Need help with sparring games/structure

StudentCarl

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I'm looking for sparring games/practice round rules to change a habit.

With our younger and less experienced players, I see a tendency to just kick-kick-kick when rather than using footwork effectively to score and get out without getting hit back.

Some ideas:
You only score if you don't get kicked back when you score.
You only get 2 kicks in an exchange (emphasizing setup over flurry).

I'd appreciate any suggestions, knowing the wealth of experience here.

Thanks in advance.

Carl
 

terryl965

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Put them though ladders drills and teach them proper footwork instead of kicking all the time. I know the ladder has helped our younger fighters.
 

bluekey88

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What we do is, especially early in the training season, each class focuses on a need area. For example, a big one this year is moving on diaganols instead of straight forward or back.

class might be structured around that "theme". so we might do a bunch of increasingly complex line drills that emphasize diagnal movement and striking., then we might pad up and do drills that again emphasize moving on the diagonal. We might then follow up with various kinds of sparrin, starting out with restrictions (one guy can only attack with back leg roundhouse, the other guy can only side step and counter with double roundhouse...for an example). from there we open it up to free sparring with the coaches pointing out opportunities to utilize the concepts we've been drilling all day and praising and reinforcing the use of the skill.

the next session will either build on the previous session is it needs more work or work on another need area (especially if we see trends after a competition or something).

the point is...pick one thing and then really focus on that thing. That seems to help both the beginners and the advanced students.

later in the season, we move away from that and start focusing more on conditioning and strategic/tactical issues using the basics we've drilled early in the season as most of the competitors have the basics and the "themes" down.

Peace,
Erik
 

ATC

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We teach all aspects of the game from the start. Even to our little 5 year olds. They are taught to always be ready to kick but to always move as well. They are taught angles as well as checking or fainting. The most important rule is to follow up until your opponent is out of your zone. We teach to be aggressive and attack but be ready to move off after each attack if being countered. Only move off enough to still be in range to kick back. Many tend to move too far off and miss counter to counter opportunities. We break each class into segments and work on specifics in each segment.

Segment 1 may be simple body movement conditioning.
Segment 2 may be simple foot work (each day may be a different foot work drill).
Segment 3 may be attack and counter partner drills (different scenarios each day)
Segment 4 may be 30 second sparring using what we just practiced in each segment before.

This is just an example of what we do but you cannot spend too much time on just one thing and must be trying to work as a whole from the get. If not then you will teach the student to become dependent on one set of techniques if worked only on for too long.
 

goingd

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I can offer the way I teach a sparring class--

1. Stretch and warm up
2. Work on foot work
3. Target striking drills
4. Work on sparring techniques
5. Actual sparring

It's not so much a game, but one thing my old instructor used to do was instruct one of the fighters to only counter attack after being attacked - hence, you could only kick back, and never initiate the first kick.
 

Touch Of Death

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I'm looking for sparring games/practice round rules to change a habit.

With our younger and less experienced players, I see a tendency to just kick-kick-kick when rather than using footwork effectively to score and get out without getting hit back.

Some ideas:
You only score if you don't get kicked back when you score.
You only get 2 kicks in an exchange (emphasizing setup over flurry).

I'd appreciate any suggestions, knowing the wealth of experience here.

Thanks in advance.

Carl
Drill them on exactly what you want, then have your students work on just that concept during the game session; so, rather than sparring in a fight and survive session, these special games would limit the students to working on exactly what you think they lacking in their regular sparring, so that they might feel comfortable enough to try it in real life.
Sean
 

VinsonTKD

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One thing that you can do to help the students in practice sparring is assign them kicks they can use. For instance, we will tell one kick he can only kick with rear leg round. Then, tell the other he is only able to use back kick.

Then later on, we will tell one kid to use rear leg or axe kick. Then the other can only use back kick or push kick.

Obviously you can pick whatever kicks and combos you want. This seems to get them in the mindset of trying new different kicks than the normal kick-kick-kick. Later on, they will naturally feel comfortable using these kicks in sparring.
 

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