Types of sparring

[dancingalone]

Still looks better when Kathy Ireland and Cindy Crawford do it Of course, technicaly thats "Supermodel Sparring"

Kathy Ireland & Cindy Crawford? You are dating yourself, sir.

Christie Brinkley is pushing sixty, I believe... Sigh.

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

I'm curious, after reading some recent KKW threads, how many and what types of sparring to you practice in your dojang?

We have:

• 3 step sparring
• 1 step sparring
• kneeling sparring
• one step weapon sparring
• freestyle knife sparring
• freestyle sparring (tournament rules: kicks above the waist, nothing to the back, and only closed fist punches to the body)
• advanced/black belt sparring (take downs, sweeps, throws , open hand techniques, and punches to the face are allowed)

Typically in day to day class, we mainly only practice 1 step and freestyle sparring, but I throw in the others on a fairly regular basis.

We always had the following:

Hanbon gyorugi (one step sparring)
Hanbon gyorugi against weapons (on SD night)
Sambon gyorugi (three step sparring)
Chayo gyorugi (free sparring)
Shihap gyorugi (tournament style sparring)

There were twenty four one step sparring that students were tested on. Three step sparring was not done regularly and nobody was graded on it. Free sparring was usually done with WTF norms, but was not tournament style. On self defense nights, he used IHF sparring rules, which look more like Best of the Best taekwondo than WTF. We also would do one versus two, and one versus three. Once Hapkido became a separate course of study, those elements was removed from the Taekwondo class. Tournament style sparring was done formally with the instructor and two senior students acting to referee.

We also did defense against various grabs and holds. The way that these were done, however, was like hapkido and it was more technique instruction than one step sparring.

If I ever run my own TKD school, this is the sort of program that I would like to institute.

 

[SnyderD]

We usually do one-step and free-sparring. We also do some grappling sparring, but it's additional portion of our instruction not directly related to the TKD training.

 

[Gorilla]

If you do model sparing? You are not allowed to make fun of WTF Olympic style sparring....Just sayin:ultracool

 

[chrispillertkd]

If you do model sparing? You are not allowed to make fun of WTF Olympic style sparring....Just sayin:ultracool

I've done both so I'll make fun of which ever one I want And I also know that they are two completely different types of sparring with two completely different goals.

Pax,

Chris

 

[sfs982000]

Personally, I really like punches to the head, but we traditionally do not use that in our regular free sparring. Probably for safety reasons. I know back in the 70's, our KJN allowed punches to the face at his tournament.

I agree with you there, we're not allowed hand strikes to the head which I wish my organization would reconsider the rules on that. There have been alot of times sparring where I could have scored numerous points because my opponents hands were too far down leaving their head/face exposed.

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

I agree with you there, we're not allowed hand strikes to the head which I wish my organization would reconsider the rules on that. There have been alot of times sparring where I could have scored numerous points because my opponents hands were too far down leaving their head/face exposed.

I did an experiment at my old dojang with a guy who had a sport karate background. I put on an amateur boxing headgear that covered more of the face and put in a mouthpiece and we sparred allowing face punches. He was convinced that he was going to get some good shots in and I was pretty sure that I'd get popped at least once or twice. I kept my guard fairly low (that was the purpose of the experiment). Surprisingly, he never got any head shots. He did get some nice body shots, but I got some too, plus a few head shots with kicks. I kept him from getting head shots by managing distance for the most part, though I did not have any trouble getting my hands up in time to keep from getting popped in the mouth.

The big key was that I managed distance to maximize kicking reach, so I wasn't letting him get in, and for him to get in close enough, he was opened to being punched as well.

It was a good match and lots of fun. Made me less critical of WTF sparring.

 

[SahBumNimRush]

When we spar with hand shots allowed to the head in our dojang, it's about working your way inside with kicks then hand striking once you're inside. Really no different than you would if you were striking to the body. We've had a handful of sport karateka join our class, and their (not sure if this is typical of all sport karatkas, just my experience) downfall is the lunging punch starting from long range (kicking range, not punching range), much to easy to kick to their head while they are trying to enter into a striking distance.

 

[SnyderD]

When I first started my training years ago, my instructor decided I was one of those students who learned better by example than words. I was determined to wow everyone with my speed, sliding inside for body strikes rather than using my feet for striking at a distance. So, he geared me up - only wearing footpads, himself - and we sparred. He wanted me to put my theory to use and strike. It resulted in me looking out the ear hole of my headgear after a some quick kicks from my instructor. Needless to say, I did NOT get a hand on him. New to it all, I learned several things early: 1.) sparring will expose your weaknesses and strengths. 2.) listen to those above me. 3.) sparring can be like a chess match - evaluate, setup, strike (of course, it's much faster paced than that)