# Sparring Games



## Big Don (Feb 20, 2009)

Tonight there were only 8 of us at sparring. So, my Sifu decided to switch things up a bit. He brought out 4 white belts and we paired off, each tying one end of the belt to our belts then we sparred. What a difference a tether makes.
What games do you/have you played during sparring?


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## jarrod (Feb 21, 2009)

here are a couple of grappling/sparring games that are good for jujitsu students as well as strikers who just want to get a feel for balance & general ground awareness.

one is called british bulldog. one guy is the bulldog, everyone else is a poodle. the poodles' objective is to crawl on hands & knees from one end of the mat to the other as many times as possible. the bulldog tries to turn them over & touch their backs to the mat. once a poodle's back touches, he becomes a bulldog. bulldogs can gang up, but poodles can't help each other.  standing up is not allowed by either.  the last poodle is the winner.

one that's a little more competitive is open-weight sumo. just takedown your opponent or shove him out of the designated area. unlike sumo though, we do this for a full 3 minute period instead of first fall. everyone is pretty winded by the end of three minutes. really helps your balance & awareness of the space around you.

another good one is guard stand-ups (though i need a better name for it).  from the guard, the top guy's only goal is to hold down the other guy.  the bottom man's only goal is to stand up.  it can be played for time (pin them for 30seconds & you should have pounded them silly) or points (guy tries as many stand ups as possible in a minute, then they switch places to see if the other guy can do more).  if a striker wants to play around with grappling for a little bit but not train it seriously, i use this drill a lot.

i like the belt idea, i'm going to try that with a guy i'm trying to help with his infighting.

jf


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## Meathook (Feb 21, 2009)

Big Don said:


> Tonight there were only 8 of us at sparring. So, my Sifu decided to switch things up a bit. He brought out 4 white belts and we paired off, each tying one end of the belt to our belts then we sparred. What a difference a tether makes.
> What games do you/have you played during sparring?


 
I always liked back to back sparring. Where you and a buddy take on multiples while you are back to back.


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## seasoned (Feb 21, 2009)

Corner sparring where one person stands in a corner while the class lines up in front of them. It teaches not to back up, as the class comes in one at a time. Consecutive sparring with different opponents in a short amount of time. Also, circle drill where one person stands in the center of a small circle, while they are surrounded by several opponents. Center is a safe zone where the outside circle cant reach you. You cant go out of the circle and they cant come in. As you move around the circle you are attacked from many different angles at the same time.


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## HM2PAC (Feb 21, 2009)

Big Don wrote:


> He brought out 4 white belts and we paired off, each tying one end of the belt to our belts then we sparred.


That sounds like an excellent drill. We'll have to try it next Friday night.


Similar to what Seasoned wrote about we do drills with pads behind our feet to keep us from stepping back.

We also do a drill where one person starts with their back to a wall and has "X" amount of time to turn the opponent, and back the opponent against the wall.

Sparring while on one leg is a lot of fun too. Especially single-leg sparring with the arms only used for blocking/no punches.


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## Nolerama (Feb 21, 2009)

I really like a corner drill where the cornered person has five shots/counters to the primary striker's attacks. Both participants have different perspectives on defending while striking, but they're both keeping their pretties in mind.

We also do an in-fighting game where instead of making the striking aspect of our sparring as athletic as possible, both participants are looking for the clinch and a solid uppercut or hook. I think it toughens up both players, and increases their comfortability while in-fighting.

Sparring with strikes, but both players will go for a takedown if it presents itself. (i.e. lead leg extended too far, opponent postures too high, opponent gives an opening to take his back, etc.)


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## Thesemindz (Feb 21, 2009)

Big Don said:


> Tonight there were only 8 of us at sparring. So, my Sifu decided to switch things up a bit. He brought out 4 white belts and we paired off, each tying one end of the belt to our belts then we sparred. What a difference a tether makes.
> What games do you/have you played during sparring?


