Sparring

[BLueDevil]

Wow, that is really young, I used to have people hold a basketball between his forearm and cheek while shadow boxing, also working on thai pads helps. But him being 6, you could always tie a rope around his neck and wrist while shadow boxing. Just a few suggestions

[szorn]

Does anyone have any tips or advice on how to teach my son to keep his hands up when sparring? He seems to be doing pretty good at sparring but when he goes to kick his hands drop.

I'm a little neurotic about the whole sparring thing anyway. Since he became a green belt there's not to many kids his size and age (6 1/2), so he's sparring with kids much bigger than him. This isn't a problem for him as much as it is for me because I don't want him to get hurt. They wear full equipment but still... I have to say that I'm very proud of him. He's gained so much courage and confidence and has no problem getting in there and sparring but as for me watching him well that's a whole different thing!

Lately I'm working on him blocking more than hitting since he doesn't have much kicking or punching power yet. But when he does go to kick for some reason his hands drop and he gets hit.

Any ideas on how to help him? Thanks.

You may want to try using a simple rubber exercise band commonally found in sports stores. You might have to use some velcro or something to help keep it in proper position. Here is the generally idea- your son will hold on to the band's handles while the remainder of the band will go behind his back. You will want to position it so that there is no slack in the band when your son is in his proper hands-up stance. Now while your son is practicing blocks and strikes his hands will automatically be brought back to the ready position by the band's resistance. On the plus side the bands can actually improve arm strength. Some of the boxing suppliers use to sell these bands with specific harnesses designed to hold the bands in place but not sure if they still do. Obviously you would want to use a band of low resistance since the idea is just to train the stance and not build strength.

With the use of this simple tool your son will soon get the perfect feel of where the hands should be and it will become an automatic response to return them to this position.

Hope this helps,

Steve Zorn, ICPS

[Jiffy]

What you need to remember here is the kid is 6 years old. The fact that he is even dedicated to training at that age is a credit to him, you and his instructors!

As for the skill, like anything else with a 6 year old, you need to make it a game. Something like, get him to do the kicks and at the same time, he needs to make sure you can't "Whack" him on the head. (whack being the slightest tap on the head, as appropriate for a small 6 year old). If he manages to do 5 without you tapping him on the head, he gets a reward....

[BlackCat]

Thanks everyone! He spars tonight so I'll see how it goes.

[Zorbasan]

if you are worried about your son getting hurt while sparring, try to get him to line up against the more senior grades.

people that have trained longer have more control than the other people he might spar against. this means that he (and you) can concentrate on the job at hand without worrying about getting hurt.

[Myth]

Have him spar you at home and if he drops his hands while he kicks make him do 10 push ups.

Also make his sensei watch for that he might know something better, but pushups usually work for me

Thanks! I'll try the push ups. One of his instuctors told me when he drops his hands when we're sparring to hit him off the top of his head. I'm not sure if I agree with that one though.

I most definatly wouldn't agree with that one. It's just mean instead of helpfull and doesn't help neither you or him.

[elbows_and_knees]

Have him spar you at home and if he drops his hands while he kicks make him do 10 push ups.

Also make his sensei watch for that he might know something better, but pushups usually work for me

Thanks! I'll try the push ups. One of his instuctors told me when he drops his hands when we're sparring to hit him off the top of his head. I'm not sure if I agree with that one though.

I most definatly wouldn't agree with that one. It's just mean instead of helpfull and doesn't help neither you or him.

It's not mean at all. Think about it.... most people have to actively be shown something in order to ingrain it into them. I teach it to my students every class. They can be shadowboxing or doing drills and I tell them to keep their hands up. They constantly drop them. When we spar and I hit them, THEN tell them to keep their hands up, they get it.

[Jiffy]

Exactly. Humans learn through trial and error. Always have, always will. Yet so many of us try to wrap either ourselves or others in cotton wool to prevent them from making mistakes.

Mistakes is what we learn from. Therefore, no mistakes = no learning.

[mya]

The pating on the head does wonders for raizing guards.

I had an adult friend that never protected the head, and i started to pat him on the top of the head. Guess what, he started to keep his guard.

[Jiffy]

As long as you are not WHACKING the kid on the head, but just a light tap, it becomes more of a fun game to kids than anything else, and they learn.