multiple oponents

[mean fighter]

I was wondering if anyone had to ever spar against multiple oponents in thiere schools ? I did for my black belt I had to spar twou highewr ranking and bigger black belts. they messed me up really good and I bruised thier sides really bad too.the method I had to use was to always keep them in front of me, for everyone that studies different sttyles and schools for sparring and street fighting is your method the same.

[mean fighter]

sorry for all the bad spelling

[White Warlock]

In schools, plenty of times. The problems with such sparring sessions is that most participants hold back, for fear of mangling you... and rightly so. In a real setting, multiple opponent training pretty much falls flat on its face if the brunt of that training occurred 'during' sparring, rather than with prior instruction and then sparring. The reason for this is that the dynamics of sparring in a school setting is inherently far different than what would be imposed in a real encounter. For one, you are going against people of 'same or similar' fighting systems. Another is that your opponents are not out to 'mangle' you, so their approach will be somewhat subdued. Yet another is that a dojo does not provide the 'weapon' options available outside of such a test-tube environment. Therefore multiple opponent can be far more deadly. For while you are tied up with one or more opponents, another can disconnect from the confrontation and grab a weapon. Moreso, this weapon could be a projectile weapon, or a series of projectile weapons.

Things change dramatically in a real setting, and you must study to understand the dynamics of multiple opponent confrontations in order to understand that investing in a good pair of running shoes is almost always your best option.

[h2whoa]

yes we do train for multiple attackers. I must disagree with White warlock, I think that this is the closest we can train to live situations. And I dont know what style you study but we dont hold back, except for kill blows anything goes. Mind you this is only for blackbelt gradings I have seen people lose teeth. I have broken ribs in training, hey different strokes for different folks I suppose!!

[orion82698]

In schools, plenty of times. The problems with such sparring sessions is that most participants hold back, for fear of mangling you... and rightly so. In a real setting, multiple opponent training pretty much falls flat on its face if the brunt of that training occurred 'during' sparring, rather than with prior instruction and then sparring. The reason for this is that the dynamics of sparring in a school setting is inherently far different than what would be imposed in a real encounter. For one, you are going against people of 'same or similar' fighting systems. Another is that your opponents are not out to 'mangle' you, so their approach will be somewhat subdued. Yet another is that a dojo does not provide the 'weapon' options available outside of such a test-tube environment. Therefore multiple opponent can be far more deadly. For while you are tied up with one or more opponents, another can disconnect from the confrontation and grab a weapon. Moreso, this weapon could be a projectile weapon, or a series of projectile weapons.

Things change dramatically in a real setting, and you must study to understand the dynamics of multiple opponent confrontations in order to understand that investing in a good pair of running shoes is almost always your best option.

I agree. In my dojo, you can see the attack coming. Even when you have 4 people surounding you. They go in different order, but you constantly know they're going to come up to you. I would like to find a school that does random attacks. Put you in a situation where you're not expecting it. Where a student is quietly picked by the instructor to go up and put another student into a situation where he is being attacked, and caught off guard. When you're sparring, you know an attack is coming. When you're walking around in a city, town, store, neighborhood, you don't know when it's going to happen, if it happens at all. This is just my take on my own training, so I agree with WW here. I don't think it's very effective, unless put into a real situation where the victim is surprised, not told "hey, take your stance, and prepare for an attack"

My 0.2 cents

[tufrthanu]

Well I was recently introduced to the 2 guys on one thing. We never did it at my old school. I was tired by the time we got to it at the end of class but it basically the tactics were to keep your opponents in a line...rather than letting them split around you. This way only one guy can get at you at a time. They also told me that in a real situation I shouldnt even wait...once I realize that multiple attackers are coming at me take one down immediately. Break a knee guy falls down. Break a knee guy falls down. So on and so forth.

[orion82698]

Well I was recently introduced to the 2 guys on one thing. We never did it at my old school. I was tired by the time we got to it at the end of class but it basically the tactics were to keep your opponents in a line...rather than letting them split around you. This way only one guy can get at you at a time. They also told me that in a real situation I shouldnt even wait...once I realize that multiple attackers are coming at me take one down immediately. Break a knee guy falls down. Break a knee guy falls down. So on and so forth.

I agree with this. Why wait for them all to pile on you.

[Aodhan]

I'll chime in on agreeing. We do it for testing high ranks, and the only way to do it is to try and get them in a line, NEVER let one get to your back, and cripple/move on as far as tactics. If you try and "spar" them or straight up fight, you WILL lose in the end, unless they are just completely incompetent.

I'd move forward, attack the nearest one with the most immediately crippling strike I can think of. Even if he recovers in 20-30 seconds, that should give you enough time to put down the 2nd attacker completely, and then return to the first if necessary.

Aodhan

[MasterH]

I say when sparring 2 opponents keep one in between you and the second, just go lateral every time he tries to get around the first. As for multiple opponents, keep moving...........pick the biggest one and try and keep him in between you and another.

Good luck and have fun.

[tufrthanu]

I would think if there were two different sized opponents AND you could get them into the order you wanted, you'd want the small guy in front as he wouldnt hit as hard. In a street confrontation however I've heard that if there is one that seems to be bigger and or in charge of the others take him out first. This will give the others pause before attacking.