Sparring vs. Kumite
One of the most influential people in my life was a guy named Jerry who was a six-time Golden Gloves champ from New Jersey. Jerry was a big man and out-weighed me by at least 50 lbs. We used to box a couple days a week in a racquet ball court in the Peterson Air Force Base gym. Some of our friends used to come and watch and took bets on how quickly Jerry would knock me out.
Despite his viscous boxing ability, Jerry was a great guy and an awesome coach. I learned a lot from him, most importantly the art of sparring and what I needed to do to get better at it. I started using a speed bag and a heavy bag just about every day. I skipped a lot of rope and ran a lot of miles so I could last more than a few rounds. Jerry taught me some very basic footwork and how to bob and weave to avoid getting hit while being able to slip in and score a shot or two. And I found I could apply many of those skills to kickboxing as well.
I sparred frequently in my 20s and 30s. We all had lots of gear including gloves, shin pads, foot pads, groin cups and a mouth piece. Some guys wore headgear but being young and dumb, I thought headgear hindered my ability to take a hit and keep going. The sparring sessions between brown and black belts were full contact. The standard rules were no leg or groin attacks and you had to avoid a straight shot to the face, but the side and back of the head were ok. One look at my face would tell you that we all tended to break the last rule.
My sessions with Jerry along with other skilled fighters paid off and I became fairly proficient at sparring. I incorporated a lot of spinning techniques and I was able to sneak in the occasional roundhouse to the face. Oh yeah, I also practiced kata (forms) and basic karate and jujitsu techniques, but I lived (for a time) for sparring. I believed that my sparring ability was directly related to all of my martial arts training. Like many other times in my life, I was very wrong.
A lot of people will disagree with me here, but excellent sparring ability is not an indicator of martial arts skill. It means you are good at sparring. Now, before you say a bunch of things about me you don’t really mean, let me clarify. The average martial arts student has two or three days in their weekly schedule to attend formal classes. Practice between classes is up to the individual. If you attend a school that is heavy into sparring, how will you spend your time away from the dojo? Well, if you don’t want to get trounced every sparring session, you probably do what I did, e.g. bag work, skipping rope, shadow boxing, etc. If you are anything like twenty-something me, you minimally practice kata and basics (kihon) on your own, and only because you want to have sufficient knowledge to test for the next rank. Or, maybe you are into MMA, which makes this a moot point; sorry for wasting your time.
Kumite (literally grappling hands) is not sparring. It involves one or more attackers and a defender, the latter having an opportunity to apply techniques derived from kata and kihon. These attacks should be varied between practiced technique and wild strikes (like a haymaker) that you would encounter in the street. Weapons such as knives, clubs and baseball bats should be included as a student’s ability grows. Attackers should be instructed to do their best to hit the target as fast and as hard as possible, be it the face, the gut, etc. Protagonists should be allowed to grab, toss or tackle. In others words, it should simulate a potential encounter. Getting hit or taken down in kumite is far more educational (in my view) than getting tagged in sparring. After a sparring match you bow, tap gloves and put ice where it hurts. If the same happens during kumite, you go back and figure out where your weakness is so you don’t get killed. Not unlike being on the losing side of a military exercise. The exercise exists so that you learn how to accomplish the mission and come back home in one piece.
The scariest, most martially proficient men I have ever met did not believe in sparring. These guys came from different fighting styles like kung fu, karate, jujutsu, aikido and others. They practiced their arts thoroughly with the intent to end a confrontation very quickly. Because they focused on simple, finite skills such has seiken (the corkscrew punch in karate), low kicks to the legs and groin, devastating throws and chokes, etc., they demonstrated infinite martial ability. These skills were insulated by a single mindset to stop a confrontation quickly and decisively. No points to score, no ego to stroke. No flashy techniques, no smack talk or intimidation. Simple lethality. Practice traditional martial arts in this way and you can achieve the same. We have to return to the original intent of these arts in order to reach this understanding.
So, if you study aikido and want to know what to practice on your own, break out that bokken (wooden sword) and jo (quarter staff). Practice with the intent to cut down and break an opponent’s bones and you will see a change in your empty hand skills. If you study jujitsu or karate, trade that heavy bag for a makiwara (striking post) and study the kata with the aim of destroying a potential assailant, preferably with one strike. Practice with this mindset and intensity every day and you will most likely never have to use those skills.
Dave Magliano
Jissenkan Budo
Dojo Cho
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