What's the Point Sparring?

[Elpresidente]

Let me start by saying I think point sparring is for the most part retarded, but I still fn love it! The guys who win always have the weakest techniques thrown like little flicks just to get in close enough to score but would never do damage. That being said, I go to point sparring class at least three times a week and I can't get enough of it. Its a fun game I've done since I was like 5 with my dad who was a black belt before I was even born and there is so little chance of injury which means you can do it your whole life for the most part. But at the same time its so frustrating and seems to have little application in real fighting! What do you all think of point sparring? Do mma guys use it in training? Is it worthless or have some good applications?

One thing I was thinking about the other day after sparring was perhaps it is "empty hand" training like most TMA for using a knife. If you had a knife in your hand or hemp with sharpened shells on your feet (as many wore from what I've learned), a point would hurt someone so badly it could not be given up. One strike would end the fight or injure your opponent so much that it was all about point sparring training, basically being an empty hands way to weapons train??

Point sparring? No doubt it is fun, but it is a waste of time as regards training to fight.

If you enjoy this game then stick with it. If you want to learn how to fight leave and join a boxing club, MT gym,Kyokoshin Gym something with real sparring.

 

[Marvin Covar]

as a few have already said, if you enjoy it then stick with it. just don't expect it to prepare you for an mma competition or a life-threatening situation.

 

[El Presidente]

Its fun on its own. If i hear about a tournament a week before the time I show up with little preparation and just go in there to get a medal. It has nothing to do with my full contact fighting. Completely separate.

Once you know how to control yourself in Point kumite/sparring its easy.

Its fun. thats all. I wouldnt lose sleep over it.

 

[True2KungFu]

whoever said tkd lacks a clinch and punching , thats your teachers fault. WTF tkd utilizes a clinch alot, its just not a muay thai clinch. padachagis, axe kicks and jumping back kicks are used very effectively here because you cannot see them coming due to close proximity. I punch alot when i fight and i hurt people with those punches. Kryllo i think mentioned he broke peoples ribs through the hogu with punches too.


Anyways back on topic. Point sparring is bad. at the most youll gain reaction speed from that but thats it. Light Contact continuous sparring on the other hand does serve as a valuable tool to integrate footwork and new techniques into sparring.

 

[RankFeral]

whoever said tkd lacks a clinch and punching , thats your teachers fault. WTF tkd utilizes a clinch alot, its just not a muay thai clinch. padachagis, axe kicks and jumping back kicks are used very effectively

Axe kicks are ridiculous in MMA. You end up with your damned leg way up in the air, perhaps down on somebodys collar bone, but are ridiculously exposed for takedowns and devastating body shots. You might suprise me with it once, but after that I'm gonna destroy 'em.

 

[Deleted member 2295]

one thing i have noticed about point sparring is all the flicking side kicks and front kicks. in point sparring you are not allowed to grab the limbs like in muay thai. thats why you don't see that garbage in mma or muay thai fights. when guys start grabbing your legs when you kick, things change real quick.

 

[feedback]

I remember talking to a guy in a locker room in a tourny. I told him I don't do point sparring, and he said i'm missing all the fun stuff. I just said I'd probably get dq'ed for excessive contact or something.

If you like it, go for it and have fun. I don't see anything wrong with point sparring if you like it. If you train to be a real fighter, it's probably not the best option.

The weapons point sparring is probably pretty tough though. I've seen a foamed bo snap in half and it was solid wood inside. and I remember seeing some guy get hit hard with a foamed kali stick and was holding his hand in pain.

Heh, real kali sparring is with real kali sticks. Only gear is a cup and hockey gloves :wink:

 

[Tim Chan]

Heh, real kali sparring is with real kali sticks. Only gear is a cup and hockey gloves :wink:

don't they wear some pads. That's what i've seen when they use real sticks. kendo with no armor would be more brutal than kali with no armor.

 

[flyingknee16]

The most important thing in fighting and martial arts is sparring.

If you don't spar, you will never get better.

 

[theTKDman]

I think point sparring instills bad habits and should not be your focus if you want self defense. That being said. I know some amazing point sparrers who haev UNBELIEVABLE footwork. I spar them MMA style and can barely even get close enough to hit them. They get in.. hit me a few, and are out with such speed its almost spellbinding. I think point is FAR inferior, but there are upsides to it (footwork).

It looks like some people dont really understand the meaning of point sparring. Point sparring is like tag... where the goal is just to touch your partner. Some schools dont even care with WHAT you hit your parnter with.

 

[Ian Coe]

I suck at everything MA related except for sparring, which is the one thing I love to do. Hit pads, hit the bag, skip etc all take 2nd place to sparring (actually, sparring takes 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th place).

