When should you start sparring?

[BKJ1216]

Yeah well I'm going to be taking shudokan karate in may and I want to know when I should begin sparring. Shoudl I start immediatley, or wait until I have a little higher rank.

[Ziggy]

I think it depends on the level of sparring. I started light contact sparring quite early on and found it taught me a lot, techniques that work well both in attack and defence, footwork etc. Especially useful after having just learnt/practised a new technique. I do kickboxing though so this might be different to the more traditionial martial arts.

[ramymensa]

You'll be told what and when

 

In some dojos (including mine) sparring is common even for beginners. We spar at first in a very light manner, almost no contact at all, and afterwards with some contact. The things get nasty as you grow in rank, but it's always up to you and your partner. You decide if you sparr high or low level of contact. It's your right I guess to determine how you want to work

[ZeRo]

i personally think you should do controled sparring right from the biginning. you have to know your limits and im sure people will go easy on you

[BlueDragon1981]

My belief is that you should start right away to get the experience. Who you spar, how you spar is all up to you however. You can start slow with sparring just lower ranks or you can just jump right in with anyone. That is what I have done my whole martial arts life. I think I am a better fighter, because while the others were fighting someone at their same level I was fighting people above my level. I gained much more than them. Of course I also gained much more injuries.

[ZeRo]

oow blue! yes, that is deff the way to do it! jump right in the and get your hands dirty! i personally think you learn so much more when you spar people with a higher level. but you DO get hit so many more times.

 

up to you though.

[ZeRo]

edit: sorry double post

[BKJ1216]

Well I planned to start sparring as a beginner. But I mean like how long should I wait. How long will it take for me to have even learned enough techniques to sparr? All I know how to do right now is a punch(learned it from one of my mom's friends whos a 6 dan ).

[BonnyBoy]

Yeah, I'm all for sparring people better than you.

 

In BJJ, I've been sparring good blue belts & purple belts and find I can easily beat other white belts - my technique has become a lot sharper and I think I'm getting close to blue belt level.

[BKJ1216]

I'm really afrair there will be no one there that I can spar. I mean how long will it take to learn techniques to sparr. Can I also learn techniques while sparring?