View Single Post
Old 03-06-2011, 12:45 PM   #64
Tony Wagstaffe
Location: Winchester
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 1,211
United Kingdom
Offline
Re: Aikido, Martial Arts & Sparring

Quote:
Basia Halliop wrote: View Post
I think the word sparring has very specific connotations for me: two people 'squaring off', both playing by the same rules, each trying to attack the other and dominate.

If I try to think of something 'sparring-like' in an Aikido context, there is more than one model that comes to mind... I tend to think of something more like a very active jiuwaza, where one person starts as the uke and one starts as the nage (rather than both starting the same which is more like what I think of when I think of sparring), but with an emphasis on kaeshiwaza and on either partner taking advantage of openings or opportunities to either strike or do another technique, i.e., where nage's goal is to pin or throw uke and uke's goal is to become nage and pin or throw, and where if your partner does not have your balance or control of you, you reverse on them, and where you strike if they leave themselves open (could e hard strikes or could be lighter strikes)...

And really, this does not seem at all like a new or foreign idea to me, and certainly not 'anti-Aikido' or 'untraditional'.... most branches of Aikido don't do this in any formal way, i.e. we don't have tournaments or anything, but basically it's just jiuwaza with lots of kaeshiwaza and atemi, isn't it?
This might help Basia...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZw-p...eature=related
  Reply With Quote