What I Have Against Tournament Sparring -- Part 2

In my previous post I voiced my disagreement with the overemphasis of tournament sparring. One of my arguments was that tournament sparring creates a mindset that is contrary to the mindset one needs for a self-defence situation. As I mentioned in the previous post, tournament rules condition you to think of a physical encounter as something that happens between exactly two individuals, using a particular set of attacks, aimed at a few specific targets, for instance the head, chest and obliques. Not only does this condition you to ignore other highly effective techniques like biting, you are also less likely to consider other very vulnerable targets like the knees. In this post I'd like us to contemplate the effect of tournament rules on one's fighting paradigm.

In WTF Taekwon-Do tournament sparring, the competitors wear body armour and a head guard. Hand attacks to the head are illegal. Because of these safety rules, practitioners are not very concerned about blocking. They rely on distancing, the body armour and the rules to keep them safe from punches to the head. Now, in an actual fight, the ability to use your hands for protection is essential. Unfortunately, WTF practitioners tend to fight with their hands down; a very bad habit if one were to fight outside of the ring.

Western Boxing is the opposite of WTF Taekwon-Do as it focus on hand strikes only. Some boxers even learn how to (illegally) use elbow-strikes in their sparring. Unfortunately, boxing does not prepare one for low attacks, such as kicks to the legs or take downs.

ITF Taekwon-Do' tournament sparring is a little better as body armour and head guards are not worn and both hand and foot techniques are encouraged; however, some of the best self-defence techniques like elbow-strikes and low attacks are illegal. Because ITF practitioners use a lot of kicking they may not be used to sparring at close range, like boxers are, and since low attacks are illegal, they may not know how to defend against low attacks.

One would think that Muay Thai, which includes elbow-strikes, knee kicks, and low attacks, is better. Unfortunately, Muay Thai has its own bad habits it enforces. Muay Thai focus primarily on power attacks, which are slower, and sometimes even cause practitioners to turn their backs on their opponents. In Muay Thai many vital spots are also open. Of course, these practitioners are extremely conditioned, but such open vital spots are still bad in a self-defence situation where you can never be sure that your opponent does not have a weapon. Taking a kick to the ribs is one thing; a knife stab to the ribs is something completely different.

Taekkyeon tournaments are interesting because they allow both high and low attacks. The low attacks are much more varied and effective than the simple roundhouse kick to the thigh one sees in Muay Thai. Taekkyeon also allow sweeps and throws. The bad thing about Taekkyeon tournaments is that hard hand attacks like punches are not included.This might mean that Taekkyeon practitioners are not adapt at blocking certain types of attacks.

How about the grappling styles, like for instance Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu? BJJ is wonderful as it gets you accustomed to fighting on the ground. The problem of defending against different types of strikes while on the ground aside, BJJ's strategy to go to the ground could be a dangerous one in the streets. Their might be glass, rocks and other harmful objects on the ground. When you are on the ground fighting your opponent you are a very easy target for your opponent's buddies to start kicking you. It is true that your opponent's buddies could attack you while you are standing also, but in a standing position you are much more mobile. Street fighters know that more people die on the ground than when standing up. Granted, defending yourself against multiple attacks while standing is not easy, but it is easier than while you are on the floor.

BJJ and Mixed Martial Arts that often spar on the ground are not without their problematic rules either. In MMA fights, grappling often results in technical knock outs with such techniques as the rear naked choke, triangle choke and the like. Were you to change one or two simple rules to make these fights more “street accurate” most of these winning techniques will not work as effectively any more. Include, for instance, biting or attacking small joints. Once you are allowed to bite, or bend over fingers, there is suddenly a host of escapes from these grappling techniques. Furthermore, biting will make ground fighting a much more risky activity. Were people allowed to bite and attack small wrist, MMA fighters will suddenly spend much less time embracing each other, and instead try and keep their distance.

If we are competing in tournament sparring purely for its sport value, then I have no issue with tournament sparring. My issue is that people often confuse tournament sparring with self-defence training. Tournament sparring could have a peripheral value for self-defence training, but generally I think that an overemphasis on tournament sparring could actually hamper preparation for self-defence. And I am not alone: self-defence guru Marc "Animal" MacYoung has similar sentiments in his book A Professional's Guide to Ending Violence Quickly: How Bouncers, Bodyguards, and Other Security Professionals Handle Ugly Situations. Tournament rules create a confining box, which I believe could be negative for self-defence situations. Often the tournaments of specific styles only prepare one to defend against someone that fights like that style. If your tournament does not allow low kicks, you probably won't know how to defend against low kicks. If your tournament have no ground fighting you may not know how to defend against a grappler. If you are a grappler but have never been bitten before, because biting is illegal in your style, you may find yourself suddenly with a chunk of biceps-muscle bitten off as you attempted to do a rear naked choke!

