Shortay
Yellow Belt
Kenpomachine said:Sparring with beginners is not a mistake. Only you have to be extremely careful how you pair them up. They usually think they're safer sparring with other beginners, when in a normal environment is the opposite.
I totally agree. Most beginners have yet to appreciate the concept of control and two beginners together can lead to an over-aggressive sparring session. But it would be a mistake to say they shouldn't spar at all or else how are they going to learn? Even a person experienced in techniques can find it hard to make the transition to a less-structured attack, so this can apply equally to complete beginners and beginners to sparring.
And if some of them is paired with a woman, they usually behave like asses and go with the stupidest of comments "but I can hurt her", even when sparring with brown or black belts.
I have had people do that to me too. Particularly where I'm sparring a beginner and because I wear a black gi they want to prove a point. Practice in sparring helps develop not only reactive skills but also develops the right attitude training in general. We aren't in competition in training, we are trying to learn how to defend ourselves and to do that we have got work together. Sparring is a big part of that and is essential for learning to trust each other.