All students are required to abide by this guiding principles when sparring to ensure everyone can develop their skills and enjoy sparring sessions at Storm.
Communicate With Your Sparring Partner
Ensure you and your sparring partner are on the same page by clearly stating what your intentions are before each sparring session, so make sure you’re both looking to go at the same intensity.
The golden rule is to go light if you and your sparring partner haven’t had a chance to communicate your intentions.
Don’t Focus On Winning
A sparring session isn’t a fight or competition, so don’t treat it as one. Sparring is where you test your skills against resisting opponents to see what works for you. Your goal during each sparring session should be to grow, not win.
Be Strategic With Sparring Sessions
You should always have a few things you want to focus on during sparring sessions. You don’t want to get inside the ring and improvise every time. Write down some of the techniques you’d like to improve on or weaknesses you have and go over your notes before sparring.
Reflect On Sparring Sessions
You should also take some time to reflect on each of your sparring sessions. What worked well for you? What were your least effective techniques? Which of your opponent’s techniques did you have the hardest time defending against?
You should also be open to any criticism your coaches or training partners have for you after sparring sessions.
Spar With Everyone
Spar with the best students at your gym every chance you get. Advanced students are more likely to give you pointers as you spar than attempt to dominate you with their skills.
You should also look to spar with a diverse range of people to get a feel for different body types. Spar with a short person one day, and spar with a tall person the next. Tall, short, long, stubby, chubby, lanky, stout, lefty; every body type has its unique challenges so use your sparring sessions to get used to a wide range of looks.
Be Helpful To Your Training Partners
A good sparring partner is willing to help their training partners accomplish their workout goals.
Control Your Emotions
No one likes an overly emotional sparring partner so try to keep your emotions in check while sparring. For example, don’t get heated if a training partner accidentally hits you harder than they should have. Instead, communicate that you’d want them to soften the impact of their strikes.
Enjoy The Experience
Sparring is one of the best parts of training martial arts, so try to enjoy the moment. Taking it too seriously or being too tense lowers your enjoyment, which can lead to you sparring less frequently. Try to stay relaxed during your sparring sessions and enjoy having the opportunity to test out all your skills against a competent opponent.
