Teaching sparring

[ninjanurse]

MonkeyGirl,

 

First of all, use your propensity for forms to your advantage in class and insist on proper technique and repetition. Sparring drills are forms and can be taught using bunkai-sort of a back and forth form. Second, you have probably already experienced the fact that teaching helps your own techniques whether basics or sparring. You dont have to be good at something to teach it-being able to recognize what a student is doing "wrong" and being able to break it down into pieces that are easy to digest is a skill that is developed overtime. For example, I can not do a 540 roundhouse but I have taught many students to do it by being able to recognize its mechanics and translate it into technique. I suggest that you spend time watching students that spar well and dissect each technique. Then watch less skilled students with your brother and see if you can pick out their deficiencies and think about how to make them change for the better using the models you have delveloped. Third, get out and spar! Students can always teach you something new, everyday!

 

[AndrewGreen]

Question: Should I:

 

a. jump in and spar my students?

 

or

 

b. walk around and cruise from match to match, critiquing the fights? I usually have an assistant instructor black belt fighting in there with them.

 

What are the benefits/consequences to each? (Sheesh I sound like my Health textbook )

 

Both.

 

Jump in as much as you can while keeping an eye on anyone that needs an eye kept on them. But get in there and do it, it is much easier to help them progress, helps you progress, is fun and it is good for them to see you still in there doing it with them.

 

diadvantages to getting in, its harder to keep everyone doing what they are suppose to, but unless you are working with all complete beginners or young children you should be able to let them be for the most part.

 

At the same time it is also sometimes good to watch from a outside perspective, it can be easier to spot things.

 

It's really up to you and what works best, try both, favour the one that works better for you.

 

But just remember that telling them there mistake will rarely have any effect. Try and create a drill which will force the mistake to be corrected and tell them.

[SBN Doug]

I'm jumping in a bit late, but here's my two cents.

 

Sparring drills have always worked for my students. Have one practicing only offense, the other only defense. The one on offense needs to focus on keeping their guard up, attacking with good technique in combinations of at least three, and compensating for the defenders movement. The defender consentrates of blocking, moving in circles to avoid attack, and looking for openings for a counter (for when they are allowed to). Do that for a couple minutes, then have them switch roles. Then switch partners. After getting the combinations, movement, and guarding practiced, then you can let them free spar, but always start off the lesson with the basics.

 

Start on the sideline at first, but you can definately help by being in there. Beginners tend to copy what is up against them. If you're moving around, talking to them through the time, they tend to move around more themselves.

[koreantiger81]

a. jump in and spar my students?

 

I would be careful when jumping in to spar your students. Although you may fight with control, accidents will happen. A controlled side-kick to the ribs may turn into a devasting side kick, if the student you're sparring with charges into your side kick. The last thing you want is your student's parents complaining that you're too rough with their child. So if you go in and spar with your students, I suggest that you be extra extra careful.

 

b. walk around and cruise from match to match, critiquing the fights? I usually have an assistant instructor black belt fighting in there with them.

 

I don't like to turn my back to others and just focus on one match at a time, when many matches are going on simultaneously.

 

I prefer to position myself, so I can see everyone sparring. I am constantly moving so that I can always be in a position to see the whole class.. From a position where I can see everyone, I yell out suggestions. I yell out to students who are fighting too hard, or to students who are almost about to crash into the walls. I also constantly yell out for students to keep their hands up, as many of them tend to drop their hands when sparring...If I have an assistant instructor, I get him/her to focus on one area of students, while I focus on the others. To critically give them feedback about their sparring, I sit everyone down and call up 2 or 3 pairs to come up to spar. If they are young children, I call up one pair at a time. When they spar, I also like to be 1 meter away from them. If I find they are going too hard on each other, I jump in and push them away. i do this often, as it keeps the tension of the match low. Anyway, here's my perspective. I hope it helps..

[monkeygirl]

Thanks everyone for your advice!

A controlled side-kick to the ribs may turn into a devasting side kick, if the student you're sparring with charges into your side kick

 

This actually happened to me last week. I was point sparring a blue belt lady from a different class. I threw a sidekick to her exposed ribs, and she charged right into it. She ended up not finishing the match. As it turned out, I cracked two of her ribs. The sidekick wasn't very hard, but she had fallen from a horse (she trains them) not too long ago and injured the same ribs, so when I hit her they were already tender. I still feel really bad about it

[theswarm]

sparring drills are a must

 

also as the last person said about a side kick- make sure their footwork is good and that they are working their way into you rather than charging at you

 

footwork and movement (as someone also stated) is incredibly important.

 

Telling people to relax and focus on speed but not sacrificing technique tends to help. I also tend to advise new to sparring people not to worry about blocking in the sense of what we practice in basics but just learn how to move your limbs to deflect stuff - that way they aren't so rigid in their blocking.

 

Stance advice tends to help, and lateral movement - there's a few good ways of getting people to get used to lateral movement - getting someone to stand behind one of the people sparring so they can't move backwards etc.

 

Phonebox sparring (really close range) matrix style sparring can be good for reactions as is slaps(shoulders and knees) for those that don't have equipment.

[Guest]

What I like to do is look over the belt requirements that I had to learn. Let's say you are teaching beginners. In the beginning requirements you learn different types of hand strikes. Think of those and try to think to yourself how you would block it. Teach those fundamentals to the class. Then start on combinations of someone attacking w/ two hand strikes and how to block, throw in kicks, etc.

 

I also like the idea of asking your instructor on how to teach. They may have some pointers and good ideas on how to keep the class motivated and feel confident with what you are teaching them.