Image Sources:

ITF Sparring -- Personal

WTF Sparring -- Focus Fitness Centre

Boxing -- Heavy Fists

ITF Sparring -- Taekwon-Do Sweiz

Muay Thai Sparring -- Thai-Blogs

Taekkyeon -- Wikimedia Commons

BJJ Grappling -- Nässjö Grappling Center

MMA -- MSG: MMA in the Ring

What I Have Against Tournament Sparring -- Part 1

Image Source

I'm not fond of tournament sparring in Taekwon-Do. A primary reason is that tournament sparring tend to cause a skewed emphasis on certain aspects and techniques, resulting in the negligence of other aspects and techniques. Furthermore, I really think that tournament sparring enforces some behaviours that are in contradiction with self-defence logic. It is not that there are no value in tournament sparring; there are. However, tournament sparring is often overemphasized and I believe this to be a grave mistake. Following are some reasons:

The “Composition of Taekwon-Do” contains five parts: Fundamental Movements, Conditioning (Dallyon), Patterns, Sparring, and Self-Defence. This means that sparring constitutes only a fifth of ITF Taekwon-Do and with “sparring” it is not by default meant “tournament sparring.” There are various types of sparring in Taekwon-Do; tournament sparring is only one of many types. Prearranged sparring involves three-step, two-step, one-step, semi-free, model-sparring and foot sparring. Then there is also traditional sparring (anything goes), and some schools also teach ground technique sparring. And, of course, tournament sparring. Each type of sparring teaches different skills. By focussing primarily on tournament sparring the skills taught through these other types of sparring are neglected and sometimes never even taught.

One problem with an over emphasis of tournament sparring is that it results in a loss of techniques. Tournament sparring narrows down the target areas and also the attacking tools. Practitioners might never learn how to do low attacks, or may never learn how to do certain “illegal” techniques, like elbow strikes and knee kicks that are highly effective in self-defence. Apart from low attacks, like kicks to the legs, other ranges of attack that are not conducive to getting points or which are discouraged because of the rules of the tournament are also ignored. Examples may include fighting in the clinch range, or doing throwing and trap-boxing, i.e. stand-up grappling techniques. (Do you even know what the “clinch” range is, or what “trap-boxing” is? Have you learned how to do throws? And if you are thrown do you know basic break falling techniques to protect you from the impact of the fall? If you answered no to any of these questions, it is likely that you are spending too much time focussing on tournament sparring.)

As explained already, an excessive focus on tournament sparring could be detrimental for self-defence because it limits your training in more different ranges of attack, it limits the targets you get used to attacking, and it limits your use of different types of attacks and attacking tools. Many techniques that are perfect for self-defence are hardly ever trained because they are considered “illegal.” The inverse is equally disconcerting. Because such “illegal” techniques are hardly ever practised, many practitioners have no idea how to defend themselves were they to be on the receiving end of such techniques. Many Taekwon-Do stylist that focus on tournament sparring have no idea how to defend themselves against head butts, elbows strikes, kicks to the groin or to the knees. Since they almost never practise these techniques themselves, they also have very little experience in defending against such attacks.

A further problem is that tournament sparring creates a certain type of mindset that is not conducive to self-defence. For instance, in tournament sparring you are trying to score points and may be penalised for knocking your opponent out. These two aspects of tournament sparring—scoring points and “pulling” your attacks—teaches you to fight longer. In a self-defence situation the longer the fight lasts, the more dangerous it can get. In a self-defence encounter your aim is to end the violence as quickly as possibly, and this often involves acting with ferocious and aggressive intend; a quick blast of high level violence. Sport sparring, on the other hand, tones down the violence and spreads it out over a couple of minutes. The tournament setup also causes one to think of your enemy as a single individual that you conveniently know will attack you from the front, with certain types of techniques, and only when the bell rings. This is far removed from a self-defence scenario where you do not by default know the number of potential attackers, nor do you necessary know when they will attack. Tournament sparring can therefore get you into a dangerous mindset where you think that your attackers will always come one at a time, always from the front, and play by some rulebook, like kicking above the belt.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that we ought not have tournament sparring. It has a place within this big thing we call Taekwon-Do and from it we can learn some valuable skills, but it ought to be put in a proper relation and not be overemphasized as is most often the case. Of course, for some Taekwon-Do athletes to whom tournament sparring is their main focus—people competing at world championship level—a major emphasis on tournament sparring is obviously appropriate. However, as ITF practitioners the “Composition of Taekwon-Do” is the guide we generally ought to adhere to and this clearly shows the relation of sparring to the other aspects of Taekwon-Do training.