# Free Sparring



## Azulx (Sep 27, 2017)

I haven't posted any videos in about a year, but here's a video of me sparring one of our green belts from class.


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## MA_Student (Sep 27, 2017)

Hands were very low and you were both far to stationary. When you weren't attacking you were literally standing still in place you need to use footwork and move around. Also the punches didnt really seem to have much on them and you didn't get the full rotation on them.

Kicks were nice though good job


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## Bill Mattocks (Sep 27, 2017)

Man you have nice fast kicks.  I'd had to have to deal with them.  Nice work teaching.


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## Azulx (Sep 27, 2017)

MA_Student said:


> Hands were very low and you were both far to stationary. When you weren't attacking you were literally standing still in place you need to use footwork and move around. Also the punches didnt really seem to have much on them and you didn't get the full rotation on them.
> 
> Kicks were nice though good job



Thanks for the Feedback! I will keep all that into consideration as I continue training.


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## Bill Mattocks (Sep 27, 2017)

Azulx said:


> Thanks for the Feedback! I will keep all that into consideration as I continue training.



Oh!  If you want feedback, you lug your punches.  Not a biggie, just noticed it.  But that doesn't take away from your very nice kicks, and I mean nothing negative by it.


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## Azulx (Sep 27, 2017)

Bill Mattocks said:


> Oh!  If you want feedback, you lug your punches.  Not a biggie, just noticed it.  But that doesn't take away from your very nice kicks, and I mean nothing negative by it.



Sorry Mr. Mattocks, what do you mean by lug? My apologies for not knowing the lingo.


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## Danny T (Sep 27, 2017)

What was the purpose for the sparring session? What was the main emphasis you were working on and why?


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## Azulx (Sep 27, 2017)

Danny T said:


> What was the purpose for the sparring session? What was the main emphasis you were working on and why?



For that particular match, it was just the first match.  Just to get the heart rate up and get moving. Free Sparring with no emphasis on anything in particular.


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## Bill Mattocks (Sep 27, 2017)

Azulx said:


> Sorry Mr. Mattocks, what do you mean by lug? My apologies for not knowing the lingo.



Oh, sorry.  Yes, lugging the punch means an arm punch - no power behind it because no hip, no koshi.  You extend the arm with a fist on the end of it, but you're punching with arm power only.  That's all.  Again, no complaints - I really enjoyed your video!


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## Danny T (Sep 27, 2017)

Warming up...ok.
The reason I ask is there are several things I would suggest but it would be based on your emphasis for what you are sparring for.
Self defense, points, working out, being a sparring partner for their benefit?


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## Azulx (Sep 27, 2017)

Danny T said:


> Warming up...ok.
> The reason I ask is there are several things I would suggest but it would be based on your emphasis for what you are sparring for.
> Self defense, points, working out, being a sparring partner for their benefit?



I will take any suggestions, especially ones for being a sparring partner for the students' benefit.


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## marques (Sep 27, 2017)

Azulx said:


> For that particular match, it was just the first match.  Just to get the heart rate up and get moving. Free Sparring with no emphasis on anything in particular.


I think you need to know what you want... 

For training purposes, _imo_, you keep going too fast and your students don't feel comfortable to try anything beyond the very simple, if they do anything at all. I would go like this with other black belts (I mean, similar high skill) or for student evaluation/grading.

Regarding your technique, I will not say your hands are low or that you should use more footwork. In doubt, you just need to try it against skilled opponents.  If it works, great!


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## Danny T (Sep 27, 2017)

To continue on what your emphasis was/is when sparring...

Are you trying to win?
Are you working an specific actions...entering, counter-attacking, direct attacking, specific combinations, set ups for a specific attack, ranging, set up-finish-follow ups, Plan B or C when Plan A fails, specific timings and or angles.

As a good partner for the student's benefit...Again what is the sparring for? 
Learning to contact a specific target and multiple ways to get to it?
Defending a specific attack?
Counter-attacking?
Range or distance control?

Both of the above have a lot more with in sparring and really depends on the goal/s for sparring.
And sparring for self defense is different for competition. And in competition there are different types so again the goal for sparring will be different all based upon the rule sets.


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## Monkey Turned Wolf (Sep 27, 2017)

to add to Danny's questions, I'm assuming this was semi-contact and no grappling allowed..do you guys ever spar with grappling, or with harder contact? There were issues I saw (hands being down, letting your leg hang to get a kick) that would be an issue in full contact or grappling, but not in the sparring that you were doing.


