Kids sparring Adults... is it practical?

[cathal]

I rather fail to see the point of doing it for sport...

[Kicks]

I rather fail to see the point of doing it for sport...

I thought the same until I actually got involved in compitition. There's a certain rush you get when competitive sparring. When I first started I was quite nervous, and even somewhat scared. I was always the oldest (over 35 yo) and lightest in my division. There's a wonderful satisfaction and confidence in yourself when you conquer fear.

[cathal]

Well against an adult if I were a child, I mean.

[Kicks]

Well against an adult if I were a child, I mean.

OIC. Yep, no sense in letting an adult get beat up by a kid.

[PrideampPoise]

On the original question, as long as she can hold her own with the adults and older kids, then I think its a great idea. Especially if she is not being challenged by the younger kids.

The only way I would see it as a bad idea is if she continually gets pummeled by the older group. If she's not doing well enough to learn things, then it might do nothing but hurt her confidence. If that is the case, then it might make sense to alternate between the two groups.

But aside from that, I don't see any problems with it.

[cathal]

Well the adult would definitely need to be holding back. That is, unless that kid is phenomenal at fighting.

[ckd-student]

I dont think its practical.

[cathal]

Yes I tend to agree

[psychomom]

My thoughts are that you should be careful that you can trust the adult/older teen that she is sparring with. The word is control. The adult should be able to adjust their technique to challenge her, not to beat the crap out of someone smaller. They should use it to practice control, and blocks, and movement. Especially be careful with older kids, they sometimes don't realize how hard they are going. Make sure there is constant supervision so if things get out of hand it can be stopped.

psychomom

[Kicks]

psychomom,

That's exactly what I'm talking about and how it's being done. When she spars adults and teenagers, its in a supervised, training environment. The older students are just giving her a harder workout then the kids her age and size would. The adults are all BBs (a few 5th dans) so I know its controlled. Heck, I hit her harder and giver her a rougher time then they do and she hangs in there. Last week when we were sparring I told her she isn't doing enough head shots. After explaining to her the proper time to do a roundhouse to the head I said "OK, let's go", and WHAM! she kicked me in the head!