Is Sparring Really Necessary?

Editorial

by Sibok Lloyd Fridenburg
Fu For You Spring 2026

Sparring can be one of the most stressful elements of early Kung Fu training for children and adults alike. As kids, we may have had some schoolyard tussles but as adults, very few of us have ever been involved in a physical confrontation. The act of hitting someone else is completely unnatural and can, in the early stages of training, even be traumatizing for some. Most sparring skills can be taught through technique and drills. Footwork, punches, kicks, reaction time, evasion, blocking, identifying targets, positioning; these skills are inherent to sparring and can be taught, and mastered without sparring.

I regularly would put students in a basic stance and have a partner circle them and deliver various strikes, in a controlled manner. I would put students in a forward stance with arms up and have a partner deliver controlled roundhouse kicks to the abs. These drills teach how to get hit and how to breathe when you get hit, all in a very controlled manner. The person being struck can ask their partner to go harder, or not so hard. They are in control.

Enter sparring! I have often told students that the only thing that I can’t teach without sparring is how to get hit unexpectedly. When you are sparring you are face-to-face with a partner that not only doesn’t want to get hit but wants to hit you. There is an element of the unknown and unexpected introduced into your training. You think, move, strategize, react, and then boom, a kick comes out of nowhere and quickly reminds you that your partner is thinking and doing the same things. When you get hit, it is very often unexpected.

In time, thinking and strategizing disappear—sparring becomes effortless. You have reached the pinnacle of sparring when it becomes effortless effort; you act and react instinctively without thought or planning. This skill cannot be taught; it evolves by integrating sparring into your training on a regular basis. With practice, you learn to go with the flow in a non-thinking, mercurial manner.

Always spar with control and respect for your partner(s) but accept that getting hit unexpectedly is also part of the learning process. The ability to get hit and keep going often determines who will persevere in a true self-defense situation. Allowing your mind to be clear and act, without active thinking or planning, will give you the ability to switch from rules-based sparring to street style self-defense automatically, should the need arise.

So, is sparring really necessary? The answer is a definite YES! You can achieve a high degree of skill without ever sparring, but you will never reach the pinnacle of the Kung Fu experience without it.