Jag,
Junior and I have gotten the same way in being able to instantly read each other’s reactions to the point where it’s almost like telepathy.
Another good method that we’ve got down to near perfection is using what we call a “Press and Fold”. As we come up on the Target, I put Junior in front of me while keeping a hand on his shoulder so I can read which direction he moves and adjusts (like the way football receivers put a blocker in front of them).
As he rushes the Target, I put my weight against him so when he impacts you’ve got the momentum of both of us behind it. I keep my hand on Junior’s shoulder and use it as a fulcrum point to spin completely around the Target to take his back and Junior takes up Striker while I keep the Target under control. [If the target goes to the ground from the impact, then I come around to control him in a north-south position while Junior frees himself up and starts stomping away].
The Press and Fold also comes in handy when you’re dealing with two-on-two, or two-on-more situations. Most of the time when you and your partner are facing similar numbers it quickly degenerates into two seperate one-on-one fights where you are trying to dispatch your opponent as quickly as possible in order to free yourself up to help your partner.
In that situation you’ve equaled yourselves out with your opponents, and are therefore playing a time and speed game that you may very well come up holding the short end of the stick on.
However, what we have discovered is that if the two of us are facing equal (or superior) numbers, we can use the Press-and-Fold© to take one guy, break the enemy’s formation, and either escape, or start wreaking havoc on the rest.
Here’s what we do: say Junior and I have inadvertently pissed off three guys that are now intent on sending us on a vacation to the local ICU.
As soon as we know trouble is about to happen in a big way, I grab Junior’s shoulder with one hand and push him slightly forward and to the side. Since he’s the lead, he makes an immediate judgement call as to who we hit and makes his move.
Being a street-smart kid, Junior rushes the guy on the far left (assuming they have fanned out in a semi-circle position) in order to put the other two completely on one side.
He impacts the guy, while I fold around to gain quick control, and starts slamming fast soft target shots (throat, solar plexus, etc).
When you rush one guy and start tearing him to pieces, the other two guys have to hesitate for a quick second to reposition and decide who they are going to attack first to save their buddy.
Junior and I don’t sit there all day beating on one guy, of course. Junior slams a couple choice targets until I feel the guy sag, then I shove the captured enemy down, grab Junior’s shoulder, and the two of us move on the next guy.
We’ve experimented with this a few times in practice runs, and found that works quite well if you both get your timing down AND DON’T GET CAUGHT UP WITH ONE GUY, because his boys will quickly get with the program and start trying to seperate your “team”.
The biggest test run we did was one instance where we got four guys to be the “enemy” vs. Junior and I. All of us armored up with Harbingers, cups, and mouthpieces and went at it.
Junior and I took all of them out using this method. [We didn’t escape completely unharmed ourselves, though].
It’s a different story, of course, if the enemy has weapons, but your safety factor increses exponentially when the two of you are using a coordinated formation and escape out after mangling the first guy. Also, when you factor in that Junior and I usually aren’t “unarmed” ourselves when out and about, then it tends to increase the odds of success.