Who is Welcome to Sparring

[Big Don]

At my Dojo we have sparring on Monday nights at 6:30, come on by, we've got something for you.
My Sifu loves to spar as do most of our students. Anyone and everyone is welcome to come to spar with us.
Recently one of our Black Belts went to another Kenpo school in a neighboring town and no one would spar with him or the Brown and Green belts (1 of each) that he took with him. Then, I heard that one of our Black Belts went to a different Kenpo school in another neighboring town and was turned away flatly. "No 'outsiders' at sparring" What the heck is that about?
What about your school? Is sparring a major part of your training? Do you have regular sparring nights? Are others welcome to come spar? Or even observe?

 

[Adept]

Well, I know if a group of students from another school turned up at my school, asking to spar with my students, I would probably turn them down.

The scenario reeks of egotism. It would seem like these students have only come to my school so they can beat up my students, and convince themselves about how great their school is and how tough they are.

I would want to talk to the owner of their school first, and make sure we are definately on the same page with! I would have no objection to having students from other schools come to my school to spar, but I would want to be sure of their intentions first.

 

[Sukerkin]

I would concur with that. It's a question of determining 'intent' before opening the door, so to speak.

 

[Jade Tigress]

Well, I know if a group of students from another school turned up at my school, asking to spar with my students, I would probably turn them down.

The scenario reeks of egotism. It would seem like these students have only come to my school so they can beat up my students, and convince themselves about how great their school is and how tough they are.

I would want to talk to the owner of their school first, and make sure we are definately on the same page with! I would have no objection to having students from other schools come to my school to spar, but I would want to be sure of their intentions first.

I couldn't agree more. High ranking students randomly walking into other schools to *spar* would raise red flags. And to be honest, if you're confident in your training, what's the point of walking into other schools to spar? You don't know their class format so you'd be walking in cold and expecting them to stop whatever they're working on to accomodate you.

Seems like the best thing would be for your Sifu to call neighboring schools, explain his intentions, and ask if they would like to form a sparring club. Schools could get together once a month or something. If you just want to see how you stack up, hold a tournament, but it's poor MA etiquette to invade someone else's school to spar, even you truly have good intentions.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

I would concur with that. It's a question of determining 'intent' before opening the door, so to speak.

I am with you there and I like to spar myself. (though I only do full contact with throws, takedowns and grappling, tools, etc. no point sparring for me

) Still intent of what is going on is important and what the people coming to the school want to achieve. These would need to be determined.

 

[terryl965]

I would have to jump on the rest of them bandwagon here, why would BB come to my school to spar without having the common courtesy to call first and arrange this with me.

 

[Tez3]

We aren't a traditional club as we do MMA most of the time, anyone is welcome to come and spar/train with us as we are at other MMA clubs. We usually phone first just to check the training on usually. We have a traditional club near us with whom we are on good terms, their instructor told them they were very welcome to come and spar with us but to be prepared to do full on sparring not the points type they do, we haven't had anyone yet. A coulpe of us with a traditional background have been down to them though as we can adapt easier to their style.
We've never had blackbelts from other styles coming in which is a shame really as they are very welcome. We've had a Judo brown belt though who came for a couple of weeks while on a course up here, that was fun for all of us. We do have a lot of people 'passing through' the club as we are on a military base and with postings, detachments etc it's difficult for people to train every week. We have students who go away for 6 months at a time over to hotter climes, thank god they've all come back though one, a medic didn't come back the same mentally as he went and has left the army and the club. He is however continuing training with another club we know well so hopefully we'll still see him.
If anyone is passing our way they are more than welcome to pop in btw!

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

We aren't a traditional club as we do MMA most of the time, anyone is welcome to come and spar/train with us as we are at other MMA clubs. We usually phone first just to check the training on usually. We have a traditional club near us with whom we are on good terms, their instructor told them they were very welcome to come and spar with us but to be prepared to do full on sparring not the points type they do, we haven't had anyone yet. A coulpe of us with a traditional background have been down to them though as we can adapt easier to their style.
We've never had blackbelts from other styles coming in which is a shame really as they are very welcome. We've had a Judo brown belt though who came for a couple of weeks while on a course up here, that was fun for all of us. We do have a lot of people 'passing through' the club as we are on a military base and with postings, detachments etc it's difficult for people to train every week. We have students who go away for 6 months at a time over to hotter climes, thank god they've all come back though one, a medic didn't come back the same mentally as he went and has left the army and the club. He is however continuing training with another club we know well so hopefully we'll still see him.
If anyone is passing our way they are more than welcome to pop in btw!

The best thing you said here was that you call. That is common courtesy and also your intentions are good and noble.

 

[MBuzzy]

My school would turn them away as well. In Soo Bahk Do, our sparring is primarily to apply the things we learn in class and to practice technique in a fighting situation. I WOULD NOT want the lower belts at my school fighting a high ranking belt from another style. Our sparring is more about learning than competition.

If we were interested in practicing against other styles or sparring for the sake of winning, a sparring club or pre-arranged matches would be the best bet.

 

[Kacey]

We don't have a set night when we spar. Anyone who shows up is welcome to join class (calling first is appreciated) - but we may or may not spar on any particular evening.

