Olympian Uses Street Fighter IV To Train

Keane Ng

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Sep 11, 2008
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Olympian Uses Street Fighter IV To Train



Tyrone Robinson, a Taekwondo fighter and London 2012 hopeful, is using Street Fighter IV as a part of his everyday training routine, and his coaches are totally cool with it.

Robinson [http://www.inthenews.co.uk/sports/sport/general-sport/british-olympian-uses-street-fighter-iv-hone-skills-$1272607.htm], who was the bronze medalist at the European Championship and apparently is one of the brightest hopes for the British Taekwondo team, is using the game to sharpen his mental fight planning, reflexes and coordination. "I'm never going to be able to throw fireballs in the ring like the characters in Street Fighter IV, but I can still try some of the crazy kicks they do," Robinson said. "It's a good way to relax at the end of a hard day's training and great to have a tournament with friends."

Yeah right, I said the same thing to my parents whenever they asked me why I was playing Counter-Strike instead of studying for the SATs: "It helps my hand-eye coordination. There are studies that can back this up. Trust me." It didn't work for me, but apparently it's working just fine for Robinson, whose coaches agree that the mental rehearsal of combat can dramatically increase a fighter's chance of coming out on top.

In fact, Robinson's advisors aren't just telling him that's it's alright to play some Street Fighter, they're literally encouraging him to play.

"To complement their physical training our athletes are also encouraged, in their spare time, to play this type of game, as it is known that doing so can increase their attention span, depth perception and hand-eye coordination; though this is always recommended as an addition to their physical training and never as a replacement," Des Blackburn, the performance analyst for Great Britain Taekwondo, said.

Will Street Fighter IV make Robinson indestructible [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6yShu3mHp0] come 2012? I sure hope so. If it does, thousands of teenagers worldwide will get an even better excuse to feed their parents when they tell them to stop playing what, by then, will be Super Street Fighter IV: Fourth Assault Remix Maniacs Turbo 12th Edition Jr III.

[Via Capcom-Unity [http://www.capcom-unity.com/snow_infernus/blog/2009/02/26/british_olympian_uses_street_fighter_iv_to_hone_skills]]


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Jamash

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Jun 25, 2008
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Wouldn't Tekken be better?

It's a 3D game and has Taekwondo fighters in it. Virtua Fighter 5 would probably be the best game to use, since it's very technical and not as unrealistic as SFIV.

How much can a 2D fighting game improve your depth perception?

I can imagine his getting his ass handed to him as he approaches his opponent in a very linear 2D manner, who just sidesteps and kicks him in the head.
 

ward.

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Aug 6, 2008
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Hear that, the Internet says all those hours playing tekken have honed me into a lethal warrior.

BRB, starting bar fights with bikers.
 

Tiamat666

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Dec 4, 2007
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In other news today, a Washington gamestore reported having received an order for 12 Civilization IV copies from the White House. When inquired about this by our reporters, a White House spokesman declined to comment, but muttered something about "... not to trade Uranium with the Persians..."
 

PsykoDragon

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I took Taekwondo for a coupla years when I was around 15~17. I swear, I miss the nice fit feeling I had, especially since I would continue to practice & do a Kung-Fu workout at home daily. Wish I can bring myself to get back to the routine, but just don't have the will to do it.

... Anyway, I was one of the un/fortunate people who bought the Dramcast at the time, & played the hell out of (completed) Shenmue. I still remember opening Shenmue, opening the movelist w/ animations, & practicing those moves, nailing them. I showed my trainer & friends a few moves I learned. Trainer said he was impressed, both at how well I did the moves & the fact that I practiced at home. So while it prolly wouldn't be as fun as training to other fighting games, I can confirm that some games DO teach you some useful stuff.