sparring question

[wind draft]

I have a fear when sparring. When I move forward to attack, I'm afraid of getting a front kick, front stomp kick, or any kicks coming at me when I come forward. How do you guys deal with this?

Like I was sparring with my friend and I moved in to do a step punch and he kicked and it could have hit in my the balls or round house fast enough. What can I do? Thanks.

[jungle-mania]

Sorry, no easy answer. Train hard and spar more.

[Scott R. Brown]

Hi wind draft,

From your question it sounds as if you are a novice. I felt a lot of uncertainty when I first began to spar as well! All it really takes is time and practice!

Here are some hopefully helpful tips though:

1) One of the problems with sparring is that it tends to train the mind that you have lost if you are scored upon and this is a detrimental attitude when fighting in real life. Sometimes you have to take a punch to give a punch. When I spar I never acknowledge a score from my opponent. This is not considered good etiquette, but that is how I learned to avoid a defeatist attitude. So try not to be preoccupied with the opponent scoring points on you.

2) Don’t attack without a preceding feint of some kind. This takes practice. The goal is to pretend you are attacking or perhaps actually attacking an area other than your intended target to create a response and therefore an opening in the opponent’s defenses that will allow you to attack. It takes time and practice to perform this effectively. In time your opponent will wise up to your feints, so you must vary them. Don’t be afraid to continue feinting until an opening occurs.

3) Try to relax and have fun! Learn to develop the attitude of calm indifference. If you try too hard to score or win that emotional attitude causes a weakness in your performance. Your mind becomes focused on the points and not on your actions. Consider your goal to improve your ability and try not to become preoccupied with winning. Improving performance increases the probability of winning.

Here is something to try:

Determine which actions by you prompt your partner to execute a front kick. Experiment with a few actions to see which ones cause him to front kick. You have just discovered a weakness in his attack. You can now make him front kick or frequently make him front kick just by performing your action. Then devise an effective response to his front kick like an arm sweep, or lunge forward to jam the kick. Then perform your responsive attack.

I hope this helps a little. Good Luck!!

[Vasquez]

I have a fear when sparring. When I move forward to attack, I'm afraid of getting a front kick, front stomp kick, or any kicks coming at me when I come forward. How do you guys deal with this?

Like I was sparring with my friend and I moved in to do a step punch and he kicked and it could have hit in my the balls or round house fast enough. What can I do? Thanks.

LOL castration. It sounds like you're new to kung fu, maybe kick boxing or some mma.

[brothernumber9]

turn your stance sideways, don't square up, drill jamming kicks.

[Vasquez]

turn your stance sideways, don't square up, drill jamming kicks.

Just jump the low kicks and duck the high kicks. anything in between a fore arm block will be enough.

[SPJ]

B9 is correct about using the side to face the opponent.

You may Gua the kicking leg or sweep down one of your forearms laterally to the side to fend off the kick. And move in with your attack or throw by moving your rear foot forward.

You may use both hands to "catch" the leg and swing it upward or sideway to make him fall. You still approach from the side.

B is correct about faking a move. Usually, you want to attack high, you fake a low kick. If you want to attack mid or low, you fake a high right punch and proceed with a left mid punch or low kick to the knee.

etc.

You may also raise your knee and rotate your leg inward or outward to fend off a frontal kick to your groin and then kick his supporting leg with the same foot.

If the opponent kick high, you go low in a squatting stance and do a leg sweep or scissor cut his supporting leg.

on and on.

[count]

SPJ is correct. If you don't know, Gua means Shave the leg. :D

You'll never get over that feeling of nervousness, but you can use it to your advantage. It just takes some experience. Don't think about what your going to do if... Just train for specific situations. Against kicks train your "gua" and 'go". This means to shave or hook. A rule of thumb is if you want to kick show the hand, if you want to punch show the leg. If this guys is just kicking at you, do not step back. Jam in and try to hook the leg. Don't stop there, keep going!!! A "gua" (shaving motion) will dump him on his ass.

To train this, have a partner with a shina (bamboo sword) swing at you from any direction a kick can come from. Kicks are a lot slower than the bamboo. Either hook and shave or shave and hook the bamboo. If you miss, there is still some conditioning benefit. :D

Edit: for correction :D

[aaaaaaa]

If you are afraid when sparring you and your partner must be using too much speed and power. Slow down and tell your partner to do the same. My teacher always says you fight to win but you spar to learn. Meaning you should be going slow enough to try out new techniques without the fear of it going wrong and getting whacked for it. Otherwise you will only stick to what you know and not learn anything new. As you get better then you can go faster but you should always feel safe and comfortable.

Also, you may want to buy a groin protector. I got kicked in the groin a few days ago and it wasnt fun.

[fa_jing]

Right, coax the kick out, but move laterally or stay out of range. Then as he puts his foot down, rush in and attack. Or, kick first.

[wind draft]

Thank you for your advices. I have tried stepping in with my step punch while raising my leg to clash against his kick but sometimes his kicks are just too fast when i move to punch and this is going slower than our full speed. I guess I'm just gonna keep practicing. Thank you again. By the way, I study CMA. It's called Baat Ying Baat Faat, eight animals eight methods. It's a neoclassical of choy lay fut with some hung ga, wing chun, and some northern influences. Some may think this is chop suey but i know it works.

Is there anything wrong with learning a style that someone recently made up in the 70s? My Dai Sigung learned Choy lay fut from his father, and learn hung ga, wing chun, and some northern kicking and other influence and came up with his style. I don't know how other traditional chinese martial artists view on this. THanks.

