Sparring

Nick,

I remember you mentioning somewhere that while in Zen Do Kai you were trained to spar. In both styles that I have studied we have sparred but there was no particular instruction on how to spar so I am quite curious as to what was taught to you and what you teach.

Thanks
Andrew

Mate,

It's one of those topics that's very difficult to write about...much easier to show someone when they're in a class.

Some things though include (but are not limited to) learning about the different types of fighters - some attack, some smother, and some backpedal (sidestepping is just a variation of the latter) and how to deal with them.

I also go over how fast you get off the mark and who scores the first shot which is good training for outside. In other words, if someone calls go and I immediately close the gap and hit you with a roundhouse to the jaw (controlled of course) I've "won" Afterwards it really doesn't matter what you hit me with because outside I wouldn't have controlled the kick and you'd be done. I used to instill that into all my students. Score first, score fast. You can train them in it by having a round of sparring that goes for one-two seconds. I would do one drill where they'd spar for a minute, the next one thirty seconds, the next ten, the next five and the last about two seconds only. Forces you to not cruise along like you have all day.

We'd practice developing certain attributes i.e. one side may only be allowed to defend, while the other can only attack; one side might only be able to do kicks while the other side can only do hands and so on.

We'd practice the various types of sparring i.e. traditional, mostly hands, a few low line kicks; modern: bouncing on the toes, fifty/fifty hands and feet: Full contact; semi-contact.

We'd do it with multiple opponents so you don't get focused on just one guy and so on.

Hope that gives you some ideas of the type of stuff we did/do.

Nick

Thanks Nick
Curiosity killed the cat and now satisfaction has brought him back.

Andrew

I really like the short sparring session idea, in my Filipino training we would often box with no rounds or limits and yes it often turns into a lot of dancing with no contact.

Andrew

Long sparring sessions are good for developing endurance etc and trying out loads of different techniques/combos etc but not very applicable to the street. It definitely pays to balance them with some of the very short ones

Nick