Aliveness An old martial arts teacher told me that sparring is of no real value in actual combat because it has nothing much to do what a thug or criminal would do in a real situation. Although I know that there is some truth in that still I continued too be an advocate of what I refer to as “aliveness” which means that you go duke it out with your sparring partner and see what works and what fails during a quasi combat encounter with your fellow martial artist. That means that you get hit and he gets hit and both suddenly realize that you sometimes go home with a bruise here and there and it feels good. Although I believe that it is not the only tool you could use for practicing your skills but I really believe it to be an essential part of martial arts training. Sparring teaches you a lot about timing, being able to read your opponent’s mind and countering his attack, when and how to attack effectively, knowing and exploiting your opponent’s strength and weaknesses and knowing yours as well. It also helps you to understand and feel pain when you get hit and what it means to fight under pressure! We have experimented with different kinds of sparring format for stick fighting, blade oriented sparring, knife fighting, punta y daga, double sticks and mano-mano. We spar with live sticks or padded sticks with head gear (all out) or without head gear (but no head shots ). We would allow the wearing of body protectors especially for beginners and if we have to spar with everyone during the day on a round-robin format so as not to cause too many injuries. A bruise turned black and blue here and there is normal during a sparring match but not broken bones. So safety first.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 22:20:47 +0000
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