Free Sparring

[Tony Dismukes]

I'm seeing a significant improvement over your earlier sparring videos. Your punches are still out of range, but you're starting to find your distance on your kicks. Your kicks are smoother. You're also getting better combinations and getting some use of sweeps.

Critiques/Suggestions:

As I noted, your punches are still not close enough to hit effectively.

You also didn't seem to have the form in your punches that you would want in order to actually inflict damage if you were going hard. It looked like you were just throwing them out as a distraction for your kicks.

I'd take advantage of those leg sweeps to charge in and attack from close range while the opponent is turned away rather than hanging back and letting him rest his angle and balance.

Try not to just back away and block every time your sparring partner kicks. As JR noted, that makes it difficult to counter. Lateral movement and forward movement are both useful.

At 2:39 your sparring partner pressed in and you turned your back. Not a good idea.

You don't need to back away and reset after each attacking combination.

As others have noted, sparring is most productive when you have a specific goal in mind. If you are trying to be a good sparring partner for a junior student, perhaps lighten up a bit, give them the confidence to bring the attack to you, then for your own benefit you can work on reading their attack so you can counter or evade without backing up.

 

[FriedRice]

You cracked the hell out of her, lol. Why not take more risks by staying in and letting her swing for the fences. I doubt she can hurt you.

What level is Green as opposed to Black?

 

[Azulx]

You cracked the hell out of her, lol. Why not take more risks by staying in and letting her swing for the fences. I doubt she can hurt you.

What level is Green as opposed to Black?

This particular video is pretty old . She’s testing for blue belt tomorrow. She’s come such a long way since August of last year when was about when this video was taken. Blue Belt is 4th gup/kyu at this level. Where she’s at right now , I wouldn’t be able to do what that video displays again. It would be a bit more difficult, now that she has almost a year more experience.

 

[Christopher Adamchek]

Nice guards/ stances
Good foot work
Nice kicks and counter ranging of kicks

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

I will suggest the following:

Try to

1. create opportunity instead of waiting for opportunity. For example, you throw a low kick, your opponent drop hand to block it, you punch his face.
2. have a plan. Such as use a kick to set up another kick, or a punch. For example, a roundhouse kick, side kick combo.
3. run your opponent down. If your opponent punches you, you run him down. If your opponent kicks you, you run him down. If your opponent does nothing, you still run him down. For example, a kick followed by many head punches.

If you can do 3, you are a good fighter.

 

[ShotoSean]

Nice! Nothing like free sparring to look back on and fix what needs to be worked on!

 

[JowGaWolf]

I haven't posted any videos in about a year, but here's a video of me sparring one of our green belts from class.

It looks like you lowered your fighting stance a little? I could be wrong but what I'm seeing is that your sparring partner is stalling out / freezing because he/she is trying to figure out how to attack you. This hesitation is a side effect of being in a low stance. It makes you look like you are just standing still but what you are really doing is keeping your opponent at bay. It gives you the luxury of being able to watch your sparring partner try to think of a plan of attack. A tip with the low stance, while you are in it, watch for decreases of readiness while your partner is trying to figure things out. Attack them when they are thinking.


It looks like you are becoming more comfortable with spotting openings. You seem to be more relaxed and you have lost a lot of the Jerky Movement that you used to have. The only thing you have to be careful about is having your hands down so low, don't make it a habit. Raise your hands from time to time so your students can punch into your guard. It give them the opportunity to strike at the head (punch or kick) without fearing that they may hurt you. It's also good training because it helps them to see punching openings while someone is in a punching guard.

Other than that you've come a long way in a short amount of time. I really can't give you any personal improvement tips because it looked as if you were sparring as an instructor and not as someone who was really trying to train for their own benefit, which is good. That's the way to be with your students. Just remember to keep developing yourself as well. Invite other martial artists over for a friendly sparring match so that you can punch and kick at your skill level.

"Sparring like an instructor" just means that 20%-40% of your focus is on improving yourself through sparring while 60% - 80% of your focus is on your student and helping them to improve. It's a good thing.

 

[JowGaWolf]

Being stationary isn't necessarily bad. If it works against a given opponent, it's a good way to conserve energy.

I agree.
Normally being still like that does a lot of things.
1. Conserves energy
2. Gives you an idea of how concerned your opponent is about your defense.
3. Gives you an idea of if your opponent actually knows how to break through the defense.
4. Gives you the luxury of watching how your opponent may try to attack.
5. Gives you the opportunity to lull your opponent into heavy thought, in which you can exploit. If they are thinking about what they can do, then they aren't "doing." hit them while they are thinking.
6. Gives you an opportunity to see what type of fighter they are before the punches are thrown. Brawlers come straight in without any thought or a plan. Then you have people who like to probe. They'll keep distance and will look for weakness by striking at the guard and taking note of how well you handle it.

I can probably list 50 things that I could do while standing still

No one ever says to the snake "You aren't moving enough." Throw away that stick and we'll see movement. lol.