You teach, you bleed…
ByOK, here’s another teaching concept I’ve found to be true: You get the most injuries when you hold back instead of going all out. Especially when you are in “teaching mode”.
Two of my students are preparing for a Sanshou tournament in a few months. As a result, the sparring sessions in class are more intense than otherwise. Most of my students train for different reasons than competing: they want to get in shape and be healthy, they want the stress-release you get from punching and kicking or they just enjoy the training. For them, the classes are not totally the same as for competitors. Everybody trains the same techniques but the standard for competitors is much higher. I expect and demand better performance of the techniques, speed, accuracy and above all good timing.
What could have been needed...
But when it comes to sparring, the division between the competitors and the other students can become problematic. Their sparring needs to be at a certain intensity to prepare them for the tournament but recreational students are not ready for that level. Nor should they have to be; they’re in class with other objectives in mind. So that’s one of the reasons why I still spar with my students. As I should be able to handle their techniques given my experience and the weight difference (I’m the heaviest guy on the mat, no comments please…), they can go all out and get plenty of experience that way.
The draw back is that I have to hold back a lot. I outweigh my students so hitting full force could cause them a lot of injuries. I tell them they shouldn’t hold back because they need to get used to delivering full power blows with the proper intent. There is a world of difference between a jab-cross coming at you from a friendly sparring partner and the same combo launched by an opponent who wants to knock your nose through your skull. And they have to experience as much of that in class instead of being overwhelmed by it on D-day. The balancing act I have to do is give them intense enough sparring sessions without hitting too hard or dominate them completely. A part of that is not taking openings when I see them.
In yesterday’s class, we ended with a couple rounds of sparring. I was pressuring one of the competitors, he needs to be more aggressive so I make him fight his way out of tight spots. Halfway through the round I come in with a punching combination and he half-turns his back to evade. It was more of an “Oh shit!” reaction on his part than a deliberate defensive maneuver. I recognized that but my first instinct was still to launch a rear leg kick to his closest leg. That would have sent him to the floor as his weight distribution was perfect to land that technique and he couldn’t see it coming from the way his head was turned. But it also could have buckled his knees and cause some serious damage, so I hesitated and then held back.
Right at that moment, he accelerates his turn into what was supposed to be a spinning back fist. Because of the range I was in, I received an elbow to the nose instead of tasting leather. The result was a nice and bloody cut that looked a lot worse than it was. So we continued sparring for a bit more. As I’m writing this, the cut is fully closed and the swelling is down. I’m a lucky bastard as his elbow landed on the top part of my nose where it’s still the skull sticking out. Half an inch lower and I would have had a broken nose. So all in all, no harm done but it came close. Considering the chronic problems the surgery for my last broken nose left me, I’d rather not go through it again.
I’ve had similar things happen throughout the years: When I don’t hold back and fight at or close to 100%, nothing much happens. But the moment I hold back and try to avoid injuring a student or training partner, it’s my blood that flows. Yesterday’s class was another reminder to keep my guard up even more than I usually do. Because as the saying goes: shit happens. I doubt I’m the only one with this experience though…
As an aside, I started working on the “how-to” guide for the leg kick, no idea yet when it’ll be ready. With a bit of luck the first part goes up next week, stay tuned.
.
Loading ...