Sparring Partners

[Harry]

Well here's my problem.
When we spar, the seniors spar with their gear on, anyone without gear does light contact, which gives me (in theory) 5 people I can fight with.
Well, the girls prefer to do pad work than spar.
So thats 3 people now.

Thats the problem, I can't learn anything from them.
Before i start, Im not trying to be cocky, merely realistic, I need to spar with someone who can beat me or can challenge me for me to learn something.


1.Simeon.
The problem : His cardio isnt good enough, he was exhausted when we started pad work, by the time we got to sparring his kicks were so slow and predictable I could push kick him away as he wound up and I could land almost any kick I wanted because he was too slow too guard.

2. Small children, the 2 , 6 year old sons of the best senior in the class, both around 5ft, they reach my bellybutton, I only fought one, who did this every time, and I mean every.
Run at me, roundhouse, spinning round to a reverse roundhouse, I could sidestep or block everytime, the only time he hit me was when I reverse roundhoused him as he roundhoused me, which made him lose his balance.

I can't ask my instructor to let me spar with anyone else because its not fair, they havent spent money on gear to fight light contact with a no belt.
And I can't get sparring equipment yet, So the question is, what do you guys think I can learn from these potential opponents?

This lesson I was trying to be defensive, I wanted to work on improving my kick blocks, but this was not to be, Simeon, who was the only person capeable of kicking above my bellybutton, was too tired to do any actual kicks and instead faked punches, kicks, back hands , in fact everything was faked.

This was annoying, as far as cardio went, this had been my best lesson, we'd done more work than normal and I wasnt very tired, last lesson I had got to spar with one of the girls, She was older than me, but a similar height, and she was a challenge, but alas she didn't spar this time.

So is there anything I can practice with my 3 opponents?

Thanks, Harry.

[Damian Mavis]

heh, is this post a joke? You paid enough attention to evaluate your sparring ability against a 6 year old? uh..... what kind of muay thai club has little kids in it?

Damian Mavis
Honour TKD

[Harry]

heh, is this post a joke? You paid enough attention to evaluate your sparring ability against a 6 year old? uh..... what kind of muay thai club has little kids in it?

Damian Mavis
Honour TKD

One where the top fighter brings along his kids?

[Khun Kao]

One of our students brings his son along too. Its not uncommon for Moms/Dads to bring their kids with them to class.

If I've read this correctly, the reason you're unable to spar is because you don't have the proper gear. The solution seems pretty simple. Get your own gear.

[Damian Mavis]

The top fighter amidst the 6 year olds? He must be deadly.

I`m only teasing you because you were so serious about how well you sparred against toddlers... reminded me of the Seinfeld episode were Kramer was proud of defeating small children in his karate class.

I must be a real jerk since Im the only one that finds this funny. heh

Damian Mavis
Honour TKD

[Harry]

The top fighter amidst the 6 year olds? He must be deadly.

I`m only teasing you because you were so serious about how well you sparred against toddlers... reminded me of the Seinfeld episode were Kramer was proud of defeating small children in his karate class.

I must be a real jerk since Im the only one that finds this funny. heh

Damian Mavis
Honour TKD

1. If im paying I may as well take it seriously, I don't see much point in going just to mess around if I can't get a decent sparring partner.

2. Ive been there 3 weeks and now know the death touch and I can subdue my instructor with an ancient thai death blow, which I deal out on other members of the class invariably and without predudice.

[Tom Yum]

ancient thai death blow, which I deal out on other members

explain how the thai death blow works against a member...

[Damian Mavis]

Ok Harry! That last one HAD to be a joke. Is that you SherwinC in disguise?

And please, no death blows to members, that is the worst thing you could do to a man.

Damian Mavis
Honour TKD

[Harry]

Ok Harry! That last one HAD to be a joke. Is that you SherwinC in disguise?

And please, no death blows to members, that is the worst thing you could do to a man.

Damian Mavis
Honour TKD

Jesus, I said one joke and you turn it into something disgusting, I have the worst mental picture ever, thankyou very much, if you'll excuse me im going to wash my mouth out with soap.

[Tom Yum]

Jesus, I said one joke and you turn it into something disgusting, I have the worst mental picture ever, thankyou very much, if you'll excuse me im going to wash my mouth out with soap.

