Sparring - Sink or swim?

[Andrew Green]

PS. Andrew Green, nice ninja chick picture. He's cute!

It's a Penguin thatnk you very much

 

[kenpo tiger]

<snip> And to kempo tiger, that last line is pretty funny (and not I'm being sarcatisic and don't think you could do anything to me, cause you could probably kick my butt in no time). But keep in mind that most of the people who have beat me up, not including sparring and the like, were girls. They also tend to be short and/or attractive. but thats really just me.

Sweet Brighit Bless your Blade,

John

Ah John. No offense taken on my part. After all, being short and attractive is an asset, is it not? Sounds like you didn't mind at all. BUT--- the point here is that many guys do tend to underestimate [short, attractive] women.

 

[Shu2jack]

ATA for the most part standarizes what schools do when it comes to sparring. We try to "build people up" to sparing. First it is forms to get the basic foundation of technique down so we don't have people just flailing out attacks. We complement it with one-steps to help give students an idea of distance and how close they need to be to execute a certain attack. The infamous "camo" belt is when sparring is required, but most students begin sparring the rank below that to get the used to sparring.

As for contact, it varies from school to school and in age groups. My school has the kids (6-12) at "light" contact at the beginner ranks and up to slightly below moderate contact at black belt. With 13 year olds and above; it is light contact with the new students and we gradually work our way up to "moderate" contact with black belts going "hard" contact if they choose to. It is pretty much left up to each person. Some green belts want to hit hard with the black belts and that is fine. Some blue belts don't want to hit as hard and that is fine to.

 

[Gemini]

I started as a yellow belt. The bare minimum requirement in our school. I was hooked and have done it ever since. Now I teach it.

Back then we were just thrown into it. Now, students must demonstrate a certain level of acheivement in knowledge of their range, control of power, concept of timing and degree of conditioning before they allowed to enter sparring class. Because people develop at different rates, there is no set belt level.