Adult Student’s Corner
by Sifu D’Arcy
Fu For You Fall 2026
The season has finally begun to turn, the air taking on a cooler feel marking a sharp break from the heat of the Summer. The atmosphere in the Kwoon is charged with expectation. You are girded in your sparring equipment awaiting the next, entirely expected instruction. “Find a Sparring partner!”- Sifu’s command echoes throughout the Kwoon. Immediately, your hand shoots up, and you lock eyes with your closest friend. You dash to them, ready to spar. You feel great! This is familiar, a dance you have done a hundred times. The round begins.
Students often default to sparring with the same partners. I get it, it’s soothing to face off against the same opponent. You know what to expect and are rarely taken by surprise. Here is the catch though: if you never step outside of your comfort zone, you never grow.
While working in outdoor education, we had an acronym CAP to help us label the zones people in new situations would find themselves in: the Comfort, Awkward, and Panic zones. As instructors, our main goal was to keep our students within the Awkward zone as much as possible. These same zones apply to Sparring, so let’s take a quick look at them.
Comfort Zone
This is the scenario I described above. You are facing off against a well-known opponent; someone you have trained with for years. You know their typical sparring style and have a pretty good idea of their strategies and tricks. This is safe, you don’t feel a need to adapt or try anything new. While there is a benefit to retreating to this zone, particularly when you feel overwhelmed, your goal should not be to stay there. In sparring this is simple: try something new and move into the next zone.
Awkward Zone
This zone is where you want to live. You are off-balance, you aren’t sure what’s coming next, but your brain is active and ready to ingest information. To get into this zone, you may be facing an opponent you’ve never sparred before. Maybe they are a higher rank than you, maybe they are taller than you. You could be trying out some new strategies or styles of sparring. In any case, you are outside of your normal experience and here is where you will grow. The trick is to not go too far and extend yourself into the final zone.
Panic Zone
This is where you never want to be. When you are in this zone, you become incapable of learning anything as your body enters fight or flight mode. When you feel yourself becoming overwhelmed, take a step back. Disclaimer: in the Kwoon, sparring is a partner exercise. If you start to feel panicked, tell your partner and they will step it down. Never keep silent when you are feeling dangerously uncomfortable.
At the end of the day, you are responsible for recognizing where you are in those three zones. Always try to step outside of your comfort zone and stay awkward: that is where true growth happens.