Disadvantages of sparring?

[Sam]

Again agreeing with whats above - sparring is a sport or activity used to train a certain skill [recognising targets and reading opponents as well as improving fitness]; ratherh than preparation for "street fights" or self defense

[Belasko]

Sparring in and of itself does have a valid place in training to handle yourself on the street. It allows you to learn space control, try different combinations and variations thereof, and most importantly in my mind, to recognize an attack and learn how to effectively respond to it. I do agree that it is not perfect training for in a street fight. The only way to truly prepare for that is to be a bit stupid (my opinion) and go out and pick a fight with someone. There are also some styles that do have rules that make it more difficult d/t their rules. ATA is the one that I have experienced this with where they did not allow hand techniques to the head and no attacks to the back. In the style I practice both of these are often favored targets. But overall, without some type of freesparring, constant drilling on a single technique will only go so far unless it is done at full speed w/ no knowledge of what is coming.