needed: Tips for sparring

Unpossible

hey all,
heres my problem: Im a yellow belt (hopefully will be green belt in a month or two) & my sparring leaves a lot to be desired. My kicks are too slow & can be seen a mile away, I keep dropping my defense, I dont think Im light enough on my feet & I seem to be developing very set attacks (ie I find myself always giving a kick with a front foot and only following it with a punch.

So I could use some tips on how to develop my sparring, should I jump rope to improve footwork? What can I do to improve my reaction time, what should I try and look for in my opponent when Im sparring?
Am I over reacting? will it all come together over a year or two? Any and all advice welcome


PS Im doing Han Moo Do, the sparring is just like TKD except we can throw the opponent if we get the chance (usually this happens when a kick isnt fast enough)

memphis

Am only at TKD a year or so now, so am not as experienced in sparring as some of the other posters here, so maybe their advice would be better.

Having said that, I have sparred at international level, so I know what involved, sparring needs to be fast, very fast. Its important to use combinations, don't just throw a kick and let that be it, follow up with a left jab and a quick right.

A technique I find good in sparring is stepping to the side as your opponent draws nearer to you, then execute a kick followed by a punch to the head... hasn't let me down yet.

Avoid fancy jump kicks and the like, they may be more point, but in a competition is far easier to gain point with a snap kick or side kick than tryin to jump. I always advice staying on your feet, but move around.

Finally, may sound daft, but before bowing to your opponent, stare him/her down. It happened to me in Holland for the EU championship, and it certainly scared me a bit.

Unpossible

cool, but I had to mention. In HMD competitions we dont allow punches to the head.


However in non-HMD competitions


* I also have to point out the reason Im asking for this information is because I dont get many tips from my instructors/higher belts. Their lack of english (& my lack of Finnish) causes a few little problems like this, where they find it hard to express themselves.

memphis

I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable training in an envirnment like that where languages cause a communication barrer, that aside though, I just wanna add always keep your guard up, can also be helpful to us the knee as a sheild, once you see an openning snap out the kick.

Unpossible

well the language was a major problem when I tried to do Judo here, but its a lot better in this art. there are more instructors willing to translate (one who teaches english), and the students are more helpfull as well.


got any tips/drills/tasks for improving reflex's & reactions?

pma-ire

Unpossible wrote:

well the language was a major problem when I tried to do Judo here, but its a lot better in this art. there are more instructors willing to translate (one who teaches english), and the students are more helpfull as well.


got any tips/drills/tasks for improving reflex's & reactions?

Buy some books and vids in the subject, you will learn alot more from them in your situation that from us trying to explain things out to you! You also need to get the instructor and his students to interact with you alot more, I used to train with a deaf guy when I was a young fella and I did'int know how to read sign. But we still understood eachother by the actions we done simulating the moves we wanted to do.

I still do this when I'm teaching to get the message and feeling across to the group so it came in very handy

Good luck with it

Cake Fiend

[I'm posting from a karate background, but the below advice is probably useful anyway. Bear in mind though, that I suck hard at sparring. But, there's a difference between knowing what you should do, and being able to do it!]

Well first off, at yellow/green belt level, noone expects you to be an expert, so don't feel like you should be under pressure - bear in mind that these skills will come in time, things like keeping your guard up, combinations, footwork, etc take getting used to.

It might sound obvious, but the best way to get good at sparring is to spar! This is the only way you'll get used to moving fluidly while having someone bearing down on you (or bearing down on someone!). You can try some combinations on your own though, to improve fluidity between techniques.

If your kicks are too slow, then (of course) practice speeding them up. Even if you kick relatively weakly, at least you'll get the kick in - power can be added as you get used to snapping a kick out. You're probably too tense, which is a very common problem with beginners. Also, don't over-exert yourself by trying to kick too high; make sure your lower kicks are good, then work your way up.

There's not anything inherently wrong with sticking to particular combinations, as long as they work. If something works, keep it (although be wary of your opponents knowing what's going to come!). By the same token, if you keep trying something and it's not working, don't bother with it. And as memphis mentioned, combinations are important. It's very rare that you see someone scoring with a single attack - much better is if you overload or confuse your opponent by following up attacks aimed at different areas (e.g. face jab -> face reverse punch -> stepping stomach reverse punch).

Watch the higher grades and see what they do. You'll probably notice that the more successful fighters have a few set combinations that they stick to, not giving anything away until they're sure they can score. You won't see them idly flicking out a kick or whatever for no reason, like you see with less experienced fighters. And if at all possible, try to have someone film you when you fight, so you can look back on it later. It's very hard to concentrate on so many things at once when you're in the ring, but you'll see tons of little mistakes on film that you never even knew you were making.

Millionaire

Take your time. roman was not built in a day.

Just train, try your best, learn for mistakes, learn from those most experienced.

If you make mistakes do not beat yourself up (nice pun :-) you'll get there, keep the training up consistent, and forget about it when your not training.

Bazookatone

All good advice, very good. I would add that confidence is a very powerful tool. Remember that you'll be fighting people of similar age and skill, and they're as nervous as you. On the day, look like you're ready to go, even if you're terrified, let on that you're as calm and serene as a dope addict on good weed. The staring down tip is good, there's nothing wrong with a little psychological warefare to freak your opponent out. Practice at least one flashy kick, they scare your opponent, and they make you feel like you're Bruce Lee reincarnated.

If you're taller than your opponent, keep him at bay with kicks, if he's taller than you, he'll try to keep you at bay with kicks, so get in a close as possible and get in some good punches.

As soon as the match starts, attack, don't wait for him to attack you. Dash in while he's still uprepared and get in a good blow. If you can gain the initiative, you'll have a great advantage. In my last competition, my first move was a jumping reverse pucnch to the head. My opponent was on the retreat for the rest of the match.

MrNuked

speed rope good for foot work yes

briano

Never move backwards. An opponent will just chase you around, and out of, the ring.

Start moving off to the side now. If you can pick it up when you are yellow belt it'll serve you well in the higher grades.

Also when you decide to attack, attack. Committment is a big thing.