Sir, I will have to disagree with most of what you said....I agree that actually sparring cannot be practiced alone. But how many martial arts schools do NOTHING by sparring? How do you perfect the techniques that go into sparring?
Also, I definately do not think of Martial arts as "just another sport." In my opinion, there are many many things that set martial arts apart from sports. Sports are physical competition and that is all. The majority of martial arts have a lot more to think about - but that is for another thread.
I think that we all have to look past the connotations of the words "practice" and "class." Just remember, a class doesn't necessarily have to be a bunch of students sitting in front of an instructor. A class can be any environment in which learning takes place. While practice is the repeated performance of the things that you have learned in the quest for perfection of that performance. Basically, I think that we're arguing semantics. You're right that there is no such thing as Football class - but there is definately learning that goes on. There is also individual practice...for sports like wrestling and football, you can even consider working out (weight lifting, etc) as practicing. Basically you are improving your ability to perform the sport. The point is, most of this is just a matter of definition...I have definately sweat during classes, because you can't learn martial arts without DOING it and I still consider that class.
