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View Full Version : How do Shaolin Monks Spar?


wiz cool c
03-20-2002, 10:15 AM
Do they do full contact? Do they wear equiptment? Do they grapple what kind? Does anyone have any storys?
cha kuen
03-20-2002, 10:53 AM
They spar in ways that loook the best inorder to make the most money.
Shaolindynasty
03-20-2002, 02:41 PM
Sanda is pretty big there. Full contact punches, kicks, throws allowed. On "dragons of the orient" some of the secular students(non monks) were sparring it looked pretty sloppy to me though. Anyway I'd be interested in hearing how more on they spar there also.

Hey Gene how do they sparr at shaolin?
GeneChing
03-21-2002, 10:33 AM
I actually trained and tested in Sanda there in '95. That was when I was a lot younger and could heal faster. Now it would surely kill me.

Shaolin Sanda is a lot like muay thai training, with the addition of line drills. Smae focus on conditioning, partner training, heavy bags and speed targets. They do wear pads - gloves, shins, headgear, mouthpiece, and groin protector, when they can afford them. Some can't so they fight without. They don't have rings or mats, so they train outside on dirt fields. Sometimes you'll see an old mattress, but I remember wacthing one kid being punished when all his classmates took turns working this throw on him consecutively - must of been about 30 kids - on cement.

For what it's worth, challenge matches are pretty frequent amongst the schools. A lot of people challenge the monks just to get a piece of them. So they still fight - a lot - and such matches are pretty much to satisfaction - anything goes.
shaolinboxer
03-21-2002, 02:53 PM
Hence the creation of the shaolin shuffle ;) (repeated rapid striking attacks, especially the elbow).

Regardless of what anyone says (even myself) about their monkhood or their sales tactics, they are some hard cats.
GeneChing
03-22-2002, 11:07 AM
Actually, I use the Shaolin Shuffle to refer to the petty politics you always get invovled with when at Shaolin for any length of time - not so much from the monks themselves, but more from the tourist vendors, hotel people, restaurants and the government guys. It wasn't so bad the last time I went, but maybe it's because I have more friends there now to watch over me. It is also due to the recent relocation.