Sparring against people who are significantly smaller

[skribs]

In my school, we do no-contact sparring for the first couple belts and then are encouraged to get our sparring gear once we make purple. I've only used the gear a couple times in class (he doesn't have us use gear much in the beginner class because most of the class doesn't have gear yet), so I've not got too much experience, but I'm doing fairly good so far. While I primarily train in "adult" (13+) classes, every once in a while there's either a small teenager or a younger sibling that ends up in my class. The kid I'm specifically thinking about right now is couple belts above me and has decent technique, but I have about 2 heads on him. I didn't want to sacrifice my technique, so I sacrificed my tempo. Even still, my punches are longer range than his kicks, so it was very easy for me to counter and keep him at bay.

So my question is this: how do you spar against someone smaller and give them a good sparring session? If I just sit there, then he isn't getting good practice, but if I don't let him get any techniques off then he won't get any practice and it will probably hurt his confidence. The black belts at my school have done a very good job of letting me get some hits in and then reminding me I've still got a long way to go, and this is another aspect of the art that I want to follow their example at.

 

[ralphmcpherson]

It depends how good they are. The most dangerous guy to spar in our club is also one of the smallest.

 

[granfire]

In our club the higher rank set the pace.

Since you do no contact, well, you still spar 'to win'

We had this one guy in our area, really tall, range was his bread and butter.
Our instructor (female) is about 4'11" or so...she nailed him a few times real good, because once she made it past his range, he was toast!
So don't rest on your laurels and rely on your range, use the opportunity to work on your short game.

 

[donald1]

Size doesn't matter, skill and training goes above things like size, gender, or any other thing like that

 

[RTKDCMB]

My advice is to:
. block with the palms instead of the forearms
. increase the distance between your strikes and their body for an extra safety factor if you are non-contact sparring children.
. dial down your power a bit and work on your technique.
. as a general rule, when practicing sparring the more senior belt will spar 5-10% above the level of the lower belt, this makes it easier for them to learn how to spar better and still make them work hard. If they are defending everything then go a bit faster, if they are not defending much slow it down a bit. Eventually it will come naturally to you, you just have to give it time.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Size doesn't matter, skill and training goes above things like size, gender, or any other thing like that

Size doesn't mattr? Ggee, I wonder why virtualy all hight level amateur and all pro fights weight divisions.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Use the opportunity to try and do whatever you are weakest at.

Work on Blocks / evades and counters so they get off first.
Work on hands or feet only.
I sometimes have larger people spar with one knee on the floor (Still kick with the other leg) so their head is the same level as the smaller person.

 

[skribs]

While it is possible to beat someone who is bigger, size offers an advantage. In this case, I'm at least a foot taller and probably twice as heavy as this kid. Based on his size, he is probably in middle school. I do not think your average green belt middle schooler is going to have the same strategy and technique as a shorter-than-average adult black belt. (And yes, when I say I sparred a kid, everyone thinks of the Seinfeld episode where Kramer learns karate).

The kid I'm thinking of has technique somewhat approximate to my own. The problem is my punch outranges his kicks. If I work on just punches, for example, I'm still able to keep him at arms distance. I don't go so far as to put my hand on his head like you do to little kids, but I feel I might as well have, because every time he moved in, I could throw a jab and keep him at bay.

I think working on evades and counters is a good idea, because I'm not too solid on those. I might also ask the black belt at my school who works with the kids classes a lot (and is the instructor that usually steps in when there are an odd number of kids) if she has any advice.

 

[RTKDCMB]

I sometimes have larger people spar with one knee on the floor (Still kick with the other leg) so their head is the same level as the smaller person.

We usually get the larger person to just lower their stance and work on their leg strength and endurance whilst sparring the smaller person.

 

[donald1]

Size doesn't mattr? Ggee, I wonder why virtualy all hight level amateur and all pro fights weight divisions.

You bring up a point but a lot of that is just sport (i could be wrong)
In a real life scenario it really isn't the size, it's how you use your size (if I was 5'2 weighing 145 with an opponent 6'3 weighing around 220 i would want to start by getting him/her offbalance from there I could easily get that person down to any level I needed so yes size does not matter

 

[skribs]

The animal kingdom tells us that in large part, size does matter. That's why the smaller predators back off when the bigger predator has the meal. While it is possible to use your size to your advantage if you're smaller, bigger guys usually hit harder and can take hits a lot easier.

