old sparring??

[hammer]

The club I go to allows "light" contact to the body and no contact to the head.

Pads are encouraged, but I tend to not wear them unless we are doing a lot of free sparring...I find my control is better that way...

When I say "no pads" that's none except a cup & mouth piece. Heck, I wear a cup while teachin'. ........Poomsae, even

Forgot to mention it, but you're right...men don't spar without vital protection...

I've never worn a mouth piece and that's never been an issue. It's most likely a good idea though...

[granmasterchen]

i used to not wear a mouth piece....until a testing against 7 other adults at once, when i spun and blocked and all that i turned right into a shodan's spinning back fist....chipped several teeth in one shot.....started wearing a mouth piece ever since.....BUT i never wear a groin cup.....i feel it limits me and is very restricting....but that's me.....i've got some nice shots in on the groin, but fortunately nothing permanently damaging....but I also trained quite a bit with no pads, and even had tournaments where pads weren't mandatory...lol, the good ol' days. Control was a big thing that you would see on virtually every fighter though, and that is something that i have seen less and less of on today's fighters, in general.

[IcemanSK]

i used to not wear a mouth piece....until a testing against 7 other adults at once, when i spun and blocked and all that i turned right into a shodan's spinning back fist....chipped several teeth in one shot.....started wearing a mouth piece ever since.....BUT i never wear a groin cup.....i feel it limits me and is very restricting....but that's me.....i've got some nice shots in on the groin, but fortunately nothing permanently damaging....but I also trained quite a bit with no pads, and even had tournaments where pads weren't mandatory...lol, the good ol' days. Control was a big thing that you would see on virtually every fighter though, and that is something that i have seen less and less of on today's fighters, in general.

I started MA in the 80's, when PKA Karate on ESPN was in its hey-day. We had a alotta guys come who thought because they watched it, they had the fighting ability of Rick Roufus. The reality was most had the flexibility of dry toast. They'd think side kick to the head, but could only get it to the groin....& with zero control. I know whatcha mean about cups being restricting. But I've weighed that feeling against getting hit....& I'll take restricting any day. JMO