Are you too good for Listerine...jj

[bettybizkit]

well, i think that one can always benefit from sparring, regardless of the level of the opponent. i usually spar a few hours a week and sometimes its with more experienced people and sometimes with less. i still learn something when sparring less abled individuals, at the very least, i learn how to help them and practice speed w/o force, keeping my chin down, gloves up, moving around, etc.

i spar guys mostly, which i find much easier, because i don't have to worry so much about hurting them, like i do constantly when sparring with other girls. if you have only been sparring a few weeks, chances are you may not be ready to advance to sparring the other people at your school yet. good luck. betty

[tekshow]

harry, whatever you're doing man, the serious student attitude you have is something good.


i think you have the right idea, but instead of gaging how well you can dominate these people because you aren't at a point of sparring more seriously with gear yet you should try a couple different things.


with people your size:
try to put yourself in the worst possible situations and then get out of them. working from a negative scenario can really help you improve counters and escapes.

use that time as a learning tool, instead of focussing on something your good at like shield blocking the guys kicks you can see coming, try some new technique you're not very good at and see how many times you can do it in a given night.


with the toddlers: i know it sucks, but just plan on showing them things they can benefit from. in teaching someone else, even if you can only offer a limited amount of knowledge and experience, it will help further your own understanding of what your sifu is trying to give.



if you really have only been there a short time, give it some more time and let things set in before you're eager to "death touch." I know that was a joke but one of the mistakes people often make is asking for things before they're ready. If you really have a good Sifu he'll know when you are ready to step it up. That's the point of this, really, if you're not content where you are at maybe you should look into some other schools that are a little more fleshed out with people for you to learn from. sometimes it can be a bad sign if there are only a few students, not always, which is why i caution you to absorb as much as you can and really be observant, this might be the spot for you, but it doesn't mean you can't just look elsewhere in the meantime.



good luck in your path and your sparring, remember you have something to learn from everyone.

[Harry]

I'm kinda horrified, I was doing pad work last week, the normal guy I work with wasn't here, so I sparred with a different student, after talking to him I found out he wasn't so much a kickboxer, he was part of a self defence couse that meant he took both karate and kickboxing at the place, he was a brown belt and did about 6 hours a week, he was about 14 I think.
However, I was worried, not with the strength of his punches, (they were really weak, but at 14 you're still growing) he had difficulty hitting pads at his hip height, he tried to do a roundhouse and then a back heel kick or something, except he did it really slow, you know the speed, when you want to make sure you're muscles know exactly where everything is, and he missed.
It was just generally worrying that 6 hours if not more, a week, 2 kickboxing, 4 karate, and he was having difficulty hitting the pads?

Are you too good for Listerine...jj

I'm a drummer, im too dumb to stop myself from swallowing

chances are you may not be ready to advance to sparring the other people at your school yet.

My very first spar was light contact with one of the seniors, I specificly remember him destroying me completely, I did a simple front kick, he managed to stop it easily and then almost completely blitzed my ribs, I backpedalled a couple of miles lol

try to put yourself in the worst possible situations and then get out of them. working from a negative scenario can really help you improve counters and escapes.

Thats a great idea, I'm trying to think of things, are you thinking along the lines of, delibrately missing and messing up a roundhouse so you're back is to you're opponent and then working on recovering?

with the toddlers: i know it sucks, but just plan on showing them things they can benefit from. in teaching someone else, even if you can only offer a limited amount of knowledge and experience, it will help further your own understanding of what your sifu is trying to give.

Everyone I've done pad work with, I've been taught something, the senior who kicked my ass, taught my axe kicks, and helped me with my roundhouses, the brown belt self defence guy taught me a move I despise.

It was something like a cresent hand? You swing in a high arc motion, hitting the side of their face with the side of you're hand that you're thumb is on, on the pads alone this hurt my thumb, my hand and jarred my entire arm, there was no-way I wanted to try it on someones skull, I was probably just doing it wrong, but it wasn't my cup of tea.

I'm entertaining the concept of taking a look at the Muay Thai club in my area, its SIMPTA or something, the only problem is, I very apprehensive, my kickboxing class incorporates all Muay Thai methods apart from kicking with the shins, im just worried I'll get there and be made to do 600 sit ups followed by a one on one with a 6 foot champion

Thanks for all the advice everyone, I'm gonna be trying out some of the suggestions in a few hours.