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## Gerry Seymour (Sep 27, 2017)

MA_Student said:


> Hands were very low and you were both far to stationary. When you weren't attacking you were literally standing still in place you need to use footwork and move around. Also the punches didnt really seem to have much on them and you didn't get the full rotation on them.
> 
> Kicks were nice though good job


Being stationary isn't necessarily bad. If it works against a given opponent, it's a good way to conserve energy.


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## Gerry Seymour (Sep 27, 2017)

Azulx said:


> For that particular match, it was just the first match.  Just to get the heart rate up and get moving. Free Sparring with no emphasis on anything in particular.


For those purposes, I would slow down with students. Even allow them to get a shot in, if my slower speed gives them an opening. Try to find a speed that is only slightly above what they can match, so it taxes them a little, but leaves them room to be successfully aggressive as they warm up. 

That's not an absolute - just my approach.


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## Azulx (Sep 27, 2017)

kempodisciple said:


> to add to Danny's questions, I'm assuming this was semi-contact and no grappling allowed..do you guys ever spar with grappling, or with harder contact? There were issues I saw (hands being down, letting your leg hang to get a kick) that would be an issue in full contact or grappling, but not in the sparring that you were doing.



It is semi-contact no grappling. Full Contact isn't allowed in the facility where we train. We don't study grappling enough to be able to do it during sparring. We sometimes use moderate contact, but not often. The light contact you see in the video is about as hard as we go.


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## JR 137 (Sep 27, 2017)

Azulx said:


> I will take any suggestions, especially ones for being a sparring partner for the students' benefit.


If you're sparring for your student's benefit...
You're too aggressive.  You're bringing the fight to the student, whereas you should let the fight come to you.  Be more passive and instead of what seems like constantly being on the offensive, hang back and counter.  Pick apart their mistakes without overdoing it.  It's a balancing act.  Go on the offensive sometimes, but sparingly.

As far as technically...

You both seem to engage in what my teacher calls "going tit for tat;" you both wait for each other to finish the attack before starting your own.  Two ways to avoid that...

1) You both block with both hands.  Dropping both hands to block a kick opens you up for other stuff.  If I was sparring either of you, I'd do a lot of bringing my knee up to get you to block a front kick and throw a straight punch at the wide open target.  It's one of my most common sparring moves once I see someone block with both hands.  A few people I train with are great at throwing a fake front kick that turns over into a roundhouse kick.  If I could throw that one gracefully, I'd throw it quite often against you, as it seems you go to block the front kick with both hands, leaving your head open.  Those guys and ladies that throw that kick constantly catching me with it taught me to block with one hand/arm.  Don't get me wrong, I still get tagged with it; just not nearly as often.   

2) You both moved backward just about every time you blocked, making effective countering nearly impossible.  When you see a kick coming (especially a kick, double especially a high kick), protect with one arm while moving in at an angle and throwing punches.  If you time it right and get in quick enough, they're practically defenseless.  You seem like you'd have no problem getting in quickly. Since I've been doing that, the higher ranks I spar with tell me that they now actually have to try to hit me whereas I was a basically a punching bag beforehand. 

I'm a karate guy.  If my technique advice runs counter to TKD, discard it.  I haven't trained a day of TKD in my life.

And I'm envious of your kicks.  They're very fast and seem like they'd hurt if you wanted them too.  They look a lot better than they did in what I think your first video was a year or two ago.  And I like the use of the low kicks.  Just be careful your partner/student doesn't more the wrong way and catch one on the side of the knee.


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## Gerry Seymour (Sep 27, 2017)

JR 137 said:


> And I'm envious of your kicks.


I echo that sentiment. Those kicks look way too easy, compared to mine.


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## JR 137 (Sep 27, 2017)

gpseymour said:


> I echo that sentiment. Those kicks look way too easy, compared to mine.


That's a better way to say what I was trying to say.


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## Tony Dismukes (Oct 12, 2017)

I'm seeing a significant improvement over your earlier sparring videos. Your punches are still out of range, but you're starting to find your distance on your kicks. Your kicks are smoother. You're also getting better combinations and getting some use of sweeps.

Critiques/Suggestions:

As I noted, your punches are still not close enough to hit effectively.

You also didn't seem to have the form in your punches that you would want in order to actually inflict damage if you were going hard. It looked like you were just throwing them out as a distraction for your kicks.

I'd take advantage of those leg sweeps to charge in and attack from close range while the opponent is turned away rather than hanging back and letting him rest his angle and balance.

Try not to just back away and block every time your sparring partner kicks. As JR noted, that makes it difficult to counter. Lateral movement and forward movement are both useful.

