Sparring has become more realistic lately - we’ve been starting off with working together, striking and moving, then doing techniques, then continuous sparring, and then point sparring. Point sparring gets a bad rap sometimes, because it’s considered to be staged; it does, however, require a good defense, fast reaction times, and an aggressive offense. Putting them together gives us a well-balanced program.
One mother talked to me because her son was being matched up with bigger kids, and was losing, and taking it badly. I explained that her son was being matched up that way because he needed to start thinking, to develop more control, and to stop charging in furiously. It works with some kids, but not with bigger stronger kids.
Another mom called because her daughter, while sparring, received a hit to the face. Her daughter was the more advanced student in the pair, has been sparring for a while, and continued to spar and did well even after the event. We strongly discourage face contact, giving out big piles of pushups when it happens, but incidental contact does happen - and any program that eliminates it completely leaves a huge gaping hole in the student’s ability to defend. Many schools bar students from striking to the head, or hitting the back - and they accept the loss of defensive skills that comes with that safety.
My goal - to make the program effective and realistic, while avoiding injuries. We’ve never had a serious injury in the 8 years we’ve been opened - nothing beyond a twisted ankle or jammed finger. And everyone needs to remember that the journey here is what’s important - the important part of sparring is THE SPARRING - not the point count at the end. Or, as I sent back to one parent:
I’ll go more into that with everyone. He (and maybe other kids) needs to understand that winning and losing the match doesn’t really matter. If I put him up against kids who beat him here, every single time, for the next 5 years, and he never won a match, but saw his skills improve, then he’d be successful. In our controlled environment, winning and losing is, to a certain extent, decided by the instructor who matches you with your opponent. There should be no pride in beating someone less skilled than you, or no shame in losing to someone more skilled – it’s all about what you got out of it. Did you learn something? Can you apply it? Did you get stronger?