 

[Tez3]

To be honest we don't mind whether people call or not, it's just that if we aren't there we'd hate for people to have a wasted journey! To be honest traditional martial artists shun us, they wouldn't turn up even if we invited them (and we have done before just to have received a snooty put down). In the MMA world here as in the military world of which we are in both, unexpected visitors are always 'known' to us as being part of the 'family' even if we haven't met before! We always have friends and colleagues in common. I think military people would understand what I mean. Anyone putting their head round the door is welcome.We don't use anyone that comes in as mat fodder either, they are treated as friends.

 

[searcher]

Well, I know if a group of students from another school turned up at my school, asking to spar with my students, I would probably turn them down.

The scenario reeks of egotism. It would seem like these students have only come to my school so they can beat up my students, and convince themselves about how great their school is and how tough they are.

I would want to talk to the owner of their school first, and make sure we are definately on the same page with! I would have no objection to having students from other schools come to my school to spar, but I would want to be sure of their intentions first.

I agree with this wholeheartedly. I have had students come from schools around our area to "test us out." We tend to be a little rough for most peoples taste and they walked away with a little less attitude than what they walked in with. The probelm with doing this, is that you are asking for a law suit. Trust me, if you walk into my school and say you are from ____________'s school and you are wanting to spar, you will be leaving with a minimum of a few broken bones. That may seem harsh to some, but you are the one who is looking to lay down a challenge, not us.


You may want to think about that before you show up at someone's school wanting to spar only. We have had some come workout with us and everything went fine. My I-ryu instructor was one of them.

Just don't make a challenge(which is the way I would see it) without being ready to get hurt.

 

[Tez3]

We've never had anyone come in 'challenging' us! In fact never had anyone come in with an 'attitude'. We look to spar with as many different people as we can because the experience is invaluable. You get used to your sparring partners if you spar with the same people all the time and as a lot of us compete it's better to spar with as many different weights, body shapes and skills as possible.
We've never had people from other clubs in looking to beat us up nor do we go to other clubs looking to do that, we go for the experience. In fact I've seen many MMA fighters swapping skills with the person they have just fought in a competition. There is very little egotism in our training, people will come in to spar or roll with us and we them because that's what we do to learn.
On the MMA websites over here we put our training times and club addresses up precisely because we want people to come in. it's an open invitation.

 

[IcemanSK]

In addition to the courtesy factor mentioned, insurance liability issues may also factor in for some schools. For example, a YMCA itself may frown on "drop-ins" for insurance reasons.

Just a thought.

 

[Tez3]

In addition to the courtesy factor mentioned, insurance liability issues may also factor in for some schools. For example, a YMCA itself may frown on "drop-ins" for insurance reasons.

Just a thought.

True (and thanks btw!) We have Public Liability insurance as well as instructor and student insurance so we are covered for anyone that comes into the club whether they come to train or as a tradesman to fix something.

 

[KeeblerElf]

In my school, we've never had someone come in while I've been there so I don't know our policy, but I do know that we don't frequently spar and usually when we do we are either just doing it like a continuing warm up after stretches or are learning a lesson such as a new type of stance. Personally I don't think I would be very comfortable having someone from another school challenging me to a sparring match because I'm not into having bruises and broken bones and that might be what their school is in to. There is such a variety of different styles and variations within a style it almost seems dangerous to have that be done.

 

[Guardian]

To be honest we don't mind whether people call or not, it's just that if we aren't there we'd hate for people to have a wasted journey! To be honest traditional martial artists shun us, they wouldn't turn up even if we invited them (and we have done before just to have received a snooty put down). In the MMA world here as in the military world of which we are in both, unexpected visitors are always 'known' to us as being part of the 'family' even if we haven't met before! We always have friends and colleagues in common. I think military people would understand what I mean. Anyone putting their head round the door is welcome.We don't use anyone that comes in as mat fodder either, they are treated as friends.

Exactly, military do understand this, but I understand the points made here also, what is the reason for the unexpected show up tactic, even while in the military, courtesy and respect played a part of this conversation or should. It would only be right to seek permission first or advanced notice.

 

[Tez3]

Exactly, military do understand this, but I understand the points made here also, what is the reason for the unexpected show up tactic, even while in the military, courtesy and respect played a part of this conversation or should. It would only be right to seek permission first or advanced notice.

Permission isn't needed as we have already extended the invitation to everyone. Advance notice is not always possible with some who train with us, we get the guys from Hereford and Poole training with us, they don't give notice and none is expected. They come and go, they're the ghosts.
As for respect and courtesy it would seem the MMA clubs extend that far more than would seem to normal outside the MMA world, we don't challenge people to spar, we don't come into each others clubs to beat people up, we don't test each other out. We just train.
As I said you stick your head around our door and you'll get a warm welcome.

 

[Empty Hands]

I WOULD NOT want the lower belts at my school fighting a high ranking belt from another style. Our sparring is more about learning than competition.

Why does sparring someone from another style automatically become all about competition? Fighting someone with a completely new style or approach will teach you something new much more quickly than sparring with the same group using the same style and approach you are used to.

 

[Empty Hands]

Trust me, if you walk into my school and say you are from ____________'s school and you are wanting to spar, you will be leaving with a minimum of a few broken bones.

If that's all they said, then you and your cohorts are ****ing *******s. Even if they DO want to challenge you, there are ways to settle it without severe injury, which still makes you *******s. I hope you were just exaggerating.