to hit or not to hit...

[disgruntled]

after a frustrating sparring session, i decided to get your thoughts on this. how hard do you hit when sparring?

personally i just try to match the skill of the person sparring me. if the are unskilled i will hit less pull my hits more, but make my hits count. as they get warmed up and get more into it i will hit more....... now granted, i am the first to say that i suck at sparring, so most of the time i am people who have more sparring skill/practice. but, i find that this is when i grow the most, like i said i try to match a persons sparring level, so i try harder and feel free to acutally spar.... (i refuse to hit anyone that i do not at least feel a precevied threat from)

but i often have a problem when someone skilled refuses to try to attack me. throwing a hit here or there, but nothing substantial, so i learn little, and i do not feel inclinded to fight back...... but how do i know my sparring with less skilled opponents does not have the same affect?

so what is the ideal way to spar with someone less skilled? and further, should you attack someone if there is no threat, even if it is sparring?

[Hatori]

My own thoughts are similar to yours actually Missgruntled. When I spar I assess their ability and if they're a beginner then I just tap them to illustrate gaps in their guard and slow evasion etc but if they are more experienced then I use how hard they hit me as a yardstick. If they hit hard then I dish it out back but if they're unsure then I just go easy

[gman]

disgruntled,If I understood your dilemna on sparring correctly,I think I can help you with some thoughts from my experience.I am actually one of those students that are less skilled than my opponent,who happens to be my sensei,not that a lesser opponent would change things,for I am a white belt. He actually lightly connects to my gaps,getting me to get used to blocking them,and just when I think I"m used to the style he'll attack me,he shows me new gaps.Sometimes he adds a little "effort" in his connections,and sometimes he lets me come in with a little "effort".Throughout the sparring session,he will stop and explain why this worked,and why that didn"t. Now sometimes if one of us connects with a little effort,no problem,pause, "are you o.k." and continue ,I know he and I don"t intentionally want to injure each other,so no harm done in the name of learning...I hope this helps.

[disgruntled]

Originally Posted by gman

disgruntled,If I understood your dilemna on sparring correctly,I think I can help you with some thoughts from my experience.I am actually one of those students that are less skilled than my opponent,who happens to be my sensei,not that a lesser opponent would change things,for I am a white belt. He actually lightly connects to my gaps,getting me to get used to blocking them,and just when I think I"m used to the style he'll attack me,he shows me new gaps.Sometimes he adds a little "effort" in his connections,and sometimes he lets me come in with a little "effort".Throughout the sparring session,he will stop and explain why this worked,and why that didn"t. Now sometimes if one of us connects with a little effort,no problem,pause, "are you o.k." and continue ,I know he and I don"t intentionally want to injure each other,so no harm done in the name of learning...I hope this helps.

interesting... thanks...

you actually spar with your sensei? wow that is impressive! most instructors just teach and demo.

[Shirindo]

Again, I'm with you on this one. As the weaker skilled fighter I would expect to be able to go to my limit without the other fighter planting me on my backside every 2 minutes. By all means show me my weaknesses and tap me hard enough so I know that if you'd wanted to, I'd be sat down.

If I'm the stronger fighter then I would want to encourage the other fighter to try their best but to always be a thinking fighter and not a brawler. I will always tone down the power to suit my opponent but tend to keep the speed about normal.

I have always tried to stress that I dont care how good your punch/terchnique is if your blocks are next to useless. If you get hit first then it's a lot harder to pull off your own techniques with the same aplomb. Get those foundations right first before doing anything fancy!

[sirdarksol]

When people ignore the "threat" that I offer them, I put more into it. For example, if sirdarling's parries are only half-assed while we're doing our partner drills, I'll strike out while he's still setting himself up for the next drill, just to remind him that I'm there, I have a 6' piece of solid red oak with which to bash his skull, and if he doesn't take it seriously, he's going to learn just what that feels like. He does the same to me periodically (mostly reminding me that he can put quite a bit more strength behind his attacks).
I've done the same thing in sparring. If someone thinks that they're just going to toy around with me, I'll put enough force into a couple of strikes to nudge them into more action. If they don't get the hint, I'll explain that I need them to take the sparring more seriously or we might as well not do it.

[disgruntled]

that is a good way to do it sirdarksol... i find that approach hard because when someone does not take me serious i get insulted and frustrated and don't want anything to do with them..... which is the wrong approach! i usually store up some anger and then attack them, but i don't like to fight emotionally.... emotions cloud your judgement and my attacks are sloppy.

[sirdarksol]

Unfortunately, my method requires intellectualizing, which is only slightly better than fighting emotionally. Still, it gets the point across.