How to spar with someone much taller than you?

[sensei8]

Be mindful of your telegraphing. This lets them counter easily.

Stay close. If you are inside their kick, they have a hard time kicking. They may not be too close for a kick of your own.

Tai sabaki. Move. Angle. Get close and to their 45 then strike.

Keep in mind Mugsy Bogues and Spud Web. They not only competed but succeeded.

Get fast. Work on speed.

Solid post!!

[LKC]

Be quite mindful to the reaching abilities of the taller practitioner. If not, you'll be walking into the business end of a technique that you wish you hadn't. You have to get in YOUR range for your techniques to have any chance of success. But while you're attempting to get within YOUR range, you're ALREADY IN THE TALLER PRACTITIONERS RANGE; be assertive while being aware to the Nth degree, all at the same time.

That is kind of the crux of the problem, isn't it?

If I take the initiative of attacking, it doesn't work because of what you say about the ranges, i.e. before I can complete anything I am giving them a chance to attack me first.

So generally speaking so far I've been mostly trying to stay slightly out of their range and wait for them to attack me first, and try to counter. But then, I still have to figure out how/what I am going to do for that counter, because I am still very far away at this point. So usually this ends up with me looking like I am merely trying to avoid the fight, and that is kind of a let-down in a belt test.

Also note that while I am one of the fastest guy in the dojo when it comes to striking, the speed of movement around the floor is another matter. It's a fact that with their long legs it takes them one step to close up to me, while it takes me two steps at least to go from slightly out of their range to my own range. So I may be faster, but I always have a longer distance to cover.

Good suggestions from all anyway, thanks a lot! I definitely think that working on diagonal movements is something to really try harder. Fakes are generally discouraged in our dojo, while we are still at such low level, but not completely forbidden.

Otherwise, while my speed is generally good, my reaction times are not. Or perhaps it's not even the reaction times, but rather the ability to understand quickly what the opponent is about to do, and react accordingly. This has always been my biggest weakness in every sport, think about the proverbial guy who is fine with the ball everywhere until he's in front of the goalkeeper, then everything goes blank... This is a bigger, and much more general flaw of mine however, not specific to the case in this thread.

[pers]

Hello all, long time lurker / newly registered here!

I am a low-level (green belt) practitioner of Goju Ruy Karate Do, and I am looking for suggestions and insight on how to spar with someone much taller.

I am myself quite a short guy (~5' 6"), middle-aged and not very strong. In our dojo there are several guys of the same level who are around 6' 4", and I am always totally incapable of sparring with them. Their legs and arms are so much longer than mine, that they can easily reach me before I am close enough on them. Next December we're all going to the blue belt test and sparring will be a part of it (it has been a part of all our belt tests, it's just that those tall guys weren't there at the same time as me). Our sparring isn't really any serious yet, but at least I don't want to be totally clueless by then, about how to handle the situation.

On one hand, I thought about trying to do some takedowns. Unfortunately I am not that good yet with such techniques, so the risk of failing miserably is quite high. Also, I would still need to get pretty close to them first.

Another idea often going through my head is to "attack their attacks", such as trying to grab/capture their arms as they punch me, or hit their legs as they kick me. These ideas too require some pretty confident techniques tho...

So what would you normally do, when you have to spar with someone much taller?

when fighting someone bigger and taller avoid direct attack as they will catch you nearly every time ,instead you have to move in towards them in an angle ,try to manipulate them by switching from left to right changing your stance and catch them while they are in transition and in between stances .

and the important factor that smaller guys can deploy would be superior speed .

as you are a green belt you are going to need lots of training and gaining experience to find your perfect timing ,distance and angle of attack ….take your time the more you do it under a watchful eyes of a good instructor who can correct you the better you will get .

All of the above I mentioned will not happen over night ,takes a long time to develop so be patient and persevere .

[LLLEARNER]

Be quite mindful to the reaching abilities of the taller practitioner. If not, you'll be walking into the business end of a technique that you wish you hadn't. You have to get in YOUR range for your techniques to have any chance of success. But while you're attempting to get within YOUR range, you're ALREADY IN THE TALLER PRACTITIONERS RANGE; be assertive while being aware to the Nth degree, all at the same time.

That is kind of the crux of the problem, isn't it?

If I take the initiative of attacking, it doesn't work because of what you say about the ranges, i.e. before I can complete anything I am giving them a chance to attack me first.

So generally speaking so far I've been mostly trying to stay slightly out of their range and wait for them to attack me first, and try to counter. But then, I still have to figure out how/what I am going to do for that counter, because I am still very far away at this point. So usually this ends up with me looking like I am merely trying to avoid the fight, and that is kind of a let-down in a belt test.

Also note that while I am one of the fastest guy in the dojo when it comes to striking, the speed of movement around the floor is another matter. It's a fact that with their long legs it takes them one step to close up to me, while it takes me two steps at least to go from slightly out of their range to my own range. So I may be faster, but I always have a longer distance to cover.

Good suggestions from all anyway, thanks a lot! I definitely think that working on diagonal movements is something to really try harder. Fakes are generally discouraged in our dojo, while we are still at such low level, but not completely forbidden.

Otherwise, while my speed is generally good, my reaction times are not. Or perhaps it's not even the reaction times, but rather the ability to understand quickly what the opponent is about to do, and react accordingly. This has always been my biggest weakness in every sport, think about the proverbial guy who is fine with the ball everywhere until he's in front of the goalkeeper, then everything goes blank... This is a bigger, and much more general flaw of mine however, not specific to the case in this thread.

Be mindful of telegraphing. My sensei says that he is not that fast, just good at reading people. I say bull pucky. The dude is fast. But he is also good at reading telegraphing.