standardizing sparring gear

bluewaveschool

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There has been some debate recently about what kind of gear to use in class. At the suggestion of a former instructor, I proposed standardizing student gear to the vinyl dipped foam stuff. All of the other instructors wear the cloth pad hand/forearm and instep/shin, and are completely against the idea. Does your school dictate what kind of gear students wear, and why? Is it for insurance reasons? Safety concerns? The desire to make more money by forcing students to buy gear with the school logo on it?
 

Blindside

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There has been some debate recently about what kind of gear to use in class. At the suggestion of a former instructor, I proposed standardizing student gear to the vinyl dipped foam stuff. All of the other instructors wear the cloth pad hand/forearm and instep/shin, and are completely against the idea. Does your school dictate what kind of gear students wear, and why? Is it for insurance reasons? Safety concerns? The desire to make more money by forcing students to buy gear with the school logo on it?

We just set safety standards of what was appropriate gear, if the gear didn't meet it you couldn't use it. Most people migrated over to the vinyl covered gear rather than dipped foam, there was simply no comparison in durability, I think the brand was Masterline.

We eventually got some gear branded with the school logo, but again, not a requirement, those that wanted it got it.
 

searcher

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All of my students have to abide by one of two sets of gear. Kids(under 15) have to wear shin, foot, headgear(face shield optional), hand pads all of the foam dipped variety. Sparring for the kids is either: semi-knockdown or continuous contact.

The 15 and over students all wear foot, shin, headgear, elbow pads, and boxing style gloves. As to the type of gear, I do not restrict them to foam dipped or leather style gear. This gear set is for my semi-knockdown, kickboxers, and continuous contact students. I have some students who train for knockdown and the gear is much less(as in cup and mouthpiece only).

All students have the option of wearing chest protection, but most do not.

If we decide to try out a different style of competition or training, we will change the gear requirements to accomodate the needs of the style.
 

bushidomartialarts

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An option we used when I owned a school and might fit your needs:

Establish a minimum level of quality, but allow people to upgrade as they see fit. This lets your students in without spending a fortune, but lets your instructors use the higher end gear.

If your school is commercial, you can end up selling gear twice this way: once when they buy the foam dip because it's cheap, and again when they realize how fast it falls apart.
 
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bluewaveschool

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My concern with the cloth hand/forearm style is there is no protection for the fingers.
 

Carol

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Danny T

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We require:
Twins, Title, Everlast, or Combat Sports.
We do not use or allow dipped foam stuff for training. Safety and long term usage is primary consideration; dipped foam simply does not last for what we use it for. It is used for some of the sparring competitions we are involved in because it is required by those competitions and it seldom last thru 2 competitions. We do use some vinyl covered boxing gloves and head gear for those who can not afford the more expensive leather but most will within 6 months to 1 year be using leather equipment. Much better fit for comfort and it lasts much longer.
All members upon signing up get:
training gloves (boxing or ½ finger open palm style, based on what they are training in)
wraps
groin-protector
mouth-guard
shin-guards

All provided by the training center and is covered within the cost of their membership.
When starting sparring they will need headgear. The school does have headgear to use but most will purchase their own and not have to use sweaty gear used by someone else.
 

Phenix_Rider

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There has been some debate recently about what kind of gear to use in class. At the suggestion of a former instructor, I proposed standardizing student gear to the vinyl dipped foam stuff. All of the other instructors wear the cloth pad hand/forearm and instep/shin, and are completely against the idea. Does your school dictate what kind of gear students wear, and why? Is it for insurance reasons? Safety concerns? The desire to make more money by forcing students to buy gear with the school logo on it?


My school uses the dipped foam stuff- feet and hands and sometimes shins. No chest guards or mouth or groin. It's an Association requirement. I personally feel it's crap, and would much rather use the cloth shin/insteps and bag gloves. I currently use some Contender bag gloves, but they have a habit of coming off when I grab a kick. Which, of course is against Association rules, but we do "open" rules with one instructor. Some of our instructors would require the extra stuff if they felt anyone would use it. We usually have a couple pieces laying on the floor with the cheap straps broken after a good sparring session.
 

Dirty Dog

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Our school sets minmum requirements, but does not specify details. Sparring is done with light to moderate contact. Head gear and hogu are not required, but are allowed if people want to have heavier contact. And frankly, at least for the upper belts or older lower belts, we have a great deal of flexibility in defining "light to moderate contact". I know when I spar with Quest, our level of contact is higher than usual for this school, but that's how we like it.

A lot of the younger/newer students use these:
http://www.centurymartialarts.com/Sparring_Gear/Gloves/Cloth_Forearm_and_Hand_Pad.aspx
Along with the corresponding foot/shin guards:
http://www.centurymartialarts.com/Sparring_Gear/Shin_Guards/Cloth_Shin_and_Instep_Pad.aspx
I wear these:
http://www.centurymartialarts.com/Sparring_Gear/Gold_Training_Gear/Leather_Open_Palm_Gloves.aspx
and these:
http://www.centurymartialarts.com/Sparring_Gear/Shin_Guards/adidas_TKD_Long_Kicks.aspx

I think if you're in a tourney, then you should expect standardized gear. But for in-house sparring, I like the flexibility of setting minimum standards.
 

Noah_Legel

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My old dojo had everyone using the foam-dipped stuff and I never did like it, but we only did point sparring unless we were doing koshiki, in which case we didn't use any gloves or foot pads at all. My current dojo allows pretty much any sparring gear as long as it was designed for sparring (i.e. no bag gloves or wraps-only) and we do mostly semi-contact sparring.
 
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bluewaveschool

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Light contact at lower, medium contact at upper, I have 2 BB that like to get rougher with each other, I'm concerned with other students getting possibly injuried and the Y saying no more sparring.
 

Stac3y

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We allow dipped foam or vinyl, the new-fangled type of sparring gear like SAP, Top Ten, and ASG (light gloves with enclosed fingers/thumb), RingStar shoes, and even light weight boxing gloves (none over 10 oz.).

Requirements for juniors:

Headgear with face shield (no metal cages)
Hand gear that covers fingers (open okay, but must cover striking surface when making a fist)
Foot gear that covers toes
Mouthguard
Cup/supporter for males

Requirements for adults:

Headgear (yellow through purple belt must have face shield; brown may have open face; black may spar without)
Hand gear (as above)
Foot gear (as above)
Mouthguard
Cup/supporter for males (some insist on going without; nobody's going to check, after all)
 

SahBumNimRush

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The only required safety equipment in our dojangs are cups for the males. We highly encourage headgear and mouth guards, but do not require them. We allow all types of sparring gear from chest protectors, shin/instep, forearm pads, etc.. . Since our instructors never used them, they never forced them on us. But with changing times, we are seeing more and more students electing to use the safety equipment.

If it helps you get up easier in the morning, then I'm all for it! I don't use them myself, but I am quick to point out to the younger students my 4 broken teeth from getting a back wheel to the jaw and not wearing a mouth guard.. . I think almost all of their parents have spent fortunes on dental work (braces and what not), and the parents are quick to put their kids in mouth guards.
 
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bluewaveschool

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There's always someone that gets the accidental cup check. I usually laugh at them, considering we have taller male instructors and kids that can't quite kick our waist height. I do wish I had been at class the night one of my female instructors side kicked one of the male instructors so hard she cracked his cup.
 

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