Johnson's Black Belt Academy

Why we practice Sparring



















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One of the most controversial debates in the martial arts is sparring in martial arts training. Many traditional and self-defense oriented teachers would have you believe that sparring is a useless part of martial arts training.

Here are basic reasons to learn and participate in sparring:

1). The ability to perform under pressure:
By practicing sparring, you learn how to deal with the unrelenting attacks of an opponent. For the length of the match, you have to create an effective offense according to your opponent's fighting style.

2). The ability to quickly adapt to your opponent's actions:
Because free-sparring is not prearranged (like self defense practice), your opponent can use any type of permitted attack that they choose. you must be prepared to counter an endless variety of movements, adapting to your opponent's style and timing. Although a street fighter has many less rule limitations, an experienced sparring competitor can respond more quickly and calmly to unknown situations through full-contact practice.

3). The ability to protect yourself when injured:
In almost every sparring match, as in almost every self-defense situation, you will get hit. Whether it is a bruised foot, banged shin, you have to know how to continue in spite of the pain. Sparring teaches you this principle.
Injuries, and the pain associated with them, cause the human body to instinctively shut down. If you are not prepared for the mental and physical shock of an injury, you might be unprepared to defend yourself when hurt. Of course, this doesn't mean sparring with a serious injury, but it does mean learning to not get distracted by physical contact.

4). The ability to withstand an opponent's blows and respond calmly:
Novice students often imagine themselves stepping on to the mat and taking on an opponent with the serene calm of the black belts they have watched spar. Once they face their first opponent, reality sets in. When you get hit, your natural response is not calmness, but rather anger - a quick instinctive flash that urges you to exact revenge on your attacker, even if it is your classmate.

Learning to overcome this flash of anger is essential to both competing and defending yourself successfully. With experience, you can take your opponent's blows in stride and counterattack calmly and correctly without emotions.

5). The ability to think clearly under duress:
In other words, don't panic. The first time you face someone who wants to hurt you, even in a match, you may suddenly forget everything you ever learned and resort to hopelessly fending off an ever-increasing rain of blows. Or perhaps you may find yourself tied in knots, thinking of what you should have done instead of actually executing your strategy.

To overcome the instinctive fear you feel when confronted with a physical threat, you must face this fear and practice controlling it in a secure environment. There is probably no better environment for this than competitive sparring. Your skills are useless if you can't use them in a stressful situation.

6). The need for mental and physical endurance:
Regular sparring builds physical and emotional endurance. Physical endurance is important in confrontations when your opponent is larger than you or is a more experienced fighter. Through sparring with a variety of partners, you also learn to pace yourself and outlast tough opponents. Mental endurance is necessary in order to concentrate fully on your opponent's actions and to read his intentions - as well as to formulate your own strategy when the odds are against you.

7). The ability to strike with power and accuracy:
Hitting the heavy bag is useful but, as the saying goes, heavy bags don't hit back. Nor do they move around and try to avoid your attacks. If you want to learn to apply your skills realistically, you must apply them against a live opponent, just as you would in a real situation. You quickly learn what works and what doesn't when the pressure is on in the ring.

8). The ability to move quickly:
Practicing your skills in training drills improves your form, but only the pressure of a realistic confrontation can create the speed you need to attack and defend successfully. When your opponent launches an attack, you must be quick in both your reaction (to defend yourself) and also your action (to counter your opponent's attack). Through sparring, you develop speed and timing in evasion, defense, strategy, footwork and counterattacking.

9). The ability to spot vulnerabilities and exploit them:
Through sparring, you learn to spot weaknesses in your opponent's defense, to read their next move, to detect bad habits and to intercept telegraphed movements. These are intangible skills that you can learn only from experience. They are essential to defeating bigger, stronger assailants such as the one you may meet in a street confrontation.

10). The ability to apply your knowledge:
When you are proficient at sparring, you can easily apply your skills, speed, timing and strategy to any situation, whether competitive or confrontational. To enhance your self defense skills, you can modify your sparring practice to include techniques that may not be legal in your style. Some techniques, while not legal in sport competition, can be safely applied in full-contact sparring. Full-contact sparring is certainly no substitute for practical self-defense skills, but it can absolutely enhance your ability to defend yourself. By giving you a chance to put yourself at physical risk, full-contact sparring creates a realistic threat and gives you the opportunity and the tools to learn to control that threat and also your response to it. In this sense, self-defense and full-contact sparring are one in intent and spirit.