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| Sparring |
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"What is sparring". At
Wrexham Thai Boxing club the key elements are:
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You partner up
with someone and practice applying the techniques you’ve learnt.
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The style of
sparring is often referred to as Free Sparring – you use whatever technique
can be applied to gain advantage over your partner.
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You spar in
two or three minute rounds with a break of 30 seconds to one minute.
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The number of
rounds depend on the length of the session as well as your fitness.
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The sparring
is continuous during the round – It’s not like Karate where you recompose
yourself after a strike, it’s more like conventional boxing in the ring.
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"Am I expected to do sparring". If you don’t want to spar we’re not going to push you into doing it. You won’t even get peer pressure to spar, so you won’t feel like the odd one out. We’re all pretty relaxed about the approach club members choose."Isn’t sparring really just for the fighters". Just kicking or punching pads isn’t going to teach you about applying the techniques and if you should ever need to use them in real life then it’s best that your have trained to apply them. I guess the phrase "practice makes perfect" spells it out."Can I start sparring immediately". You won’t be allowed to spar until we are confident that you are sufficiently experienced to spar and that you aren’t going to hurt yourself, or your sparring partner. I can almost hear you saying "How could I hurt my sparring partner if I don’t know how to spar". And it’s exactly that reason – you won’t be familiar with sparring and probably won’t have the sense of timing, distance, co-ordination, control, concentration that are all key elements in sparring and develop with training. If we let you loose immediately you could throw a kick that you think is going to land lightly, but if you haven’t judged your distance accurately, even a light kick can hurt, and it will probably be your partner that gets the pain. So until we are confident – you won’t spar."Could I get beaten up sparring". Sparring has a bit of a bad reputation from films like "Rocky" where the bad guy has sparring partners who get beaten to a pulp. Even seemingly innocent films like "The Karate Kid" have given martial arts a bad reputation, portraying clubs as being out to prove a point, where sparring becomes survival of the fittest. Thankfully Thai Boxing thrives on the respectful and disciplined traditions from the Thailand training camps. Anyone wanting to, or trying to beat up members would not be tolerated."But there is ‘contact’ though". Many clubs use the words Full-contact or Semi-contact, which, quite correctly, indicate that there is going to be some contact between you and the person you’re sparring with. We don’t use these terms, we simply say go as light or as heavy as you want, but make sure you have AGREED with your partner. So you decide what level of contact, if any, there’s going to be. That way it’s not set by a term (e.g. semi-contact) which you or your partner might understand differently."But what about accidental injury". Well, there is injury and then there is INJURY! If we are talking about those every day bumps; knock your leg on the corner of a table - Ouch! Then there is probably no difference. But then there are real injuries, like broken bones. Personally I would rate football more dangerous, with a far greater chance of serious injury. But because this is a martial art and one of the most aggressive we take measures to reduce the risk.Firstly, we wear safety clothes. In a typical sparring session you would wear a Gum shield, Sparring gloves (These are very padded compared to boxing gloves used in the ring), Wrist/hand bandages, Chest protector (Ladies), Groin guard (Men), Shin guards, Foot pads. So when you start sparring it will be with the confidence of being well protected with gloves and pads that not only protect you but also reduce the risk of injury to your partner – remember that you are also a partner. The next step is to agree with your partner how heavy/light you are going to spar and what style you are going to use (Conventional Boxing, Kickboxing, Thai Boxing). Then when you start sparring avoid using a technique you aren’t comfortable with when you are practicing on the pads. And finally some golden rules: |
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Control – Think about what your doing and do your best to apply the techniques you’ve learnt – Be aware of your Timing, Distance, Balance and Co-ordination
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Contact – Remember just how much contact you have agreed to with your partner
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Following these simple rules will minimise the risk of any injury to you and you partners |
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| Introduction | |||||
| Thai or Kick Boxing |
