These sparring tips are excellent for kenpo and other karate sparring. I used to practice kenpo karate and loved sparring, and attended a kenpo karate school in Cleveland. Unfortunately, I left this high quality kenpo karate training when I moved to Chicago. Nevertheless, I gained plenty of experience in karate sparring. Kenpo karate sparring is actually very similar to other hard-style martial arts sparring, such as taekwondo, kung fu and tang-soo-do, all three of which I’ve also studied. My combined experience is many years (various karate schools) of multiple hard-style martial arts disciplines, and though “kata” or “forms” differ amongst various martial arts styles, the sparring is virtually indistinguishable from one martial arts form to the next. Thus, my sparring tips are great for kenpo karate practitioners, as well as other karate practitioners, along with taekwondo, tang-doo-do, etc.
Kenpo karate sparring tips (no particular order)
Always wear the minimal protective padding: shin guards, foot guards and karate sparring gloves (not boxing gloves). Some karate schools require more protection. Mistake: not wearing protection; shin and knuckle injuries hurt to high heaven.
Develop cardio fitness outside the karate school. Don’t rely on karate sparring alone to provide this. A good sparring match will wind a person quickly. Sparring skills will suffer in the presence of poor cardio fitness. Though sparring matches typically last until someone scores only three points, it can be exhausting, especially if the karate instructor sets no point limit. Cardio fitness should be developed via hard sprints on a track, treadmill or jogging path, alternating with recovery paces for a few minutes. Mistake: not doing supplemental cardio.
Follow rules and don’t make excuses. It’s been said that sparring a novice man is more intimidating than sparring a man with advanced belt ranking, because novice men lack hip and leg flexibility, and end up throwing kicks to partners’ knee joints, thighs and shins, and these HURT. Mistake: being sloppy and not focusing; neglecting flexibility exercises on your own.
Develop lower body flexibility, even if you’re already flexible. Being unable to kick above beltline is a severe impediment to karate sparring. And being able to kick to head height is a wonderful advantage. I remember doing this to a man who was 6-2. I’m 5-8. He couldn’t get his kicks to my head, but I was laying them on his! Mistake: neglecting flexibility routines on your own.
Follow rules and use light contact. This is sparring, not boxing. Every so often a hard punch or hard kick will slip through, but there’s no excuse for habitually landing hard blows. Mistake: not focusing on technique.
Follow rules that apply to your karate school as far as strike zones. Don’t hit to the face if the face is off-limits.
Watch advanced ranks spar. Pay attention to their techniques. Watch lower karate levels spar and pay attention to their mistakes. Mistake: daydreaming while you’re sitting out while others spar.
Spar people of all levels. Novices can be a challenge because they often kick below beltline, but this will buff your skills at defending against a street kick, which is usually below beltline.
Women: Spar men frequently. I’ve seen women avoid sparring men. Mistake: underestimating your skills.
Men: Stop taking it easy on women. It’s important to adjust your delivery according to your opponent’s belt rank, for sure. But don’t adjust according to gender. A rapist makes no adjustments, so don’t cheat your female partner from a learning experience. Plus, a woman may be better than you think. Mistake: condescension.
Don’t assume you can overwhelm an opponent because he or she is shorter than you! True, being taller provides a reach advantage. And short people know this. Thus, they will work hard to develop compensatory techniques and can be very adept at moving in on you before you know it. Mistake: thinking sparring “the little guy” will be cake.
Don’t prejudge sparring ability based on opponent’s size. The smallest guys are often the fastest. Some “big” people move slowly.
Men: wear groin guards; and women, wear breast guards.
Work on combination and fake-out techniques.
Goals of sparring
Sparring moves are not premeditated as in the sense of a self-defense drill, where you know your partner is going to grab your throat, and you know ahead of time you’re going to move a certain way to disarm him. Thus, sparring develops and sharpens unpremeditated reactions against unpredictable strikes. You may premeditate you’re going to throw a fake left jab to the face, and follow through with a right front punch to the chest and then a left roundhouse kick to the head. But the sparring opponent has no idea what you’re up to, and likewise, you have no idea what he’s up to. This all carries over (to an extent) to street-fighting ability, though there should also be other self-defense training such as grappling and ground fighting.
Karate sparring develops precision, since there are off-limit zones, such as below beltline (excluding groin), arms, and in some karate schools or for some karate ranks, the head and face are off-limits.
Karate sparring develops coordination because you’re moving around erratically while throwing strikes. Karate sparring develops confidence when the sparring partner is more advanced, bigger, or, in the case of children, older. Karate sparring provides a cardio workout. Finally, karate sparring develops tournament sparring skills.
