By David Mitchell

This article first appeared in Roundhouse magazine. David Mitchell is a veteran martial artists and has authored 46 books and countless articles on the martial arts. Check out his great web site and magazine by clicking here.
 

    When I began writing this article, I couldn't make my mind up whether it ought to be called 'Psyching Your Opponent Out'
or simply, 'Dirty Tricks'. In the event I chose the former because it sounds more dignified - though dirty tricks is what it
amounts to!

    Defeating an opponent requires two things: skill, and resolution. Skill is physical and relates to the developing of the body's
capabilities until they exactly match the requirements of the combat. Resolution is mental and refers to that attitude of mind
which allows you to use your physical skills to gain the victory.

    Many books have been written about physical development but little is said about cultivating the mental approach. This article is going to deal with just one aspect of the mental approach and that is: getting the opponent into a position where you can dominate him - in others words, psyching him out.

    Psyching the opponent out is by no means a new concept. Read Miyamoto Musashi's Go Rin No Sho (Book Of Five
Rings) or Sun Tsu's Art Of War to see how time-honoured the idea actually is. Basically, you discover and use some
aspect of the opponent's own character against him and even if this does not actually allow you to completely dominate him,
it may allow you to work out what he's going to do next.

    Psyching the opponent out does not just take place in the combat area; the astute fighter will come to know his opponent
long before that. This is especially noticeable in the international arena where a small number of the same fighters come to
know each other over a period of years. Former British world-class karateka Vic Charles MBE often fought the French
fighter Pyree and when this happened, Vic's confident and aggressive demeanour always suddenly changed for the worse. It
was almost as though Vic came to see Pyree as his Nemesis, losing the bout before even the opening hajime!

    Talk to your opponent before the bout. If he seems nervous, then it may be a good idea to tell him how successful you've
been in the last few bouts, pointing out that several times you narrowly missed being disqualified for hospitalising someone.
This form of intimidation doesn't always work, however, and there are plenty of young fighters out there who are hungry to
take your prestige (real or imaginary) away from you. Who's more nervous when a champion fights a hopeful contender?
Which of them has more to lose?

    Some fighters like to prepare for a fight by stalking around on their own. They become antisocial and avoid others, so if your
opponent is one of those, then go over and talk to him. Don't be put off if he seems to ignore you, just keep talking at him
and with a little bit of luck, you might succeed in totally disrupting his mental preparation.

    Other fighters don't like watching how the other bouts are going so tell them what's happening. "It's like a bloodbath out there!" or "I've seen some bad refereeing but this takes the cake!" are both good ways of messing up your opponent's preparation. Tell preparing kata/pattern performers that you think they've just made a mistake in their performance and see what happens!

    If this sort of thing appeals to your twisted mind, then buy a copy of John Cleese's video How To Irritate People. Not only
is it a good laugh but it shows just how many ways there are to ruin someone's concentration.

    But finding out how the opponent feels, what he does and how he reacts in a certain situation is not the be-all and end-all of
psyching out. Even when you know full well what the opponent is going to do, it doesn't mean you're always going to be able
to cope with it. For example, it doesn't take a lot of observation to figure out that Bill Wallace favours his left leg, but that
hasn't stopped him winning a few bouts along the way!

    Psyching out also means misleading the opponent, so you limp into the ring, making as though you have damaged your ankle or knee. During the opening bout you try a few times to perform a technique using the injured leg as support, but it obviously causes you a lot of trouble. So you fight skilfully but defensively until the match is more than halfway over, then you wait for the right opening and blast in with everything you've got. Switch from defensive injured fighter to attacking fit fighter and force the opponent to change strategies.

    Pretend to be weak when you feel strong, act as though you are tired when you aren't and appear injured when fit. All of
these will help you to wrongfoot your opponent's appraisal of your ability.

    A particularly slimy trick in non-contact matches is to pretend that a head attack has landed with more force than it did.
Stagger and fall, but then get up quickly and show how brave you are. Earn the respect of the referee - not his contempt. If
he asks whether you are hurt, shake your head - but don't look entirely recovered. From then on the referee will be looking
carefully at your opponent's control and another slip may cost him a penalty point. Also, the opponent's coach may tell him
to stay away from your head/face and you may have succeeded in undermining his faith in his own control.

    National karate coach Ticky Donovan uses more honourable tactics when he tells his people to discover what kind of
opponent they're facing and then adopt a fighting strategy their opponents will find difficult to deal with. Ticky's students
attack attacking fighters and force defending fighters to attack.

    By their very nature, attacking fighters like to sweep what you've got to one side and blast in. They may not be so good on
defence because perhaps it doesn't suit their build or temperament. So by constantly attacking, you force them into an
unfamiliar mode and they will not be able to perform to best effect. This same type of approach will help defeat the defensive
fighter too, so force him to do all the attacking and be ready to exploit any weakness as it appears.

    Make your opponent angry, so he loses that razor edge of concentration. Scottish lightweight Stewart McKinnon did just
that in the Maastricht World Karate Championships when he constantly commented upon the quality of his opponent's
technique. The more comments Stewart made, the more angry and unsettled his opponent became.

    You can also make your opponent angry by repeatedly sweeping his lead leg. Provided the technique looks like a valid
sweep and not just a direct attack upon a limb (which is what it actually is!), then the referee will not intervene. In the
meantime, the opponent is becoming more and more angry. A word of caution though: don't sweep against his knee because
this is a clear rule violation.

    Make your opponent wary or even frightened of you by really digging in those mid section attacks. Lean in and aim to drive
your fist clear out through his backbone. A couple of really heavy thumps will warn him against taking any liberties with you
and inhibit his technique performance. Let him take a few really heavy kicks on his arms as he tries to block them. Avoid
face contact though, because there is little margin for error and the referee will always err on the side of penalty.

    If you are spectating, then interrupt a kata performer's concentration by letting off a blast on your air horn. At a past
European Junior Karate Championship, one clown really pissed everybody off by letting fly with his whenever he became
excited. But make sure you cannot be identified as part of a particular performer's retinue or you may cause him to be
disqualified in your stead!

    The list could go on but the main thing is always to disadvantage the opponent in some way. Try to draw his attention away
from the bout and focus it towards some other area of irritation, fear whatever. If you succeed in doing that, then his thinking
will be less clear and he is more likely to blunder into a situation he would otherwise have avoided.
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