I tried something new in sparring last night

[JR 137]

Yes, of course, if you're quite overwhelmed, then the sane thing to do is retreat to a safe haven. There's no shame in that whatsoever!!

I’m just fighting the urge to do so. So far I’m actually winning that particular fight.

I kept at it today. Same result with equal and lower ranks.

I finally got to try it out against a higher rank. It was the yondan who loves to sweep me. He’s also a person I’d characterize as a mountain of a man. He’s practically immovable and holds his ground better than just about anyone I know. He’s not a highly athletic guy by any means, but he stays within his limitations and does it quite well.

I didn’t back up at all. Neither did he. I got swept twice, but that’s not any more than usual with him. I got hit a few times, but again, no more than usual. Actually, it was a lot less than I expected. We pushed each other back a few times. I went further than he did though, as expected

I’m really digging this. It’s tough to do, but it’s working so much better for me so far. I’m definitely not a light on my feet kinda guy, so I’ve got to play to my strengths and not force myself to be something that quite frankly I’ll never be. That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t nor won’t get out of my comfort zone; it just means he realistic about not ever being Bruce Lee darting in and out.

I told my CI and said yondan about my strategy after class today. They both said it was a pretty big improvement. They both encouraged me to keep at it. If the usual Tuesday crew shows up, that’ll be the real test.

On a side note, sparring this way is so much more tiring. When you’re in that range, you’ve got to constantly work. Stopping for a second can easily mean lights out. There’s no jumping back and taking a breather while acting like I’m resetting. The only breather I get now is when I back up to let people away from the wall.

[DWx]

Sounds like you've been having some success with this strategy.

Now maybe it's because the way we spar in TKD is different but backing off is a viable strategy I teach. You can draw your opponent onto your counter and force them to come to you. Pick your shots and move off. It's especially useful when your opponent is bigger and heavier than you.

[OneKickWonder]

Sounds like you've been having some success with this strategy.

Now maybe it's because the way we spar in TKD is different but backing off is a viable strategy I teach. You can draw your opponent onto your counter and force them to come to you. Pick your shots and move off. It's especially useful when your opponent is bigger and heavier than you.

I believe this is a good strategy for the right individual.

When I was a young teenager at wado, I was so skinny and lightweight, super fit, but I had no bodyweight to throw around and being weightless, I was easy to knock down, throw or sweep. So I'd make my opponent burn themselves out effectively chasing me, while I jump in a pick a couple of pot shots here and there before bouncing back out.

Faster forward 30 years, now I'm heavy, and not as fast or fit. If I were to try the jump in, strike, jump out approach now, my opponents wouldn't get a chance to learn anything from me. They'd just have wait stay safe for 30 seconds or so then stand there looking sheepish in a half baked fighting stance while I'm gassing out unable to continue. So a different strategy is called for. Keep the pressure on. Choose every energy expenditure wisely. Waste nothing. Don't give them a chance to compose themselves. I think from a self defence perspective this works best for all parties. After all, in genuine hostilities the thugs don't want you to compose yourself. They want to keep the pressure on. So by keeping the pressure on in training and forcing your opponent to think under pressure is helping them. This works both ways I think.

[sensei8]

Please never forget that complacency can set in whenever your sparring partners are the same; familiarity can upset the apple cart. Change up sparring partners as often as possible. Your CI is a viable partner providing that that's not against protocol.

As time goes by, your comfort level will vary, but it'll lean more towards the positive than the negative.

Danielle's post is solid; backing/retreating does have it's black hole affect; it can draw in one's opponent unwittingly so. That ploy has to be garnered softly too.

[JR 137]

Sounds like you've been having some success with this strategy.

Now maybe it's because the way we spar in TKD is different but backing off is a viable strategy I teach. You can draw your opponent onto your counter and force them to come to you. Pick your shots and move off. It's especially useful when your opponent is bigger and heavier than you.

Absolutely. There’s a time and place for everything. Like everything else, what you’re talking about is a skill, and one I could definitely improve on.

Right now however, I’m trying to fix one problem at a time. Once I’m really comfortable with what I’m doing and relatively got it down, then I’ll work on baiting my opponents with backward motion.

The more I force myself not to step backward, the more I realize how often I did it when I didn’t need to/shouldn’t have.

[JR 137]

Please never forget that complacency can set in whenever your sparring partners are the same; familiarity can upset the apple cart. Change up sparring partners as often as possible. Your CI is a viable partner providing that that's not against protocol.

As time goes by, your comfort level will vary, but it'll lean more towards the positive than the negative.

Danielle's post is solid; backing/retreating does have it's black hole affect; it can draw in one's opponent unwittingly so. That ploy has to be garnered softly too.

That’s the biggest downfall of being at a small dojo such as ours - there not much variety in sparring partners. My CI spoke about that the first time I visited and sat down and talked with him. A small dojo also has its benefits too; we all know each other quite well and work together. Our seniors are fantastic about working with the lower ranks. In a great way, it’s as if every nidan and up is a teacher every moment you’re sparring (and any other time you’re paired up). I say nidan and up because the shodans, while they’re quite helpful, are a bit more reserved in their advice (again in a good way).

Come to think of it, I’ve never picked who I’m sparring with; in my current dojo nor my former dojo. We just line up and pair off, then circulate through. Everyone spars everyone.

I’ve only sparred with my CI once. It was during my 4th kyu test due to not enough sparring partners that night. He’s trying to put off getting his hip replaced again (2nd time on that side, and 3rd overall) for as long as he can. Sparring with him that night was definitely an eye opener in staying within your physical limitations and being as efficient in movement as possible; he moved just barely enough to make me miss every time, made me move more than enough to exhaust me, and hit me with whatever he wanted whenever he wanted to. According to everyone - not just his students, but his peers too - he was a phenomenal competitor in kata and kumite when we were Kyokushin and the subsequent early Seido days. His first hip replacement put an end to that stuff. He does an appropriate amount of partner drills with us. You can easily see when he’s starting to overdo it though.