[ledove]

Originally Posted by LisaC

It's pretty fun, actually. For testing, our sparring is really just for demonstration of that level's kicks - blue: jumping; purple: jump spinning; brown: multiple kicks in air. There's two people aiming their kicks towards one another, but the emphasis is on technique.

We have "combos," a couple of kicks & hand techniques together, at each belt level to show the new techniques. Invisible opponents

Originally Posted by LisaC

Tournament sparring is another matter. We score points if an attack - hitting or kicking - is within a certain distance - 8 inches or so for white belts, an inch or so for black belts. As an example - Gina's opening roundhouse kick to the head would have scored had she stopped the kick and rechambered within a few inches of her surprised competitor's head. So it emphasizes the self-control tenet. I still smack and get smacked once in a while. If serious contact does occur, both competitors are held to blame - the hitter for not being under control, and the hittee for not dodging the blow. Though the hitter can be penalized for total lack of body control or blind technique.

I can understand the self-control reason for non-contact. The joke in our school is that you don't want to spar the yellow belts (first level with sparring) because they have no self-control. But after an opponent tells you you're hitting too hard--or not hard enough--you learn to adjust. (Hey, I think I just came up with a new drill for the yellow belts in their sparring class. Maybe they'll stop bruising me up!)

We have the "both fault", as well. Some of the more serious hits I've seen/had were from either not moving out of the way or moving in to the hit (while thinking you were actually dodging). And yes, the hittee gets told it was their own fault. But if you're a black belt, everything is your fault. Doh!

I've judged a few tournaments, and we always emphasize "appropriate contact level" for each belt level. For example, the yellow belts can not hit very hard while the black belts had better hit pretty hard for the hit to count. Of course, they can still only hit to the target areas. Especially with the lower belts, we have to remind that if the hit is too hard, it will not count. It's control, but kinda backwards, I guess.

Originally Posted by LisaC

I know that many martial artists think that this style is a waste of time .... That's okay .. I'm still very new to all this and am happy where I'm at now. We get into controls and breakaways sometimes, and I realize that I want very little to do with joint work - one loss of concentration could really screw things up...

Meh, I'm not good with remember all those joint manipulations, and I shudder anytime we work on moves that will dislocate elbows if done fully. I dislocated mine falling during sparring; not from contact, just stupidity.

I've honestly never heard of "no contact sparring" before. It just seems strange to fight without hitting anyone or being hit since I've been hit for so many years. We've done some as a warm-up to sparring or as a drill, with any hit being a set of pushups, but never a fight that way.

What targets to you aim at? We have sides of the head, right above the forehead, chest, and ribs. Do you guys do a lot of strikes toward the face, kidneys, throat, and other areas that wouldn't work for contact sparring? I could see that as a definite advantage of non-contact sparring, something that would be useful for self-defense teaching. (Whereas we have to teach the kids to spar and later teach them to fight (mostly throwing out all the Rules).)

Still, I think between no-contact and contact sparring, I'd rather have full contact, crazy as that is. There's something fun in it. Kinda in the same way I think Alwyn's workouts are fun. Fun as in "I survived. I must not've done something right..."