The reason

terryl965

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I was just sitting here watching my little ones, in that I mean my young fighters spar and was wondering thje reason for sparring? I mean isthere a clear case or not if sparring is good for younger people or it too soon for all this kind of hitting. I mean in football they tackle and are told to hit em hard and go get them with everything you have, but yet in sparring people think it is more like a game of tag and they need to be pulling everything. Why is it ok to hit as hard as you can when playing a contact sport football, hockey, soccer, but yet in any type of MA they need to be pulling or playing tag.

Just a thought as too the type of perspective we have in the common area of life.
 

WMKS Shogun

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There is a difference between trying to tackles a kid by putting the bulk of your body into his midsection (large force (tackles) from large origin (tackler's body) hitting large target (tacklee's midsection) = dispersal of force) and large force (kick) from a smaller origin (foot) hitting a small target (kid's head) = more PSI on softer helmet). Though for the record, supposedly statistically martial arts is safer than football (less injuries) and maybe it is because we do exercise control. In theory, an adult can tell when is enough and when is too much when applied to another adult in sparring, but kids do not have the reasoning to make such a judgement call. They do not know their bodies nearly as well, nor do they have the kind of control, so by forcing them to learn control, we are teaching them to be more mature. Besides, do you really want a parent to come in complaining about how Johnny broke Otto's nose/ribs/gave him a black eye, etc. all because you thought it would be okay to let them spar hard? my personal opinion is that children under 6 should not be sparring. Older children may spar if they have learned a degree of control and the match ups are not too overwhelming until they learn how to spar (or at least until they know how to dodge/block/parry) effectively. For the record Master Stoker, this is not a personal attack on you, when I use the term 'you' in my post, it is directed at anyone, not you, personally, sir.
 

Kennedy_Shogen_Ryu

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Personally, the way I teach, when it comes to kids sparring I use it more as giving them an idea of range, proper technique, proper placing etc. I don't even let them make contact until a certain age/rank. If they start fighting too hard then they're banned from sparring until they earn the right to spar again.
 

Laurentkd

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I was just sitting here watching my little ones, in that I mean my young fighters spar and was wondering thje reason for sparring? I mean isthere a clear case or not if sparring is good for younger people or it too soon for all this kind of hitting. I mean in football they tackle and are told to hit em hard and go get them with everything you have, but yet in sparring people think it is more like a game of tag and they need to be pulling everything. Why is it ok to hit as hard as you can when playing a contact sport football, hockey, soccer, but yet in any type of MA they need to be pulling or playing tag.

Just a thought as too the type of perspective we have in the common area of life.


What is the age you are talking about sir? I think really we are like most sports. Most little kids start playing flag football and move into tackle (I don't watch football except what is on tv, but I think that is right, right?). My nephews play soccer and the 16 year olds play a much rougher game than the 8 year olds. I also know that if I take my 13 year old black belts to any sort of decent tournament they better be ready to take a hard hit or to give one!

So, based on my interpretation of your op, I think we are basically the same as other sports. We start light and then teach players to use more "contact" as they age and mature in the sport. At my dojang we specifically use the words "play tag" to all kids probably about 10 and under. But after that we start to let them go at it a little bit more (assuming there is a fairly even match up and both kids are ready to step it up). And of course it is always full gear for kids.
 

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