[Mortal1]

When someone is kicking, step to the side and close the gap. Also fight closer in general. Most kicks need distance to be effective.

[D4NNY]

Hi mate,

When i first started to spa i felt very much the same as you do, first thing i got was a groin guard!! felt so much more confident with this on. This will take away alot of your anxiety for moving in fast and direct. Try to spa sideways on more and move in hard on your oponents kick resulting in them either being knocked off balance or floored. Ask your sparing partner to do a few practice kicks at a reality spead but controlled enough not to cause you damage, see how your reactions are to this and then improve from there onwards.

Ave fun ;)

[Yum Cha]

There is really nothing one can say without adding "in a certain situation" it comes down to fundamentals. Every attack has a counter.

Shaving the leg, great

Attack the leg with hands, or kick it when it comes up - agressive jamming.

Use timing - people need a certain stability to kick, move, get them to move and attack them in their move before they establish the stability.

Overpower. Fundamentally, a man on two legs can over power a man on one leg, learn how to make that work.

A lot of this comes under the heading of "Ring craft" not the actual techniques, but the management of the engagement.

The first challenge faced by many novices is to make your opponent less confident that you are a "walk over."

It all comes of practice.

[Vasquez]

There is really nothing one can say without adding "in a certain situation" it comes down to fundamentals. Every attack has a counter.

Shaving the leg, great

Attack the leg with hands, or kick it when it comes up - agressive jamming.

Use timing - people need a certain stability to kick, move, get them to move and attack them in their move before they establish the stability.

Overpower. Fundamentally, a man on two legs can over power a man on one leg, learn how to make that work.

A lot of this comes under the heading of "Ring craft" not the actual techniques, but the management of the engagement.

The first challenge faced by many novices is to make your opponent less confident that you are a "walk over."

It all comes of practice.

he might be getting into sparring too early.

[PlumDragon]

Practice practice practice.

And wear a cup--That might help you feel a bit better ;)

[Vasquez]

Practice practice practice.

And wear a cup--That might help you feel a bit better ;)

don't worry, sparring is not like real fight anyway.

[7th gen yang]

hello wind draft
Im new to this forum just adding my 2 cents In response

-Sparring is practice of the fundemental use of your weapons (Hands,Feet,Strategies,etc.) But before you do spar, you should have already trained mentally. Your Imagination is a very important to your training because if you imagine the various punches, kicks an opponent has (Example High Front kick,Middle front kick,Low front kick,Jumping High Front kick etc.) you will be better prepared for It.
(Its no longer just one technique it is four or five techniques, what technique can my opponent do in this stance? if I do this what if he does this etc, how many responses do you have for each of the techniques?)

use the imagination ( use a mirror at first, helps To see different angles, and helps to clean up your technique);

start using the mirror/imagination find the weak points of the technique being applied on you!(Position of the opponents Left foot, right foot, stance,angle etc.) take note of your response to it(Take a step to his outside,does he take two to correct?) and your positioning, only position yourself just out of range and power of the opponents(leave enough space for counter without overextending or what ever strategy you use),, of course some techniques you won't be able to see in the mirror so try using a Video Camera, record yourself as if you are your opponent go slow then later speed up your response, RELAX (Study action/reaction).
understand your body by knowing where your power of the technique comes and goes (Neutralization), and what goes for you, goes for the opponent(as long as you trained properly)
" practice, ponder,persevere and you will have no fear" as long as your truthfull to yourself as what is practical!. train just one response at a time maybe 2or3 thousand times! and your fear will go away and your skill will be the proof to your practice. only one of many ways to train to be fearless!

[wind draft]

Thank you for all the tips and advice. I sparred with some of my other kung fu brothers and I gotta tell you, it's much funnier and easier to spar when they're not trying to kick you in the balls.

When I was sparring my other friend, he would always kick right around there and it made me more scare of coming in and attack. But everything everyone had said, was good advice.

Thanks again! :)

[Vasquez]

hello wind draft
Im new to this forum just adding my 2 cents In response

-Sparring is practice of the fundemental use of your weapons (Hands,Feet,Strategies,etc.) But before you do spar, you should have already trained mentally. Your Imagination is a very important to your training because if you imagine the various punches, kicks an opponent has (Example High Front kick,Middle front kick,Low front kick,Jumping High Front kick etc.) you will be better prepared for It.
(Its no longer just one technique it is four or five techniques, what technique can my opponent do in this stance? if I do this what if he does this etc, how many responses do you have for each of the techniques?)

use the imagination ( use a mirror at first, helps To see different angles, and helps to clean up your technique);

start using the mirror/imagination find the weak points of the technique being applied on you!(Position of the opponents Left foot, right foot, stance,angle etc.) take note of your response to it(Take a step to his outside,does he take two to correct?) and your positioning, only position yourself just out of range and power of the opponents(leave enough space for counter without overextending or what ever strategy you use),, of course some techniques you won't be able to see in the mirror so try using a Video Camera, record yourself as if you are your opponent go slow then later speed up your response, RELAX (Study action/reaction).
understand your body by knowing where your power of the technique comes and goes (Neutralization), and what goes for you, goes for the opponent(as long as you trained properly)
" practice, ponder,persevere and you will have no fear" as long as your truthfull to yourself as what is practical!. train just one response at a time maybe 2or3 thousand times! and your fear will go away and your skill will be the proof to your practice. only one of many ways to train to be fearless!


agree that's why we learn 20 to 30 different blocks against all possible combination of punches and kicks.