At my kwoon, we do not use protective gear for sparring. No headgear, gloves, chest protectors, etc. I've never asked him why.
Recently, when visiting the dojo where a friend of mine teaches Jiu Jitsu, he and I got into a discussion about all things martial arts with the owner of the dojo who teaches TKD and Aikido. He is a fifth degree blackbelt with 30+ years of experience (in training, not necessarily teaching). When the topic got to sparring, he couldn't believe we didn't use protective gear. He said things like: "You can't practice making real contact on a person without gear," and "your instructor is just asking to get sued," and "well, that's not really sparring," and "I don't spar without pads and I'm a 5th degree black belt."
We do make real contact when sparring. -When Sifu and I spar each other, that is. The other students are allowed to go at their own comfort level and thus not recieve real contact if they don't wish to. My Sifu understands that I have prior experience and love to spar and he allows me to go to my max (only when I spar him) and using control, he matches it without hurting me. I have been thrown several feet, and slammed, and kicked and punched fairly hard, etc. but nothing that would crack a rib or leave deep tissue damage. And I love it.
I doubt the Shaolin of centuries past went without sparring practice, and I doubt they had pads. Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm making an assumption. But now I wonder if it would be beneficial to practice on occasion with head gear and gloves so I could practice contact strikes to an opponent's head. Give me your opinions, is the TKD instructor right? Am I missing a crucial part of training? Do you guys spar without pads?
Recently, when visiting the dojo where a friend of mine teaches Jiu Jitsu, he and I got into a discussion about all things martial arts with the owner of the dojo who teaches TKD and Aikido. He is a fifth degree blackbelt with 30+ years of experience (in training, not necessarily teaching). When the topic got to sparring, he couldn't believe we didn't use protective gear. He said things like: "You can't practice making real contact on a person without gear," and "your instructor is just asking to get sued," and "well, that's not really sparring," and "I don't spar without pads and I'm a 5th degree black belt."
We do make real contact when sparring. -When Sifu and I spar each other, that is. The other students are allowed to go at their own comfort level and thus not recieve real contact if they don't wish to. My Sifu understands that I have prior experience and love to spar and he allows me to go to my max (only when I spar him) and using control, he matches it without hurting me. I have been thrown several feet, and slammed, and kicked and punched fairly hard, etc. but nothing that would crack a rib or leave deep tissue damage. And I love it.
I doubt the Shaolin of centuries past went without sparring practice, and I doubt they had pads. Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm making an assumption. But now I wonder if it would be beneficial to practice on occasion with head gear and gloves so I could practice contact strikes to an opponent's head. Give me your opinions, is the TKD instructor right? Am I missing a crucial part of training? Do you guys spar without pads?
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