Topic on sparring

[TKDTony2179]

Black belt Mag had this on FB and wondering what you guys think.


“The ability to free-spar or fight well is the result of training and should not be the primary means of training.”—Robin Rielly, sixth-degree, shotokan karate

 

[Cyriacus]

Imo, it sounds like a cop out answer. If you werent training to freespar youd suck at it. If you werent training to fight... actually, even if you are you still suck at it, just maybe a bit less. A scrabbles a scrabble.

 

[Gwai Lo Dan]

The quote makes sense to me. In most sports, you do drills to learn the skill and to get better at it (e.g., free throws in basketball). Although the game itself teaches you the timing aspect, the core drills teach you the technique and coordination. So you do the drills, then play the sport & apply the skills.

 

[ATC]

I have seen schools that only spar or fight as their training methods. The fighters that come out of those schools are good but not the best. You have to train all aspects of the art you do in order to understand how to use said techniques. If you simply punch but punch incorrectly, not generating power by putting your body behind the punch by linking from the ground up, through rotation then you are not being the best puncher you can be. You may land the punch but if it does not damage your opponent then what good was the punch. You must practice punching correctly. If not they you will build muscle memory to simply punch wrong every time. This goes for every technique you do. The statement has merit to me.

 

[StudentCarl]

It is a fundamental of both teaching and training for any complex activity to train both part-to-whole and whole-to-part. Doing the full activity is as important for ongoing assessment of the fighter's progress as for gaining experience, but the best use of the insight you get from watching your fighter in a match is to plan further training to improve their component skills, tactics, and understanding. Anything less makes the value of a coach questionable.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[Spookey]

“The ability to free-spar or fight well is the result of training and should not be the primary means of training.”—Robin Rielly, sixth-degree, shotokan karate

I would agree...I was told, and have often restated that the phrase "Practice Makes Perfect" is incorrect, but rather practice makes permanent. Without drills and repetition to build muscle memory, response time, personal physical awareness, depth perception, etc. your sparring and fighting skills will not mature, at least not nearly as quickly as with a more educated training regimen.

Just my thoughts...

Spooks

 

[Thousand Kicks]

This statement seems like part of a bigger conversation so we have to be careful about taking it out of context.

With that being said I agree with the quote. Training to be a fighter includes footwork, conditioning, focus mits, bag work, and sparring (among other things). So if Mr. Reilly means a person should not rely on sparring alone to be a better fighter, then I agree. But, you also have no hope of being a better fighter if you don't spar on a regular basis.

 

[TKDTony2179]

This statement seems like part of a bigger conversation so we have to be careful about taking it out of context.*With that being said I agree with the quote. Training to be a fighter includes footwork, conditioning, focus mits, bag work, and sparring (among other things). So if Mr. Reilly means a person should not rely on sparring alone to be a better fighter, then I agree. But, you also have no hope of being a better fighter if you don't spar on a regular basis.

As you go up in rank I would agree that you should spar more. Especially 2 dan and up should spar more on a regular basis if you can. Forms are just help retain the knowledge you have learn. Bag work conditioning focus mitts become more of a work out at this level.
Now as beginners yes sparring shouldn't be the focus of their training.