sparing

I'm new at martial arts and I found a school that teaches tang soo do. The instructor said that there is no sparing. He said it was a traditional school. I don't know if I should look into another school because I thought that most karate schools teach sparing. What should I do?

[Drac]

Every school that I ever heard of did...

[karatekid1975]

Weird. I came from TSD. We sparred regularly (at least, once a week).

[maunakumu]

According to my instructor, Hwang Kee, originally, left point sparring and regular sparring out of the curriculum because he felt that it taught bad self defense habits. (I agree with this sentiment, by the way.) Sparring, the way we see it now, was later added in order to make TSD more attractive to Americans. It is interesting to hear the stories of the old masters in TSD though. Master Lawrence Seiberlich (8th dan Soo Bahk Do) talks about class in Korea where controlled bare knuckle bouts were the rule and not the exception.

[Kodanjaclay]

North,

My first teacher was a Korean. He told me that when they were promoted they were sent out of the dojang. If they came back they got promoted. If they had to come find you, you needed more training.

Kinda different from the do a couple of forms and one-step style tests of today, eh?

I couldn't imagine going through it all without sparring. That's pretty much my favorite part of training.
I personally would not entertain the thought of enrolling in a school that doesn't spar.

My school does not focus on it much at all, except in the classes leading up to a test cycle, as it is a part of the promotion testing process. We do gobs of one-step though...

Bruce Lee said "The martial artist who never spars is the same as a swimmer who has never touched water." Forms are very important and should never be neglected, but it is my opinion that all martial artist should spar regularly

[TallAdam85]

RUN RUN FOR YOUR LIFE

unless you don't like sparing Try to find another school the thing i like most about martial arts is sparing it is like playing a game with your mind and body.

I would have to agree that I couldn't imagine my training without sparring. My school has a pretty decent balance (though I wish there was a bit more sparring myself). Only argument for it teach bad self defense habits is because of the restrictions. I've notice many people become dependant on the rules. I'm a strong believer that if ever in a conflict, you will default to what you have engrained in yourself through training. So if your approach in training is one of assuming you won't get hit a certain way, that will probably be the way you are defeated.

But to more directly answer your question, if you don't like sparring or are trying to stay in shape more then learn self defense, place may work out for you. Else I would look for another school.

Probably you won't see this, however, I specifically joined this to give you an answer. My daughter is acquiring her green belt this month and is an ardent Tang Soo Do student. (She is 11 years old.) She spars every class, as well as doing the tournament circuit. I have noticed that she and her classmates are the only Tang Soo Do students at the USKA tournaments in New Mexico, so perhaps her instructer is different. I do know that these children do exceptionally well in kumite (sparring) - my daughter beating last years National USKA Champion - three tournmaments out of four that they have met.