Attack them with a grin...

[Melody]

My sensei says that in sparring, keeping a straight face or smiling at your opponent can lead them to lose. He said that keeping your cool and being a good sport is the most important thing, and can often infuriate or unnerve your opponent. Personally I believe every word of this. What do you guys think? Would you get P.O'd if your opponent was grinning at you?

 

I can personally imagine my opponent losing it and beginning to flail their arms un-artfully with no form.

[foreveryoung001]

As far as sparring goes, I think there are a lot of things that you can use in your attempt to gain points. The expression on your face is one certainly, body language can come into play too, in other words, do you look confident or do you look scared or nervous? The noises you make.... if you throw a kick, and miss by a mile, do you groan out of frustration, or do you give it all you got, and follow-up the technique to let them know that you mean business?

 

Now in an actual self defense situation, I wouldn't worry to much about smiling at the guy comng at you with a knife... I would concentrate more on defending yourself and those around you, but in sparring... anything goes.

[Melody]

I certainly agree w/ that. I don't think I could muster a smile if someone was coming at me with a knife.

[karatekid1975]

When I spar, I have a grin on my face most of the time. When I spar a few people, I laugh. Not because they are bad, but because I just can't stop laughing (my boyfriend is one of them LOL).

 

Plus I like to have fun while sparring. It's a game, basically, for your mind and body. If a person is stiff and tense, what is that going to get them? Frustration, mainly. So I stay relaxed, have fun, and enjoy it. It throws a few people for a loop (the ones that are stiffies, mainly), but hey. It works for me

[thaiboxerken]

I'm not so sure about the claim. I'd bloody a smile as sure as I'd bloody a frown. It's easy to smile and be confident, but that doesn't win the fight, skill and tactics do.

[AngelaG]

At our dojo we are told not to smile. My instructor says that it presents a target for them to hit. Suddently they see these big white teeth and instinctively... *blam!*

[Maddwraph]

im in capoiera and there is a lot of smiling in that. my teacher says its a way of hiding ur moves. plus when im sparring, its having fun so i smile.

[White Warlock]

Being expressionless, or smiling, is a good means to avoid showing that you may have fear. Showing determination is far more effective. Oftentimes smiling can be misconstrued by the assailant as 'mocking,' which can serve to add a few more logs to their fire (not a good thing), but can also cause them to overcommit when attacking (a good thing). On the other hand, smiling could also intimidate.

 

All in all, it depends on the situation. But, what really matters is your conviction and conditioning.

[karatekid1975]

Exactly WW Good post.

[markusan]

LIke all tactics and strategies, smiling will work on some opponents some of the time. You can't rely on it to have the same effect every time and if you do you're asking for trouble. That said, I think it's good to go into a sparring, or a self defence situation, with the mindset that you know there's a good chance you'll get hurt, but you're going to enjoy the contest anyway. I find I smile at training partners who I've been sparring with for years, because we ar very comfortable with each other and we are really having fun, trying to score points against old friends.