 
I did my black belt thesis on intermediate sparring which you can find here

http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dhgzcnm4_0c874xnxb

and one of the classes dealt with sparring drills and games. Some of the one's we did in class include

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]*Tape Tag*[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]This drill is performed with the students paired up against one opponent. Each student has two pieces of tape taped to his body in a legal sparring target areas. The objective is for the students to grab both of their opponents pieces of tape without losing either of their own. The students may hook their opponent with their hands, but may not strike or grab. This is designed to help the students to remember that every time they extend themselves towards their opponent to strike they leave themselves open.[/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]*Hands Versus Feet*[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The students face each other in a fighting stance. One student is only allowed to use hand techniques to attack and defend and the other is only allowed to use foot techniques. The students spar in this fashion for one minute and then switch roles.[/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]This will help the students to learn how to use position and range to their advantage. The student using his hands quickly learns that he must somehow get closer to his opponent to strike with his techniques while the student using only kicks learns that he must back his opponent off and stay at long range to be effective.[/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]*Head and Groin Versus Body*[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]In this drill each student is restricted as to the targets he may attack. One student may only attack the head and the groin whereas the other student may only attack the body. [/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The students are forced to adjust their combinations in such a way as to compensate for this situation. It also effects the way in which they defend themselves. Having to worry about only one large target or two small targets changes the way the students hold their guard,[/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]*One Handed Sparring*[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]In this drill the students may only use one hand to fight. The other hand should be placed behind the back. The instructor may change the scenario slightly by requiring that the students use opposite hands, or fight with only the lead or rear hand. All these methods require the student to focus more on position to defend and using kicks more in combination.[/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]*No Handed Sparring *[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Now the students put both hands behind their back and must fight using only their feet. This can be a difficult drill as the students are not accustomed to fighting in this manner. Putting the hands behind the back can also effect the students balance. The student is forced to use the legs exclusively for offense and defense. [/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The two drills above can be used to remind the students that they may not always have all their weapons at their disposal. Circumstances such as injury, carrying objects, or being bound can effect the way in the student would be able to defend himself, and these drills help to simulate that scenario.[/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]*Three Ring Gauntlet*[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]This drill is one in which the student will fight a wide range of combatants and must fight continuously for some time before being relieved. Three students are placed within rings and one student starts at the bottom of the room. He must fight his way up the room, successfully defeating each opponent before he is allowed to move on, but he needs only to score one solid shot to proceed. He may take as many shots as necessary to accomplish this task, but the rings are run under point sparring rules so he must score first in order to proceed. If he is scored upon, the fighters return to their lines and begin again. [/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]When the student reaches the top of the room, he becomes the fighter in the top ring and the fighters rotate down one ring with the fighter at the bottom rotating out. This allows all the students to fight up and down the room against a wide range of students.[/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]This drill can be fun but sometimes a student will get stuck on one fighter and slow down the process. At this time the instructor should use discretion and decide whether or not to give the student a buy to keep the process moving. [/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Rotating regularly throughout the drill regardless of the outcome of the fights can alleviate this problem.[/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]*Two Versus Two Sparring*[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Here the students are split into teams of two and given an expanded area in which to spar. The teams are given a limited number of time in which to devise stratagems, and their objective is to knock out their opponents with solid point shots. When a student is scored upon he is to raise his hands over his head and remove himself from the battle. The [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]remaining students can then focus on the remaining number of enemies, sometimes allowing one student to fight against overwhelming odds.[/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]This drill is exciting and action packed, so control must be emphasized. There is no room for uncontrolled attacks here as the risk of injury is increased so the instructor must insist on safety.[/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]*Three* *Versus Three Sparring*[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Now the students are split into teams of three and given an even greater area in which to spar. Again the teams are given a limited number of time in which to devise stratagems, and their objective remains the same. When a student is scored upon he is to raise his hands over his head and remove himself from the battle. The remaining students can then focus on the remaining number of enemies, sometimes allowing one student to fight against overwhelming odds. [/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Once again safety is the primary concern. Here the risk is once again raised and control must be nonnegotiable. The instructor must be ready to stop the action at any moment if the students lose control so that he can reestablish it. It is the instructors responsibility to ensure that no one is injured.[/FONT]


Sorry about the formating on Google Docs, it kinda sucks and I haven't bothered to clean it up yet.


-Rob


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