dkc wrote:By a real situation I mean if some idiot comes at you at speed and you have to react to his attack you might not have time to get him in the ideal position so isnt it useful to be able to do all our techniques both left and right?
It depends on who's left and right you're talking about....
As a martial artist, I want to be able to deal with attackers that attack right sided, left sided, middle, high, low or whatever they choose to use. But I only need to be able to deal with it from one side. Because, after all, I can choose my own preferred side.
In other words: If I choose to stand right sided, I want to be able to deal with a left sided or a right sided attacker equally effective. But there's no need for me to go left sided when my attacker does. Now, if you develop a series of techniques around this concept, wouldn't that look a lot like Kihon Kumite?
Like Oneya said, you need to have sente. That's basically all there is to it. But having sente may just be the most difficult challenge. The questions is, do you need to develop your own right and left side in equal measure to do so? Based on my own experience I'd say no. Which is why practicing KK from only one side makes perfect sense to me.