Point Sparring Useless?

[WhiteBelt]

We had a small portion of tonight's class devoted to point sparring. I think some people were interested in tournaments and asked for it...

 

Anyway, is there any point to this type of training? It developes reflexes, but most of the time it's without any power. Also, a lot of the people that were into it left their guard down way too often.

 

For example, before the point sparring I free-sparred with a blue belt. It started out slow at first, but eventually I was out maneuvering him, and faking him into my attacks. He was very cautious and the only way I could get an attack in was if I got him to attack or counter attack. He hit me once, with a side kick which sent him back... When the point sparring started he was practically diving into attacks just to get that quick jab in.

[A_mind_like_water]

We do quite alot of point sparring in my club and i kinda like it, it has a little more point than you might think, you see after you get a point you restart (am i right?)

 

well "real fights" (fights outside the dojo) dont last 10 seconds and so one good punch to the solar plexus or one quik little combo will finish most people (after all it aint hollywood ) and thus point sparring was invented so that the person with the best timing, initutive, reflexes and speed has a good chance of winning, compared to a big "tank" of a guy who can only dish out and take in hits

 

hope that helped

[jmy77]

It is very very easy to develope incredibly bad habits in point sparring. I am not particularly a fan of it. My sensei told me to enter in a point sparring tourny.

 

I have been is a few street fights and i will tell you this - they are absoluely nothing like point sparring. Point sparring is a game. you have to think of it as such.

 

I pressed one of my instructors as to what the point to point sparring was and he informed me thatit to get people used to getting the first strike and blocking and countering...

 

Point sparring has its merits - but i am not particularly fond of it.

[Sho-ju]

Yup!

[karate_woman]

When practicing for point sparring competitions I find it more useful to just keep sparring (continuous style) instead of stopping for every point. It prevents you from immediately stopping when you know you have point, and getting nailed yourself.

 

I think the usefulness of any sort of sparring (point or otherwise) is a chance to apply some actual moves (albeit controlled) against an opponent that is trying not to get hit themselves. A big part of defense is avoiding getting hit in the first place, or minimizing its effects if you are hit, and the speed, stamina and agility you develop in point sparring can be useful to that end.

[Kirves]

When practicing for point sparring competitions I find it more useful to just keep sparring (continuous style) instead of stopping for every point. It prevents you from immediately stopping when you know you have point, and getting nailed yourself.

 

Good point.

 

Point sparring is an excellent training method, when combined with other methods, such as contact sparring, mits, bags, you know - the whole package. But if point sparring is usually the only kind of sparring you do, your training is lacking.

[karate_woman]

When practicing for point sparring competitions I find it more useful to just keep sparring (continuous style) instead of stopping for every point. It prevents you from immediately stopping when you know you have point, and getting nailed yourself.

 

Good point.

 

Point sparring is an excellent training method, when combined with other methods, such as contact sparring, mits, bags, you know - the whole package. But if point sparring is usually the only kind of sparring you do, your training is lacking.

I'd settle for ANY sparring these days

 

We have done some mit and bag work lately, and I have a wavemaster at home, but many of the other students don't even like the light to moderate contact sparring we do

[fireka]

of course theres point to point sparing! then again, i say this because i am a competetion artist (plays the rocky theme song) despite the fact that my sensai isnt crazy about competetion training. i like learning to fight for defense of myself and others of course, but i just like the ring. and my sensai is always saying stuff about how those big gold pices of plastic wont get you anywere and stuff but honestly i dont care if i win or loose, im serious! i just like the thrill. i love hanging out and sparring with other karate kas and artist, and if it comes to me wanting to win, if its a good solid tournament than i like the crowds response much more than the trophy. for people like me, i think point sparrings great. droping your guard demonstrates a lack of skill, i have the same problem in sparring and my dojo NEVER point spars. i dont think this gives evidence to weather point sparring is bad or good, it just shows were the karate ka needs to work.

[Kirves]

I believe, that you need to spar one way or the other. Some kind of free form partner training is a must. With contact it is more effective. You can't train full bore all the time, you can't train if you're all bruised up so that'll backfire. But enough contact to make you think twice about fooling around with stupid unrealistic techniques. Sometimes try full contact (using necessary equipment or rule set), sometimes very light contact so you can work out longer. But without sparring (or some kind of free form partner routines) you won't reach your potential. Just my opinion, feel free to disagree.

[karate_woman]

of course theres point to point sparing! then again, i say this because i am a competetion artist (plays the rocky theme song) despite the fact that my sensai isnt crazy about competetion training. i like learning to fight for defense of myself and others of course, but i just like the ring. and my sensai is always saying stuff about how those big gold pices of plastic wont get you anywere and stuff but honestly i dont care if i win or loose, im serious! i just like the thrill. i love hanging out and sparring with other karate kas and artist, and if it comes to me wanting to win, if its a good solid tournament than i like the crowds response much more than the trophy. for people like me, i think point sparrings great. droping your guard demonstrates a lack of skill, i have the same problem in sparring and my dojo NEVER point spars. i dont think this gives evidence to weather point sparring is bad or good, it just shows were the karate ka needs to work.

 

Have you been to many competitions? The ones I have been to there wasn't much in the way of crowd response (especially in the rather large tournaments) until the Grand Championship rounds, anyway. My parents used to go and say karate tournaments were the most boring things to watch - other than my division of course!