Back to Sparring

I was so glad to get back to free sparring this morning. It’s been a couple of months since I had a chance to put on the protective gear, but I figured that, with the tournament coming up next week, I’d better get some practice in.

The idea in free sparring is not to hurt anybody. The aim is to score points against your opponent by using the hands or feet (encased in foam protective gear) to strike the eligible target area, which is the front and sides of the torso above the belt, and the front of the head (also protected, complete with mouth guard). The opponent’s job is to block the strikes and to land strikes of his own. Light contact is permitted, but most of the time we are able to pull our punches to come within a couple of inches of the target.

When I first started eighteen months ago, I couldn’t imagine myself sparring, and for the first six months I didn’t have to. But when I received my orange belt, participation in sparring was required. So last year for my birthday I received my beautiful shiny sparring gear, in a lovely shade of aubergine.

Now I love sparring. I end up wringing wet and exhausted, and a little sore in the knees from all the quick changes of direction, but with a big smile on my face.

There were only three of us today – my friends “Heidi” and “Mark” and myself. We are all fairly close in rank, and we have considerable experience sparring with each other. Mr. Stevens rounded out the foursome, and we went at it, changing partners about every five minutes.

Today, as usual, Heidi got past my defenses and got me several times in the midsection, but I landed some good shots to her head – all light contact, of course. (In the photo, I am blocking Heidi’s punch with my left hand and preparing to counter with a right reverse punch.) Mark’s strengths are his axe kick and his ridge hand attack, most of which I managed to block. I surprised him with a feinting back kick followed by a solid punch to the ribs, for which I apologized. I even held my own fairly well against Mr. Stevens, although I’m sure he was offering me openings just to see what I would do.

Afterward Mr. Stevens told me that I had some of the fastest hands in the dojang. That’s nice to hear, but I won’t entirely believe it until I win a sparring match fair and square, at a tournament. Maybe it’ll happen next weekend. Stay tuned!