Youth Student’s Corner
by Chantal Moylan
Fu For You Spring 2024
Sparring can be scary, whether you’re just starting or you’ve been sparring for a while. Luckily there are lots of ways to make sparring more fun:
- Sparring is Like a Game
Think of it like a game of tag. The goal is to touch your partner’s tee-shirt. See how fast you can touch the tee-shirt and how many times you touch it. You can count and try and get a new high score every time you spar. You can also count how many times your partner touches your shirt.
- Practice Sparring Combinations
Sometimes sparring can seem scary because you’re not sure what techniques to use or you freeze up. Practicing combinations and techniques before you spar can help with this. You can make up a combination of 3 moves and practice it 5 times every day. That way when you spar you have at least 3 moves. You can make up more combinations as you get better at sparring and find out which moves work best. You can get your parents to hold pillows or equipment to practice your techniques. I would also recommend practicing your follow step footwork and shadow boxing at home.
- Start with Friends
I know when I was just learning how to spar, it helped me to start by sparring with friends I had in my Kung Fu classes. That way, you will already feel more comfortable and it will be easier to communicate with them. You should let them know whether they should go lighter, harder, faster or slower.
- Ask to Spar to Get More Experience
Sparring more often can also make it less scary. Now, you may be wondering: how can I spar more often if I can’t spar outside of Kung Fu? It may seem like you don’t spar very often at Kung Fu because we have lots of other techniques to learn. You can always request to spar in classes by talking to your instructor before class. Depending on the teacher they will either add some sparring into your class or plan to do sparring for another week.
- Spar with Good Control
The last tip is to make sure you have good control when you spar. Only hit as hard as you’re willing to be hit back. This may sound weird but if you hit your partners really hard they might also start hitting you harder. I’m not saying don’t hit them at all but make sure you have good control when you are sparring. Another thing is to make sure you communicate with your partner. If they are hitting too hard, tell them (and listen to what they tell you).
These tips should help your sparring become easier, however, it can still be scary. Sparring usually gets easier once you get more experienced with it. Hopefully this article can help you become more comfortable with sparring sooner. I know a lot of these tips have helped me, so maybe they can help you too!