Regardless, many in this thread are answering the question of "how can this kid have better strategy" or "how can this kid beat bigger opponents." That's not what I'm asking. Maybe I should have specified younger kids in the title instead of just the size difference. This is an average kid. He's not as conditioned as a dedicated adult athlete. He does not have the strength or speed of an adult athlete. He does not have the technique of a blackbelt, or the reasoning skills of an adult. While in theory he might have the potential to best me in a sparring match despite these disadvantages, the reality is I could use one hand and only a little bit of footwork and keep him at a safe distance. I'm not trying to badmouth him or build myself up, it's just the reality of my size and the fact I'm competent enough to use that advantage. I don't want to single him out, but I wouldn't be surprised if this problem occurred with other young students, it's just that I have limited time sparring.

So the question remains: how do I provide good practice for a younger student (practice where I don't just stiff-arm him the entire time, but I don't just let him get in kick after kick to make him feel good).

 

[Earl Weiss]

You bring up a point but a lot of that is just sport (i could be wrong)
In a real life scenario it really isn't the size, it's how you use your size (if I was 5'2 weighing 145 with an opponent 6'3 weighing around 220 i would want to start by getting him/her offbalance from there I could easily get that person down to any level I needed so yes size does not matter

You are welcome to your opinion. It seems your fundamental assumption for the "Real Life scenario" is that your knowledge and skill far exceed the attacker.

Real life scenarios are not sparring, which this thread is about.

IMNSHO Everything matters. Real life scenarious are typicaly not "fights" either.

 

[Balrog]

So my question is this: how do you spar against someone smaller and give them a good sparring session? If I just sit there, then he isn't getting good practice, but if I don't let him get any techniques off then he won't get any practice and it will probably hurt his confidence. The black belts at my school have done a very good job of letting me get some hits in and then reminding me I've still got a long way to go, and this is another aspect of the art that I want to follow their example at.

This. Push him and make him learn how to spar the bigger guys by trapping and jamming and taking those long legs out of the picture, that sort of thing. And it will make you a better sparrer as well.

 

[oftheherd1]

The animal kingdom tells us that in large part, size does matter. That's why the smaller predators back off when the bigger predator has the meal.
...

So the question remains: how do I provide good practice for a younger student (practice where I don't just stiff-arm him the entire time, but I don't just let him get in kick after kick to make him feel good).

Some predators will not take on a wolverine. A smaller size usually means more agility and speed.

You are not a teacher in your school, so your idea of talking to a teacher there is best. But consider suggesting to this young student ways you might see for them to overcome your advantages with their advantages of speed and agility (it the student has that, it not, he should work on that), such as getting inside you with speed or diagonal movement.

 

[Thousand Kicks]

The kid being a higher rank than you makes it a little tricky, but it sounds like you are both colored belts, so the rank difference doesn't mean that much.

You do the kid no favors by backing off or taking it easy. He should learn how to deal with taller opponents. But, with the size and weight advantage you just have to be careful about how hard you hit him (if he is fearful of getting hurt then all learning will cease).

You can provide a good sparring session by basically using whatever strategy you want. You are both beginners so trying different things and sparring with different people is all you need right now. At this point both of you have not even aquired a full cache of techniques much less learned how to develop and implement a strategy in real time. Just relax and spar it will all work out as long as both of you are trying to learn and grow.

 

[WaterGal]

Size doesn't matter, skill and training goes above things like size, gender, or any other thing like that

Skill can make up for size and strength, but those things still make a difference.

 

[Dinkydoo]

I'm 5'6 and the smallest at my current and old clubs. I appreciate that the smaller student is quite young but they need to learn how to use their height and, hopefully, agility to their advantage. I hold back a little against people not as good as myself, but not too much, its easy to get caught out if you get complacent - and nobody learns much from pretend sparring.

 

[skribs]

The kid being a higher rank than you makes it a little tricky, but it sounds like you are both colored belts, so the rank difference doesn't mean that much.

You do the kid no favors by backing off or taking it easy. He should learn how to deal with taller opponents. But, with the size and weight advantage you just have to be careful about how hard you hit him (if he is fearful of getting hurt then all learning will cease).

You can provide a good sparring session by basically using whatever strategy you want. You are both beginners so trying different things and sparring with different people is all you need right now. At this point both of you have not even aquired a full cache of techniques much less learned how to develop and implement a strategy in real time. Just relax and spar it will all work out as long as both of you are trying to learn and grow.

Thousand Kicks, you’re right. He’s green belt 1-stripe (which is 3 belts above me, but still 6 or 7 away from Black). That, and I’ve been told I’m a really good purple belt (due in part to my experience before and how often I practice).

I think I will try to mirror what one of the guys in my Hapkido class did (he’s blue in there but 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] degree in TKD). He kind of oscillated, so sometimes he’d let me get a submission off and other times he’d make me fight for it. The ones where he let me get away with a little slop help me build confidence, but the times he escaped or reversed the move it reminded me I need practice.