Mental disadvantages of sportsparring

It's funny, but I never saw competition sparring as a disadvantage.  I liked the fact that I was building the impact and precision needed to knock big ugly blokes over, along with the self-control to not go over the top and end up in court.

We trained hard and we sparred hard.  We believed in our ability and that made all the difference.

I wish I was still that age ...

Gary

I was thinking of that myself recently, actually. I like your post. It's very complete.

One important thing when training for self-defense is to know how your training is different than real-world violence, as Rory Miller emphasizes in his book. Your list does just that.

The one thing I'd add is that you are fighting against someone with a very close training from yours. Even if they train in a different art, they will still be martial artists. Distance in particular is likely to be much bigger than a real fight.

On the other hand, I'd say that competition sparring, if nothing like a real fight, will still give you some kind of adrenaline rush, which, while being far from what you would get in a real fight, still is closer than when doing line drill or forms. Unless you train exclusively for competition sparring, it is also a different settings. You might have to wear different protective gear than usual (I know we have much more gear involved in competition than in class), the room is different, you have people around shouting, doing other things. It's not "regular class". Maybe that can help with being faced with the wholly alien thing that is "real violence" when it happens.

Finlay,

I see your point, however I would refer you to Iain's "martial map".  There is some overlap, and there is obviously things that dont crossover.  I train with some very competent sport karate guys who also are very competent in self protection, one actually works for the state and trains police officers in self defense. He certifies police instructors.   Others have done high side/hook kicks to end street fights quite quickly!  Granted, they are world class competitors, and dont recommend that for everyone.  But they would argue that competition has helped them deal w adrenaline rush/aggressiveness and other things.  I agree if that we teach sport karate AS self protection it can cause some confusion.  But as Iain states, things must be taught within context.  Merely making blanket statements can be dagerous.

I think your list is pretty good, Finlay. One item that I think the analysis overlooks is the idea of 'stopping' the attack in point sparring, meaning: in point sparring you play to a 'point', then stop. There is no continuation of the attack on either side to a point of escape or dominance. Generally, in point sparring, if I 'score' a clean point, its considered good form to 'stop[ my attack, even without officials present.

Sparring is great, even point sparring, for sharpening tools in application. But it simply needs to be understood that if you are focused on points AS THE OBJECTIVE of the exercise, you are focused on learning THAT--- i.e. how to strike certain specific body areas with certain specific body weapons with [mostly controlled or 'pulled'] blows.

Personally, I use a lot of 'drills' that are what I describe as 'sparring like'. Meaning: they have a controlled ELEMENT of variability, spontaneity and physical chaos inherent in them, and that they are at most 'semi-choreographed'. In other words, like point sparring, they are similarly subject to constraints, rules, and pre-arrangements-- just a different set of them. But they tend to be 'objective-oriented' focused on either a) situational escape or b) establishing situational control. And sometimes, these drills are just as 'fake', 'contrived' or 'artificial' as point sparring in that sometimes I constrain one side to 'street people attacks only', meaning that they are supposed to try to avoid applying 'higher level' learned responses, and act more like a 'feeder' but feeding in an UNSTRUCTURED way.

Other artificialities include 'full targets but slow timing', and another would be 'fast speed but light pressure', i.e. what you would think of in point sparring as 'going light'. I don't care what kind of gear you have-- you just can't practice full force elbows to somebody’s head without a bunch of concussions being the end result.

All of these elements add up to make these self-protection oriented exercises just as much of a 'fantasy' as point sparring (or fully structured one-steps for that matter)-- they just do so in a different direction.

Bottom line, most training of any kind will never fully replicate the fear, danger, and occasionally, the absurdity of ultimate 'reality'.  All training needs to be understood in context, and it looks like you list is a good start twoard that.

In the interest of balance:

Charles Kingsley (1819 - 1875) wrote:

“Through sport boys can acquire virtues which no book can give them. Not merely daring and endurance but better still temper, self-restraint, fairness, honour, unenvying approbation of another’s success and all that give and take of life which stands a man in good stead when he goes forth into the world.”

That's not a bad return for a few hours training a week.  Those of us that came through the knockdown system had heavy contact to deal with.  Competitors were unlikely to get badly hurt, but their senses knew someone was trying to bust them up so they still got the adrenaline responses.

Of course, there were rules and restricted target areas, but in the early BKK knockdown tournaments there were often five or more hard fights (on the same day) to decide the champion.  To minimise injuries and conserve energy we had  to aim to finish fights as soon as possible.  I found that helped me outside.  

So I'd still say the right kind of sparring has benefits.

Gary

Gary Chamberlain wrote:

Charles Kingsley (1819 - 1875) wrote:

“Through sport boys can acquire virtues which no book can give them. Not merely daring and endurance but better still temper, self-restraint, fairness, honour, unenvying approbation of another’s success and all that give and take of life which stands a man in good stead when he goes forth into the world.”

I like it! Not heard it before and that's one to share. Thanks Gary.

You're welcome!

Of course, some sneer at those things, feeling old fashioned good manners will let you down when you need to be ferocious.  But if you want to stay out of court (controlling your) temper and using self-restraint are important.

I also believe treating people fairly is part of the deal.  We're all going to get old and lose our strengths, so I'm glad I won't be looking over my shoulder in case someone I mistreated seeks revenge.

Hence I prefer to teach combat sport and (hopefully) some of the the values outlined above.

Gary

Gary Chamberlain wrote:

Of course, some sneer at those things, feeling old fashioned good manners will let you down when you need to be ferocious.  But if you want to stay out of court (controlling your) temper and using self-restraint are important.

I also believe treating people fairly is part of the deal.  We're all going to get old and lose our strengths, so I'm glad I won't be looking over my shoulder in case someone I mistreated seeks revenge.

I like that and totally agree.

If people mistakenly feel that martial arts and self-protection are all about being the biggest “bad ass” out there then they miss out on the whole point of both. From a self-protection perspective it is more about having a healthy attitude to personal safely and life in general than being able to knock out anyone who crosses your path. Similarly, the martial arts have many benefits away from functional skills. Having greater self-control can benefit us everyday of our lives; hopefully having to rely on the skills need to drop someone intent on harming us is a far less frequent need.

For those who have not listened to it, the discussion on areas 4 and 5 of my martial map podcast / audio book would be relevant here: http://iainabernethy.co.uk/content/martial-map-free-audio-book

All the best,

Iain