 

[stav]

Point sparing as many ppl have stated is a fun game to play.
It also in my honest opinion although can and will never replace real sparring it does increase your reactions and speeds with your tecniques wether it be puching or kicking and most importatntly it teaches u distnace.

A fighter can have nice crisp punches and kicks but if his timing is off and can not judge distance between himself and his opponent then his strikes are wasted as they wont hit.

Also Point sparring is a very relevent from of sparing historicaly. Dont forget what martial arts means....it means art of war...or fighting to kill.

Now imagine u had a sword or knife or other deadly weopon in your hand or part of the boots on your feet ( spikes etc). The first technique to score would seriously injur or even kill an opponent. This is where Point sparring is important. It teaches to to fear a single strike and to avoid being hit once and hit your opponent first b4 he /she does to u. Very usful when up against an armed opponent.

 

[jscott]

sparring is essential in training for a fight

 

[farmboy]

Sparring, yes, but point sparring, no. It'd be impossible to prepare for a real fight without full contact sparring. I even thonk that it would be detrimental in a self-defense sense. How are you supposed to be able to stay even slightly ready in a street scenerio if you don't know what it's like to be hit?

 

[Deleted member 2295]

one reason i love sparring MT is because it gets me used to being hit and not panicking when someone throws a combination at me. this doesn't happen in point sparring.

 

[farmboy]

That's my point exactly. I've said it before. There's a stigma about getting hit. You obviously don't want to get hit, but in this sport that we've all here chosen to participate in, you are eventually going to get caught. The sooner the better, so you can get over that fear. Sparring in controlled conditions is the safest place to get over that fear.

 

[feedback]

don't they wear some pads. That's what i've seen when they use real sticks. kendo with no armor would be more brutal than kali with no armor.

Not when I learned, but this was at SBG.

 

[karatefighter]

Well first thing you need to remeber is its a SPORT. Now the tools you can develop through point sparring are speed, accuracy, timing, reaction, footwork and deception. These are all good tools to develop. Now the second thing to keep in mind is you cant actually prepare for a street fight, mainly because you cant control the elements of what could happen. For instance you shoot to take down a guy and land on top but your dead because he stuck you with a shank he was hiding... you can see what I am getting at right? So we all need to stop looking at sport martial arts such as MMA, Karate, BJJ, etc. and stop treating them as combat martial arts because the major factor between the two are one is a sport with rules and structure, while the other is real, and unpredictable anything can happen and you do what you have to do in order to survive.

 

[devante]

i haven't done point sparring; but i have worked w/alot of guys who come from that b/g and all those guys have very good footwork, timing, reaction, tech application and tech recognition.

as they have explained to me; if you can barely touch me w/sharp light technical strikes you can just fire off at will, there is less of a chance you are goin to be able to do so w/sloppier...loaded ....less tech shots.

i compare point sparring to fighting a potshotting style which is what i do; i use angles..footwork..spacing..and tech recognition to effectively limit my opp ability to open up offensively and to eff land clean sharp (singular) shots. Its a style alot of fighters w/out point fighting b/g use.

and i found that if you can land on or get away from guys who place an excessive emphasis on landing quick tech strikes and defending quick tech strikes; then your that much more successful against guys who are slower..less tech...and lack tech recognition or finesse in their games.

now of course you need to learn to deal w/contact, you need to deal w/pressure, you need to become familiarized w/what level of contact is needed to efffectively slow or stop an opp. BUT pt sparring does have MANY benefits, you just have to be open minded enough to a)acknowledge them and b)use them. They also have the downfalls, which are the lack of stamina, conditioning for abuse, throwing combinations or generating the correct amount of force.

when i started muay thai-kyokushin types, i was able to move around and control their off at range, w/movement and angles; an could more or less potshot effectively, esp to the body. But i had issues when they put the pressure on or when they focused on applying pressure or doing damage; having spent alot of time sparring w/light-med contact, i didn't generate enough to get these guys respect or keep them off of me which resulted in them being able to break down my footwork and def cus of my inability to stay busy enough or hit hard enough.

but as i got reintroduced to the physicality, i was able to mix that w/the other aspects i developed training w/pt sparring guys.

the

 

[sh1tehawke]

i have fought in a couple of point fighting tournaments and they are a fun way of competing, especially if you haven't got the time/inclination to train for full contact matches. you can just turn up, fight and go home without worrying about getting fucked up and being a mess at work the next day. no one who competes in them is going to say that point sparring is an alternative to regular sparring tho.

where i train we do regular sparring, train hitting full power on bags/pads etc and also do some point sparring if there is a tournament coming up.