Out of the three event options at the Karate USA Championships next weekend, board breaking is probably the least understood. This article is designed to help educate you on board breaking scoring and strategy so you have a better chance of reaching your goals.

The Basics

All students must break a “three station board break”. This means there will be three separate board holders in different areas of the ring. This does not mean you only have to break three boards (more on that later).

The student is responsible for choosing the types of breaks they want to do, the number of boards they want to break at each station, and the layout of the break. The student is also responsible for setting up the board break before they perform, showing the holders how they want their boards to be held, and so on.

Before breaking, you will give the following presentation:

“Hi, my name is [blank]. Today I will be performing a three station board break. With your permission sir (or ma’am), may I begin?”

The Scoring

Scoring is based on four things (listed in order of importance):

Number of attempts at each station

The most important thing to keep in mind if you want to win is that you must break each station on the first try. Only two tries are allowed. If you break a station on the 2nd try (or not at all) it will significantly lower your score.

Number of boards broken at each station

Double and triple breaks are awarded with higher scores. For instance, if competitor A did a single side kick and competitor B did a double side kick, competitor B would win as long as competitor B broke his/her boards on the first try.

Keep in mind that attempting more boards comes with the risk of not breaking them on the first try. In our scenario, if competitor B took two attempts to break his double break and competitor A broke his single break on the first try, competitor A would win. This should be taken into account, but breaking multiple boards should not be avoided for this reason. As we will discuss when we get to strategy, breaking multiple boards at each station may be necessary to win.

Difficulty of techniques

Advanced and more difficult techniques are awarded with higher scores. A jump front kick will score higher than a back leg front kick. A spin back kick will be awarded higher than a side kick. However, as with attempting multiple boards, the degree of difficulty does not outweigh attempts to break.

Energy and presentation

Your energy and presentation will affect your score the least, but are still important. If the scores are close, the student with the most energy and best presentation will win.

Presentation is not just what you say to the judges before you break. Presentation is your entire routine. Presentation is the set up, the layout of the break, and the overall organization of your turn.

The Strategy

Here’s where board breaking gets tough.

In sparring, you can have a basic strategy and your coach can help you adapt during the match. In forms, you know exactly what you need to do. In board breaking, the student (alone) must make critical decisions on the fly in a competitive division. It’s this understanding of the rules and the ability to adapt that separates the gold medalists from the rest of the pack.

For starters, you must bring enough boards to the ring to be competitive with your opponents. If the person ahead of you gets up and breaks eight boards and you only brought six, you didn’t even give yourself a chance to win.

Beginner and intermediate division competitors probably won’t need more than 6 boards with them and advanced competitors probably won’t need more than 9 (but don’t quote me, prepare yourself adequately).

Knowing that you must break each station on the first try, I would devise a plan based on the following:

Number of Boards

Only choose the number of boards at each station you are comfortable with based on what you know from practicing your routine. If you only break a double side kick (two boards) 50% of the time, I’d plan on doing a single side kick (one board). Of course, for competitive reasons, you should bring enough to do the double break should you need to.

Difficulty of techniques

Plan to do the hardest techniques you can with the highest breaking percentage.

The only part of the routine I don’t recommend changing on the fly is the layout and types of breaks you’re going to do. Since I don’t recommend making adjustments in this area during the competition, you must plan to score as high as possible beforehand.

If you break a front kick 90% of the time and a jump front kick 80% of the time, plan to do the jump front kick and shoot for the higher score.

Adapting to the situation

You must focus on exactly what your opponents are doing with their routines so you can adapt to win. Since we don’t need to change the actual routine we’re doing, we only have to be concerned with how many boards we break. We’re going to use two different scenarios based on three competitors in an intermediate division.

Scenario 1: You go first or 2nd (or in the middle in bigger divisions)

When you’re up first, you have limited information on what’s going to happen with your opponents. In this scenario, I recommend doing the exact routine you planned.

If the person going after you has 6 boards and you only plan on breaking 4, that’s fine. You can’t assume he’s going to break all six (or even try to break all six). He brought six to be prepared just like you. Only adapt your routine based on information that is 100% certain.

If you’re up second, you get to watch the person who goes first. Let’s assume they break all their boards on the first try (single breaks) with basic kicks. If you’ve planned on doing all single breaks with more advanced kicks than them, there’s no need to add boards. If you’re doing basic kicks just like them, you may want to add a board (to your strongest technique) to try and beat them.

When you are selected to go first or in the middle of your division, all your decisions should be made based on trying to beat only the people who went before you. It is not wise to assume what people after you are going to do.

Scenario 2: You get to go last.

When you’re up last, you have all the information you need to make informed decisions. All you have to do is break more boards than the people who went before you (assuming they broke them on the first try). Simply add boards as necessary to try and win.

KISS (Keep It Simple Silly)

The strategy may sound complicated, but it’s quite easy once you get the hang of it. The basis for the strategy is KISS, Keep It Simple Silly. Do as little work as possible to win. Stick with what you know, stick with what you’re good at, and add boards if needed based on what others have done.

Private Lessons

If you’d like more help with practicing, setting up your routine, and grasping the strategy needed to win, your instructors are available for one on one time. Many students schedule private lessons to prepare for the tournament so assume that the students you are going to compete against are doing just that.