At 2:39 your sparring partner pressed in and you turned your back. Not a good idea.

You don't need to back away and reset after each attacking combination.

As others have noted, sparring is most productive when you have a specific goal in mind. If you are trying to be a good sparring partner for a junior student, perhaps lighten up a bit, give them the confidence to bring the attack to you, then for your own benefit you can work on reading their attack so you can counter or evade without backing up.


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## FriedRice (Jun 30, 2018)

You cracked the hell out of her, lol. Why not take more risks by staying in and letting her swing for the fences. I doubt she can hurt you.

What level is Green as opposed to Black?


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## Azulx (Jul 1, 2018)

FriedRice said:


> You cracked the hell out of her, lol. Why not take more risks by staying in and letting her swing for the fences. I doubt she can hurt you.
> 
> What level is Green as opposed to Black?



This particular video is pretty old . She’s testing for blue belt tomorrow. She’s come such a long way since August of last year when was about when this video was taken. Blue Belt is 4th gup/kyu at this level. Where she’s at right now , I wouldn’t be able to do what that video displays again. It would be a bit more difficult, now that she has almost a year more experience.


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## Christopher Adamchek (Dec 12, 2018)

Nice guards/ stances
Good foot work 
Nice kicks and counter ranging of kicks


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## Kung Fu Wang (Dec 14, 2018)

I will suggest the following:

Try to

1. create opportunity instead of waiting for opportunity. For example, you throw a low kick, your opponent drop hand to block it, you punch his face.
2. have a plan. Such as use a kick to set up another kick, or a punch. For example, a roundhouse kick, side kick combo.
3. run your opponent down. If your opponent punches you, you run him down. If your opponent kicks you, you run him down. If your opponent does nothing, you still run him down. For example, a kick followed by many head punches.

If you can do 3, you are a good fighter.


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## ShotoSean (Jan 9, 2019)

Nice! Nothing like free sparring to look back on and fix what needs to be worked on!


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## JowGaWolf (Jan 9, 2019)

Azulx said:


> I haven't posted any videos in about a year, but here's a video of me sparring one of our green belts from class.


It looks like you lowered your fighting stance a little? I could be wrong but what I'm seeing is that your sparring partner is  stalling out / freezing because he/she is trying to figure out how to attack you.  This hesitation is a side effect of being in a low stance.  It makes you look like you are just standing still but what you are really doing is keeping your opponent at bay.  It gives you the luxury of being able to watch your sparring partner try to think of a plan of attack.  A tip with the low stance, while you are in it, watch for decreases of readiness while your partner is trying to figure things out.  Attack them when they are thinking. 


It looks like you are becoming more comfortable with spotting openings.  You seem to be more relaxed and you have lost a lot of the Jerky Movement that you used to have.  The only thing you have to be careful about is having your hands down so low, don't make it a habit.  Raise your hands from time to time so your students can punch into your guard.  It give them the opportunity to strike at the head (punch or kick) without fearing that they may hurt you.  It's also good training because it helps them to see punching openings while someone is in a punching guard.

Other than that you've come a long way in a short amount of time.  I really can't give you any personal improvement tips because it looked as if you were sparring as an instructor and not as someone who was really trying to train for their own benefit, which is good.  That's the way to be with your students.  Just remember to keep developing yourself as well.  Invite other martial artists over for a friendly sparring match so that you can punch and kick at your skill level.  

"Sparring like an instructor" just means that 20%-40% of your focus is on improving yourself through sparring while 60% - 80% of your focus is on your student and helping them to improve.  It's a good thing.


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## JowGaWolf (Jan 9, 2019)

gpseymour said:


> Being stationary isn't necessarily bad. If it works against a given opponent, it's a good way to conserve energy.


I agree.
Normally being still like that does a lot of things.
1. Conserves energy
2. Gives you an idea of how concerned your opponent is about your defense.
3. Gives you an idea of if your opponent actually knows how to break through the defense.
4. Gives you the luxury of watching how your opponent may try to attack.
5. Gives you the opportunity to lull your opponent into heavy thought, in which you can exploit. If they are thinking about what they can do, then they aren't "doing." hit them while they are thinking.
6. Gives you an opportunity to see what type of fighter they are before the punches are thrown.  Brawlers come straight in without any thought or a plan.  Then you have people who like to probe.  They'll keep distance and will look for weakness by striking at the guard and taking note of how well you handle it.

I can probably list 50 things that I could do while standing still

No one ever says to the snake "You aren't moving enough."  Throw away that stick and we'll see movement. lol.


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