Sparring With Sensei.

[Harkon72]

Do you spar with your Sensei?

I sparred with Sensei Williams for the first time tonight.

He's a seasoned karate and kickboxing fighter, going for his 5th Dan this year.

I only went down once in 6 minutes. I caught him a few times in the head and body, but he seemed to ignore my strikes. Once did he catch me with a blow that stunned me. He used Shiko Dachi at the end of the bout to hold me off until he attacked with a flurry. I seemed to be able to keep him moving by changing my stance. I was quite proud in hindsight that I didn't give up, and Sensei said that i did ok. It was a lesson in Humility and a reality check I can build on. I hope to do as well again and offer more of a challenge next time.

[bushido_man96]

Our instructor hasn't sparred in quite some time. I've sparred him once in the years I've been with the school. He's tall and fast, which would be good for me to go against, being slow and short and round, but he has also had a lot of knee and other joint issues that have kept him off the training floor lately.

My old ATA instructor and I used to spar together all the time. Before just about every class, we would spar as a warmup. Those were good times.

[mal103]

A Sensei may put too much time in teaching and lose their edge a bit (i've seen one example of this but wouldn't be rude enough to name them).

A good Sensei will spar well with you but it may be like a cat playing with a mouse.... I once got a good punch in against my Sensei but ended up hurting my knuckles against a solid wall of stomach muscles.

Normally when you push your luck with a senior grade it ends up hurting when it comes back around....

I have had a Brown belt boast about getting a good punch in with me and had to explain that unless you have lightening fast reflexes a straight punch is very difficult to react to. I got him back though....

I also see it as a test of how far I have come when I spar with junior grades and can either "see" their attack coming or just respond, last night I put another Shodan on their back with using Mushin and just reacting.

[DWx]

Almost every class and have done since I was a white belt. IMHO it's the best way to learn and develop better tactics and technique. They can coach you as you're sparring and you learn by doing.

[Harkon72]

I had a message from my Sensei to say that when I hit the wall of non-energy and carried through it he was impressed. Also he said that I was unafraid to come forward and attack even when he was countering strongly in the last few minutes. I can say that I did better than I thought. Can't wait till the next time.

[Wastelander]

I spar my sensei every time I attend a sparring session at my dojo. Of course, being a yondan who has trained for as long as I've been alive, and still being as young/fit as he is, he is incredibly difficult to actually hit cleanly. There are some days I can't really hit him at all. I can occasionally land an over-extended punch or a glancing kick, or if I clinch up with him I can sometimes throw/sweep him, and on the ground I can sometimes submit him, but much more often than not he is the far superior fighter. That's what I expect, though!

In my old dojo, sparring the sensei was also a fairly regular thing, but it was touch-contact point sparring so it was a bit of a different animal. I was lucky to ever land a single punch on my sensei at that dojo while doing point sparring. I recently visited and sparred with him in a continuous format (first time I ever saw that from that group of schools) and was able to land much more because I didn't have to stop when I was hit. It's amazing what a difference the ruleset makes in your rate of success, even within the same general field (karate, in this case).

Sparring is all about learning, adapting, and overcoming obstacles. In my opinion, your sensei is the perfect person to spar for those purposes--they are experienced enough to give you learning opportunities and provide you with enough difficulty to push your limits. There are certainly instructors out there who are unable to spar due to age or health issues, and that's totally fine, but I think if you are the sensei, and you are able to spar, then you should do it.

[ShoriKid]

Every time I'm with my instructors, if there is sparring, they are on the floor. With every student. In my first school it was always a treat to spar with sensei because of the way he brought out the best in you. And if he wasn't so sick he couldn't dress for class, he was on the floor pushing us all to be just a little better.

Now I'm the sensei and the only time I haven't sparred with everyone one, from the newest student up, is when I'm so sick I can't really train. Last night I was a moving target to get combinations thrown thrown at openings I presented. And I was pushing my 1st kyu. Maybe a little too hard. My job is to be the target, the one who pushes and I hope the guy they want to case down, catch and pass as a martial artist.

[SonGoku92]

sometimes I spar with my sensei. or.... more like he lets me attack him really. I know he'd cream me in nothing flat if he went all out against me xD but its good cause I can really see my weak points as opposed to the other students who aren't quite as adept at reading opponents. One thing about me is that I fight hard in the face of any opponent and I don't get all nervous and tensed up cause he's the sensei. and I think they really respect that, I know I would. Courage is a key quality in any good martial artist. I mean... its just the dojo so its not like hes gonna beat the snot out of his own students. lol

[infinitehand]

Yes we spar with my teacher. In my first few years it was just me and him, every night. As the class grew he still fought, everyone, often in a format of, he fights everyone for two minutes back to back, no rest. Then after the last student fights him, the last students stays and fights everyone for two minutes, back to back, no rest and so on. When we train Sensei trains, when we take a water break, Sensei trains.

Just one of the many reasons I'm still with him.

[sensei8]

I've struggled with this topic, btw...it's a great topic.

Before his stroke, which lead him to have a second stroke, which he passed away from...

We use to spar EVERYDAY!! The higher the rank I earned, the more intense was the sessions.

Sorry, I can't say much more right now because I MISS HIM SO MUCH!!

Cherish each and every time you can spar with your Sensei/Instructor/Etc because there will come a time when you won't be able to.