Sparring

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[Matt Banks]

Today something diffrent happened at training. A guy who had been cross training in our club for a while, brought a few of his friends from other arts to training. The session went on as normal until at the end we did some jiu waza. That night we didnt have to put the mats away so we had an extra 15 minutes to train. Some of the guys asked if anyone wanted to do a bit of friendly sparring. They were not looking for a fight, just wanted to have some fun. So most of us compliedl. Most of them were TKD guys and 2 of them did jiu jitsu. We werent sure how to format the sparring but they suggested some ground rules.. i.e not really hurting each other. I noticed some good things. I noticed with the aikidoka, their circular movement reall y confused , the vistors who had a very linear approach. So who won, well it wasnt structured that way, so it didnt get too serious. But I can say it was a very very usefull experience, applying tecnique against a diffrent style. What did I learn, iriminage is fantastic against a tkd guy, it completely takes them out. And the jutsu guys said it was diffcult grabbing us a we turned which they were not used to. I was surprised how well the stuff Id spent so long learning actually worked. It does make you realise you cant amways be so clean in a real fight.

I know sparring should not be a regular thing, but its quite fun outside training.

Oh yeah and I did shihonage on a leg from a kick.

Has anyone else done this what did you think of it?


Matt Banks

[Magma]

I agree. I have said before that I also train in TKD, and on occasion have attempted a more aikido type move than a TKD type move in that class. In one-step self-defense, kotegaishi, shihonage, and a couple of kokyunages work well. But in full sparring, the most effective I have found is iriminage. If you can slip inside their defense and catch them extended... well, the look of wide-eyed surprise as their feet come off the ground is quite satisfying.

:)

Tim