throws his adversary, and the adversary falls, the wasit will stop the fight. He will then proceed to signal to all the jurors to award the exponent 3 points (3x3 jurors, to be exact). Due to this, there is no such thing as not seeing the technique for takedowns. If the wasit is not satisfied that the takedown is successful, he will not award the points. So, it's either you get it or you don't. Thus, those that are good at takedowns (or throws if you like) tends to get more points from the jurors. That's why these fighters are usually the champions in any silat tournaments.