Zepp
Master of Arts
Originally posted by Technopunk
Lets assume I spar with someone, and do not limit my attacks to ONLY punching/kicking which, in our art (at least where I am at now) are not the main way of damaging your opponent, they are only "softening" and distraction techniques... as in "As you focus on my punch to your face, you fail to notice I am breaking your anke and knee..." (WAY oversimplified, but ok, you get the idea)
Ok... so as I was saying... we spar. I see three possible outcomes.
1) I execute a technique properly, and break your arm and wrist, but got to spar.
2) I fake execution and dont "commit" to the move, and you continue to fight and beat me down because you think my move "Didnt work on me" even tho I was only stopping it so as not to break your arm and wrist.
3) I refrain from using any of our damaging techniques and only strike and kick. Am I really practicing my art then?
The only way "Sparring" would work in my art (again, in my opinion, at my level) is if I was doing it with someone who studies the same art, and is of sufficiant higher level to recognize the techniques I am attempting to use, and then "fakes" reaction to my uncommited attacks as if they were fully executed, ala Scenario 2 above.
Some form of sparring is still better than nothing at all. To reply to Scenario #3, yes you would still be practicing your art. Maybe not to your full potential, but that's not really possible in any art without harming your partner. An important part of all martial arts, Ninpo included, is learning control. Sparring helps you develop this as well.
Scenario #2 works just fine if you're sparring with someone you train with regularly in the same style. You can also always spar with submission rules. (When the joint lock gets to be too much for someone, they tap the ground or their body.)
Ok, I take back that statement about it not being a martial art without sparring. But without sparring in some form, the self-defense aspect of any art is purely theoretical.