Sparing - hard to full contact

[quinteros1963]

My sensei would say = rights in the dojo. Besides if you Take it easy on some of the females at the dojo, they will kick your but!

Our contact level is pretty moderate when we spar. Its supposed to be body displacement at tournaments, so we make sure to make some level of contact on the chest protectors. We don't get into full-on, heavy contact.

Brian, since you mentioned the chest protectors, are there specific rules for sparring with females? I remember a past posting in which there was sparring between a male and female student, but the manner in which he sparred (he was the one who posted) was objected to. One of the responses was that he should have checked with his sensei if there were certain rules he was to follow.

When I took fencing, my female fencing partner wore a different protector than I did, so a rule wasn't needed.

No, there aren't any rules differences. Same for all.

[joesteph]

My sensei would say = rights in the dojo. Besides if you Take it easy on some of the females at the dojo, they will kick your but!

You are apparently unaware of the original postings regarding this, Quinteros.

A male member of the forums posted that he had been sparring with a fellow student, a female, at his dojo/dojang, and both were wearing protective equipment that included chest protectors. During the sparring session, the female student abruptly stopped and angrily called out to him to stop hitting her in personal places. The male poster stated that he was sternly reprimanded by his sensei and even punished.

One of the responses to him suggested that he speak with his sensei to be aware of any special rules concerning sparring with female students. As I said to Brian in my asking him about special rules:

When I took fencing, my female fencing partner wore a different protector than I did, so a rule wasn't needed.

Although I did not further explain that the protector she wore had the addition of two inner chest pockets, where two metal disks were slipped, I didn't think it was needed to be said.

My question was based on what had been posted in the past concerning a sparring incident, and I thought my fencing reference made it clear why I was asking.

[JusticeZero]

The only thing I can think of in that regard is that a lady's chest is apparently rather sensitive - not so much as hanging another groin off of center body mass, but enough that light contact that a guy would barely notice is quite painful. As such, probably those practicing strikes to the upper torso should keep the mismatch in pain recieved in mind as an etiquete matter.

[granitemiller]

We also have three styles of sparring that we offer:

1. Point sparring (tournament style)

2. Ippon Kumite

3. Kyokushin rules sparring

[ninjanurse]

In regards to female students there are no rule changes or preferences given. If any student hits another too "hard" (male or female) the receiver is expected to say something or continue to take it without complaint. My biggest trouble is getting 9-14 year old boys to hit the girls hard enough!

[The BB of C]

I never treat the women any different than the men when sparring. An opponent should be treated as one regardless of gender, race, size or rank.

[pittbullJudoka]

There are times when hard sparring is good and when it isn't. You don't want to go blasting a new students who may have never even been in a conflict. This is a way to drive a good student away. New martial artist will become frustated and overwelmed very easily.

There are times to spar lightly. Such as learning to put combos together under distress, adding new technique to your fight game. And teaching new people to look for opening in there opponents guard.

I belive that more seasoned students should able to spar full speed and at any contact leavel nessecrey.

I personally prefer full contact.

[joesteph]

An opponent should be treated as one regardless of gender, race, size or rank.

Why do you include "size or rank"? Your martial arts background is listed as Cannon Style, Kuk Sool Won, Isshin-ryu, Capoeira, and Tae Kwon Do, and I doubt you're a smaller person.

If you're against an equally or nearly-equally matched opponent, I understand, but what if you outweigh someone by thirty to fifty pounds, or is noticeably below you in belt rank, and likely far behind your MA experience?

[The BB of C]

An opponent should be treated as one regardless of gender, race, size or rank.

Why do you include "size or rank"? Your martial arts background is listed as Cannon Style, Kuk Sool Won, Isshin-ryu, Capoeira, and Tae Kwon Do, and I doubt you're a smaller person.

If you're against an equally or nearly-equally matched opponent, I understand, but what if you outweigh someone by thirty to fifty pounds, or is noticeably below you in belt rank, and likely far behind your MA experience?

Currently I'm 5'10, 195 pounds and 20% body fat and smaller than a good deal of my peers. I've been beaten and have beaten people of all shapes and sizes as well as both male and female.

As for my styles, my styles are a perfect example of the rank issue. I walked into my Kuk Sool Won class with a good amount of independent training from my boxer/wrestler older brother, a 6'3 WWF wrestling fan who loved to spar for a best friend, another friend with a second degree black belt in Aikido, and whatever I could pick up on my own. I had been in a good amount of fights prior and had a relatively good instinct and timing though I was slugglish in speed and endurance. I took right to the techniques they taught me in Kuk Sool Won and became one of the best in sparring in that school under only a 4th degree black belt and golden glove boxer and the 5th degree black belt class owner.

When I went to Isshin-ryu, everything was very different and the skill level was way past the instructors of Kuk Sool Won. But at sparring I'd still put up a good fight and got a lot of hits on some of the instructors because none of them (the first few weeks) were expecting my legs to come up that high.

I take Capoeira at a club at the community college I attend and I take Tae Kwon Do for physical education credits. I've just recently started Brazillian Jiu Jutsu. You can count them if you want. Those three styles are aside the point. The point is that I was underestimated at Kuk Sool Won because all they saw was a white belt and didn't know that I did a lot of independent training prior. Initially they underestimated me at Isshin-ryu for a similar reason. So that even though someone may have a white belt and be a beginner they may have had some kind of previous experience.

My Issin-ryu instructor once told me a story about an assistant instructor he had (brown belt) and a white belt came in and during sparring beat the brown belt by a lot. Turns out the new white belt was the kind of guy who had been in a lot of bar brawls before and had a lot of experience under his belt even though it was the first time he had actually taken a martial art.

There's also the case of my little brother, who has been a natural at boxing and wrestling even before he started taking martial arts with me. He's given me trouble at sparring all my life even when I was just starting Kuk Sool Won and was significantly smaller and had no rank. Now that he's hit puberty he's about my size and with all his acquired experience through martial arts has become even harder to beat.

That's why I included size and rank.

[joesteph]

I think you're an exception to the rule, BB of C. The general rule would be to take in size and rank first, then see if there's something there that makes it otherwise.

The instructor is likely the best judge, pairing opponents s/he knows would be fairly matched, rather than witnessing a series of lopsided victories, especially if there's a higher level/degree of contact.