typical exchange

[apoweyn]

in the interest of keeping me from my work...

walk me through a typical exchange in your sparring matches. sit back and feel the other guy out a bit? wade right in? wait for him to come to you? feint a bit?

what happens next?

fire away.


stuart b.

[norther practitioner]

Depends obviously on a few factors.
We do mixed sparring, some kempo and juijitsu guys, kick boxers, and shirfu and I (shirfu does more taichi, me, long fist). Anyhow, if I have sparred the person before, I'll try to mix it up, show them something different. Usually I will try to jump the gun, unless the person is significantly faster than I am. If that is the case I will fight from the outside, work my way in so that I don't get pummeled right away. Usually it will consist of trading a few kicks, then I will try to rush in during one of his kicks or advancing striking to go for some inside work.

[apoweyn]

good start. thanks northern practitioner.


stuart b.

[Liokault]

Being a short ass i can not afford to hold off as it makes me easy to pick off.

This means that i tend to make an opening and fill it in.

[dnc101]

Originally posted by apoweyn
in the interest of keeping me from my work...


I'll second that!

I work out with people from different styles, so I like to stay back and get a feel for what they want to do first. Typically it starts with footwork, circling, feinting, watch their face/eyes. Maybe let him come to me a couple of times to see how he wants to play. Then I usually try to play a different game than he wants. If he's a kicker, I try to get in close. If he's good with hands, I sometimes attack the hands. A well ballanced fighter (hands and feet) I might bait to kick, then trap the leg. Last Monday I worked out with a school from another town. Their base is TKD, but they are an exceptionally well rounded school, emphasizing Arnis, Aiki and grappling. I went several rounds, moderate contact, with one of their senior brown belts and he was good! It was tough to do anything to him at long or medium range. Taking an angle on him didn't work either. Only place I could get him was in close, and that was tough. And fast- I can't give you a play by play because it was constant motion, pure reaction and molding to his moves. I did get a few traps on his kicks, and drove him back off ballance when I could get inside and dominate his center line. But for the most part, he whupped up on me. Not really typical, I guess, but these are the types of sparring matches I live for.

[KC Elbows]

Lately, I've been trying to split it up half and half. The first time I spar in a night, I'll assault as soon as my teacher says "go", regardless of who I'm fighting. Mostly because I was doing too much sizing opponents up, and I felt it was somewhat unrealistic to only fight that way.

Depending on the opponent, my classmates are:

Wing chun guy who is learning six elbows and some 5 animals-Move a lot, assault, clinch at earliest opportunity.

-Sometimes works, usually he gets a number of good shots in, sometimes he catches me good and I go on the defensive and regroup(apparently, I'm a multiple).

Six Elbows Veteran guy- Let him move in, then punish him with low level kicks to take away his initiative of moving forward, then move forward.

-Very brutal sparring he and I do. I think I take more damage than him, as he's better than me at being on the offensive.

Boxing kid who is learning six elbows-Convince him to trade blows, as I outweigh him by more than 100 lbs. Endure his onslaught and crush him.

-He's an aggresive bugger, probably has the brightest future of any of our class in the martial arts. Too brave at times, but it gets him some good opportunities.

Other six elbows guy- Assault and keep assaulting, throw him off with the occasional kick, but mainly asault.

-He's gotten quite a bit better. It'll be interesting to see what kind of fighter he is when he gets more advanced. As it is, his attacks are powerful, so I have be very cognizant of where he's attacking, as he's the most likely to actually be able to hurt me aside from six elbows veteran and my teacher.

My teacher- Basically, I either size him up and assault, or just assault. However, I tend to unfocus against him, and instead of maintaining my assault, I back out too easily. I'm improving, but I've noticed that I need to adopt more fluid footwork, as I'm always "reaching" to hit him. I shuffle too much and don't step in enough. I assault, he does a flurry of blows, climbs on me like I'm a jungle gym, does bad things to my neck, I go "Is it over?" class gasps. I get up like nothing happened, do it all again. It's like a mass attack scene from a kung fu movie, except it's the same guy getting up again to be killed a different way every time.

[apoweyn]

LOL@KC

i'm digging these responses. keep em coming.


stuart b.