Contact

Discussion in 'Disabled Martial Artists' started by BentMonk, Nov 1, 2005.

  1. BentMonk

    BentMonk Valued Member

    Greetings. I am curious. How hard do you spar? I'm not talking about working on a new technique or toning down what you do to help a classmate. I'm talking about the "if you don't block, you're hit" "you're my friend so this isn't FULL contact but..." kind of sparring. This is how I spar with some friends and my instructors. This isn't Fight Club. It's just another form of conditioning. IMO it is better to get knocked on your butt in class and helped up by a friend, than for your first real hit to be the fist of Bubba the mugger. Discuss... :D
     
  2. iHeretic

    iHeretic Not-for-Prophet

    But I'm in a wheelchair... you're not allowed to hit me...!
     
  3. BentMonk

    BentMonk Valued Member

    How Very Un-PC

    That was a good one. Thanks. After the day I've had I needed it. I despise political correctness. It's nice to see some others do too. :D
     
  4. BentMonk

    BentMonk Valued Member

    Chirp...Chirp...

    Ok, I know I'm not the only one who spars. Where is everybody? :)
     
  5. iHeretic

    iHeretic Not-for-Prophet

    Well... I do Aikido (and I'm still reallynew) so I don't really spar but I'll get some answers in here for you anyways :p

    In randori I prefer the attacks to come with movement and commitment... I find them much easier to deal with that way. If I were in an art that had sparring and striking (which might well happen in the new year), though, I'd prefer the same sort of commitment from my partner. I'm not above being smacked around a bit in the interests of conditioning our bodies and reflexes :D
     
  6. BentMonk

    BentMonk Valued Member

    Ready To Rumble

    I definetly see sparring as a form of conditioning. It's a lot of fun too. I would like to see a disbaled MA tournament that had medium and or full contact divisions. I have yet to find one. Do you think that there would be sufficient interest in such a thing to warrant it being done?
     
  7. soctt03

    soctt03 New Member

    Although I've posted elsewhere on this forum/site I run a martial arts event specifically for people with disabilities. Next one is not until November next year but if you are interested in attending we have a kata/forms/patterns competitive event. If you want further information please PM me.
     
  8. BentMonk

    BentMonk Valued Member

    Contact?

    Is contact allowed? The disabled MA event at the Arnold has very limiting rules. I'm not looking for bloodsport, but tag is a bit dull. :)
     
  9. Melanie

    Melanie Bend the rules somewhat.. Supporter

  10. soctt03

    soctt03 New Member

    Thanks first to Melanie for mentioning the Festival. Ok (for BentMonk & anyone else reading this post) the event is the UK Martial Arts Festival for People with Disabilities. It's been running since 1996 (next year we are 10 [grin!!]). the aim of the day is to encourage people with all kinds of disabilities to come try out a wide range of MA's. New for last year was a kata/forms/patterns competition for those attending who are already practising MA's. From the informal enquiries I've had thus far I think there will be quite a number for next year. No sparring tho' I'm afraid. It's a great day, truly, not because I say so but because everyone else from participants-cum-competitors to instructors and other volunteers says so. If u would like a web link to my own site will be happy to provide it but u will need to PM me for this. Also if u want to anything further/have further questions for me please PM me pls ask away on PM network. The target for those of you who want to come along is around the 500 mark!

    Thanks for the interest.
     
  11. Dr.Syn

    Dr.Syn Valued Member

    I don't spar in the traditional sense..When attending a police defense tactics class or teaching one we go pretty much all out..There is no room for error on the streets..
     
  12. Thomas

    Thomas Combat Hapkido/Taekwondo

    (from an older post I put up)We use many levels of sparring in class... ranging from no contact to heavy contact. We also wear various levels of pads. Our main concern is with what we want to gain from each session of sparring... e.g.

    (1) Do we want to work footwork and some new combinations? light or no contact

    (2) Are we trying to build confidence in new skills or break in new guys? light or no contact

    (3) Do we want to work on speed and control, while not making our people unafraid of getting hit? light contact

    (4) Do we want them to respect a bit of the power that can be applied? medium w/o pads or heavy with pads

    (5) Are we practicing self defence applications and/or low kicks and/or head/face strikes? light to medium contact

    (6) Are we gearing up for a full tournament? Some with medium contact to practice techniques and some with full to practice like a tournament.

    It all really depends what the purpose of your training is. The old argument of "no or light contact sparring can't cut it on the street" is partly bull. You do need to train with various degrees of speed and power so that you can effectively use them where ever and when ever you need to. It would be like saying shadow boxing is bad for boxers...

    With that said, that gives you an idea how we spar in general. Of course, it still has to be tailored to the individuals involved. For example, we hold off a while on high contact (and head shots) with the kids for a while until we can trust them. We tone down some of the contact for some of our seniors too. We work with a girl who is partly blind and has MR... but she's young and strong, so she gets put in most of the sparring categories.

    I work with a guy who just a few years ago was in a wheelchair. He walks now and can fight standing up despite not having very good balance. generaly we do"stand up" striking at light to medium contact (so I don't knock him down). Now that's he has become more mobile, we've been working breakfalls... so now we sometimes add takedowns and submissions too. Basically, it's on a case by case basis.



    I agree with you with one small exception: Even if I knock down my best friend in class, I never help them up... I don't want my students to ever help up an opponent or even get close enough to do so if they can avoid it. When students try to help me up, I pull them down and squash them!!!!!

    I am the d3adly in that respect. :D
     
  13. BentMonk

    BentMonk Valued Member

    Now We're Talking

    Thomas your post is what I was hoping to hear on this thread. I wasn't being wholely literal with my being helped up comment. I once spent an entire sparring class getting knocked down and attacked as I got back up. I encourage my classmates to continue attacking me whenever I hit the ground. Yesterday after telling my teacher that I was considering entering the full contact MMA competition at the Arnold in March, I was given some 4 dimensional examples of the things I needed to work on. :D I fully realize that sparring is for learning, and needs to be especially customized for someone with limitations. However I do feel that what seperates MA from simply working out is self defense. I do not understand the reasoning behind schools and tournaments that have no sparring. This isn't meant to be disrespectful. I apologize if it sounds that way. IMO if you take away sparring you remove a vital component of MA training, as well as a lot of the fun. You mentioned training for events with contact. Do you know of some disabled events with contact? If so info would be appreciated. What types of tournaments have you competed in? I've only done medium contact. I'm looking forward to going to the next level.
     
  14. Thomas

    Thomas Combat Hapkido/Taekwondo

    Unfortunately, I've seen nothing in our small area for sparring for disabled competitors. My main student that I mentioned isn't interested in that (luckily), but he gets enough sparring in class (I rotate the fun around with other students, both TKD and HKD - great learning for all involved). Often we take the contact level up pretty high (and add submissions)... as long as there is control and a disregard for a few bruises and cuts, it's all good!
     

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