sparring

[dete]

Hi dete! Good questions.

Hi Brian thanx

back when I was training Thaiboxing, I was pretty violent and arrogant,

thought I was quite invincible, and I sparred a very good Karate guy.

His style was very different from mine, and I had to admit it was a draw.

He also had this very respectful peacful personality so I admired him and was able to see that it's not the style but the individual, I never thought I would have a hard time sparring with a traditional Okinawan stylist.

Up until this point I had made a few other Thaiboxers retire by destroying their shins. It was a nice lesson for me to learn.

When I was training in BJJ I once again fell victim to my own arrogance and thought I was quite invincible, I go to spar a national qualifier Shuai Jao stylist. his style doesn't focus on ground grappling but because of his training he had fantastic attributes, it felt like he was a seasoned submission wrestler. Not only did I realize the beauty of style, I also had to admit that his style would be better suited for FBI, CIA.

More importantly I had gained a friend and a training partner.

Long time ago I had dreams to become Thaiboxing state champion.

around that time, right before I was gonna take my Thaiboxing training to that level and follow that path, The UFC was in. I had a choice to pursue my old dream or go explore this thing called Gracie jiu-jitsu. I decided to try this ground fighting which was something from my past.

a decade later, I got to meet the former state thaiboxing champ who was in my weight class, I got to spar him. I stood toe to toe did fine, then took him to the ground and gave him an armbar nice and slow not to upset or hurt him. I was happy with the path I took, and we became friends and trained together!

moral of all these stories, make friends and train together

[50inches]

Karatekas block kicks unlike other styles, they will pull their hand down to to block a roundhousekick, in my opinon thats a stupid thing to do, because you never know when that kick can go to the head. This is not a my martial art is better than yours, because obviously I do karate aswell haha, but I dont do that block.

[Killer Miller]

When you define Karate-kas', keep in mind that there are two or three variations that are very different in style. I would doubt that you would have sparred with JKA style of Karate-ka because we typically don't sparr with outsiders, with the exception of the lower ranked practitioners - whom are not typically a good example of the art.

Higher level JKA or similar are not necessarily someone you want to mess with because of the different philosophies. They are very refined in speed, hands and feet as well and will literally mow you over until you are down. The concept is to hurt or kill, not to spar and say whom is tougher...

Wrestlers are tough to sweep, so you generally wait for them to move and then use good timing to counter and take down. I've sparred with wrestlers and couldn't budge them, but at the same time I've sent a few of them to the floor with good technique and timing.

TKDs, the second they turned their heads slightly for their kick, they were dead meat (so-to-speak) because I would go through the opponent in the same direction and side they turned their head on and typically a forearm block for their kicking leg, sweep their supporting leg, at the same time the forearm block rises, and take them down with a punch or kick followup. They typically get up in extreme pain and have a hard time continuing. This all happens in a very quick and refined manner - they usually don't know what hit them.

Many other hand oriented styles with a lot of fast hand/arm techniques, we would typically just let them do whatever they want to expend some energy, keep distance away, then when they pause for any reason, mow them down. They get quite confused at this point and don't know how to react to a train coming at them after expending all their energy on the flurry of hand techniques. The other option with this type of MA is to just drive them and mow them down because arm/hand flurries require a certain amount of distance to be effective and driving them in close with blocks, sweeps and counters render them quite helpless.

Some of the newer styles like the grappling and what's referred to as the BJJers, I can't speak for because these styles are after my time and can't really offer any input on them. But from what I've seen so far, I'm sure I could create a few surprises for them as well.

- Killer -

[AikiGuy]

Karatekas block kicks unlike other styles, they will pull their hand down to to block a roundhousekick, ... but I dont do that block.

So how do you block a roundhouse kick? Do you also block front kicks differently than other traditional Karate styles?

[TraditionalDan]

What I have learnt is that, karate is a martial art with many techniques.

Because of this an experienced practitioner, with time, can narrow down and/or shape his martial art to what he wants it to be.

But I am glad you have come on to this forum and stated how one should remain open minded towards other arts, and not to be arrogant.

[ps1]

Karatekas block kicks unlike other styles, they will pull their hand down to to block a roundhousekick, ... but I dont do that block.

So how do you block a roundhouse kick? Do you also block front kicks differently than other traditional Karate styles?

Lower kicks get blocked with the legs or countered by stepping in deep on their center of rotation (for roundhouse kicks). Front kicks are avoided by moving side to side, angularly, or drawn in by stepping back and allowing the attacker to over extend and then countered with sweeps, catches, or take downs (or strike of course).

Higher kicks can be absorbed by the arms or, again, moving out of range or into their center of rotation. Higher (head height) thrusting kicks are handled the same way as lower ones. That is, move off the centerline or attempt to get the kicker to over extend.

This is how I learned to handle them in Karate training, before I ever studied BJJ. I think it's an unfair generalization to say that all Karateka handle kicks the same way.

[kittyblue-eyes]

The few TDK'rs I've seen are all feet. Someone else already mentioned it, I know, but it just seems it's what they do. It seemed that any opponents who were afraid of the flying feet, lost. Those who were willing to block or evade and drive in with a counter, won. I haven't seen much of the other styles, except on TV. Not sure I should give much credence to what is on TV.