by Mike
In submission grappling, tapping is the method by which you let your partner know that they should let go of a hold. Most commonly, tapping is likened to saying "Uncle," but that's really unnecessarily macho and pointless. Tapping is effectively you saying, "yeah, I'm in a bad spot and can't get out. No sense in continuing."
There's nothing wrong with tapping - in fact, it's built into the sport to keep people from going home injured and unable to train.
For new students, however, rolling may be a scary experience and the first few times someone locks in an armbar or choke can induce panic. Fortunately....
There are really only two things to know about how to tap properly:
- Tap, Tap - either verbally or physically
Easy enough, eh? Two taps (at least) are required. One tap or a gasp may be be incidental, two are purposeful and let your partner know that you submit.
JKD guys seem to like snapping their fingers. I'm not sure why that is since the snaps always seem to come too late.... - Tapping your partner is best. Tapping the mat, second best. Don't tap yourself
Tapping your partner will get their attention. Tapping the mat should be done loud enough that they can differentiate between you and the other guys rolling at other parts of the mat.
Tapping yourself is the best way to not have your tap get noticed.
Now that we know when to tap, when is the best time to tap? Among new students, I see something like the following: first, they tap as soon as you grab a hold of them. Not necessarily a submission, but even just their wrist. After doing some more drills and learning how to differentiate between pain and injury, they seem to go straight to overconfidence and wait too long to tap and, if they're not working with an experienced partner, get injured. Eventually, they settle down and will tap at the right time.
So when is the right time to tap?
The answer depends on what you're doing.
- If you're competing at a high level, the answer may be, "just after he starts to injure you, since you need every chance you can get to win." Theoretically, if you're competing, you'll have a good idea of your limits and this won't be an issue.
- If you're just rolling in class, you may want to tap when you realize you're in a bad position and there's no way for you to get out of it. Sometimes it's not worth the wear and tear on your body to try to fight out of a bad position. This is not to say that you should tap every time someone gets you on the bottom under crossbody, but there are times when fighting out from under a D3 heavyweight is not worth having a sore neck/back for the next couple days.
- Sometimes you need to tap preventatively
Of course, you'll find yourself in the situation where, say you clasp hands to resist an armbar. The other guy puts on some more pressure, you resist, he puts on more pressure and suddenly you realize that your grip is slipping and with as much force as you both are putting into the technique, your arm is going to fly back and likely pop before you can tap. - Sometimes you want to save yourself some trouble down the line
Similarly, this may also occur when you get caught in a bad spot with a new, but ridiculously strong partner and he grabs a hold of your neck. You could theoretically power out, but doing so might cause you injury or at least screw up your neck for a few days. In this case, you might also want to tap just to save yourself some pain.
- First and foremost, always be ready for the tap. Your partner might have an injury and even moving in a certain direction may cause them pain.
- A subpoint of the above: a tap may not always be exaggerated. Sometimes you'll end up in a position where someone's getting choked out (so they can't verbalize the tap), one hand is trapped under them (so they can't tap with that hand) and the other is stuck trying to clear your hands. They may be forced to tap with their feet (think Mike Bourke/Alex Otsuka from Pride 11) or may only be able to use one finger to tap.
- Next, sometimes you just need to let go. Especially with a newer student who might not know their own limits yet. This usually takes the form of the aforementioned new guy who has a little bit of knowledge and thinks that just because he's still conscious he still has a chance to get out of a choke. I remember rolling at another school and forgot that they didn't teach heel hooks. I was getting tooled until I managed to set up a heel hook and...the guy started rolling into it...I let go immediately, realizing this guy had no idea how close he had just come to a serious injury.
After that, I asked the instructor if they practiced leg locks at all. "No, we don't allow them, they're way too dangerous." Lesson, be sure to ask about etiquette before you start rolling.
- Tapping out is preferable to being choked out. If you do get choked out, (see First Aid For Fighters: Fainting for some first aid advice), don't worry. Happens to everyone. The only person who is embarrassed is you. Everyone else is glad that you're OK and then it's back to business as usual.
That said, if this happens more than once or twice....you either need to talk to your coach or a doctor. - If you're injured, you can't train. And you make your partner feel bad, even if your injury was totally your fault. Don't worry about tapping - it's training. No one's keeping score.
- Before you roll, learn what the submissions feel like. The pain you feel in an armbar is different from a kneebar. "Slicers" and heel hooks tend to leave very little space between "ouch" and "broken." Before you pass out from a blood choke there's a couple seconds where you think, "hey, I'm doing OK, I can still...zzzzzzzzz." Wind chokes cause people to panic.
Be aware from your technical drilling how the different submissions feel. - Apply submissions slowly. Be aware of your partner. Even in competition, it's considered bad form to crank subs to injure your opponent. In class, it's downright unacceptable. A large part of the submissions game is controlling your partner so that they can't move and you can take your time in applying the submission.
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