longfist2003
White Belt
- Joined
- May 15, 2007
- Messages
- 9
- Reaction score
- 0
Greetings All-
I've enjoyed lurking here for some time ( on and off ) and with the sparring group my friend and I are building I found it's time to introduce myself. Bond, James B... Opps! Don Jackson.
I've studied different styles of martial arts since 1993, some more than others. In the end, Shaolin Long Fist has come out to be my most natural style but I throw in techniques from Hung Gar, Ba Qua, JKD, Snake and whatever works to get me out of a fight. I DON'T LIKE FIGHTING, I love SPARRING though!!! And I think if I get in a fight, my sparring experience will have really paid off. Personally, I think sparring is perhaps the only way you can prepare to realistically defend yourself.
It's hard to find people good enough at their styles who are also cool headed and open minded about sparring. I don't mean "good enough" in a negative way, I mean people who are skilled enough that they can pull their punches if they see a severe injury happening. I mean cool headed in the sense that if they can dish it out, they can take it too. It may sound cliche, but we are only really fighting ourselves after all.
Sparring, by MY definition, is not a fixed term- it's TRAINING at any level of intensity with someone you trust.
If you spar with someone you don't know and probably don't trust, then you are not sparring, you are competing. That's totally fine, I like to do that sometimes too but 50% of the time someone gets injured and that means: one step forward and two steps back for your training, bub!
I don't claim any monopoly on the truth and I bow to you ALL as my personal Buddhas so please enlighten me.
Another conundrum I've discovered through sparring club is the the "Roles" we learn to play that our systems teach us. Kung fu, for example, isn't really meant for sparring - it's meant for defending, maiming, even killing. How do you practice breaking bones or killing? You DON'T really, you MODIFY what you learn, you REHEARSE it through forms but how can you APPLY it without creating some seriously bad karma?!
Again, that's the bridge we are trying to build in our sparring sessions. We are actually practicing to heighten our AWARENESS & reflect time- mind-body coordination. The techniques are not the point, the mind-body connection is.
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Subject: Casual Sparring Meet Ups
Attention: Experienced Martial Artists- We hold a casual sparring meeting on Wednesdays and are seeking mature, open minded MA practitioners who would like to join us. Our goal is to improve and understand our own styles/techniques by having the opportunity to work with people of different styles, levels, and body types.
We are non-competitive. The purpose of our training is to improve skill, awareness, timing, & body mechanics with a focus on providing opportunities to ourselves in which we learn how to apply our respective martial arts. To better understand our strengths and weaknesses, we frequently break to discuss what happened in the sparring sessions and test out applications from our styles. This gathering is oriented towards learning through freestyle practice in a friendly environment.
Dress appropriately.
We are holding a MARTIAL ARTS MEET UP on May 27 open to the public, if you'd like to drop by and meet with us about Sparring Club email Mark at [email protected] or Don at [email protected]
Best Regards-
I've enjoyed lurking here for some time ( on and off ) and with the sparring group my friend and I are building I found it's time to introduce myself. Bond, James B... Opps! Don Jackson.
I've studied different styles of martial arts since 1993, some more than others. In the end, Shaolin Long Fist has come out to be my most natural style but I throw in techniques from Hung Gar, Ba Qua, JKD, Snake and whatever works to get me out of a fight. I DON'T LIKE FIGHTING, I love SPARRING though!!! And I think if I get in a fight, my sparring experience will have really paid off. Personally, I think sparring is perhaps the only way you can prepare to realistically defend yourself.
It's hard to find people good enough at their styles who are also cool headed and open minded about sparring. I don't mean "good enough" in a negative way, I mean people who are skilled enough that they can pull their punches if they see a severe injury happening. I mean cool headed in the sense that if they can dish it out, they can take it too. It may sound cliche, but we are only really fighting ourselves after all.
Sparring, by MY definition, is not a fixed term- it's TRAINING at any level of intensity with someone you trust.
If you spar with someone you don't know and probably don't trust, then you are not sparring, you are competing. That's totally fine, I like to do that sometimes too but 50% of the time someone gets injured and that means: one step forward and two steps back for your training, bub!
I don't claim any monopoly on the truth and I bow to you ALL as my personal Buddhas so please enlighten me.
Another conundrum I've discovered through sparring club is the the "Roles" we learn to play that our systems teach us. Kung fu, for example, isn't really meant for sparring - it's meant for defending, maiming, even killing. How do you practice breaking bones or killing? You DON'T really, you MODIFY what you learn, you REHEARSE it through forms but how can you APPLY it without creating some seriously bad karma?!
Again, that's the bridge we are trying to build in our sparring sessions. We are actually practicing to heighten our AWARENESS & reflect time- mind-body coordination. The techniques are not the point, the mind-body connection is.
------------------------
Subject: Casual Sparring Meet Ups
Attention: Experienced Martial Artists- We hold a casual sparring meeting on Wednesdays and are seeking mature, open minded MA practitioners who would like to join us. Our goal is to improve and understand our own styles/techniques by having the opportunity to work with people of different styles, levels, and body types.
We are non-competitive. The purpose of our training is to improve skill, awareness, timing, & body mechanics with a focus on providing opportunities to ourselves in which we learn how to apply our respective martial arts. To better understand our strengths and weaknesses, we frequently break to discuss what happened in the sparring sessions and test out applications from our styles. This gathering is oriented towards learning through freestyle practice in a friendly environment.
Dress appropriately.
We are holding a MARTIAL ARTS MEET UP on May 27 open to the public, if you'd like to drop by and meet with us about Sparring Club email Mark at [email protected] or Don at [email protected]
Best Regards-
