You may spar in one way for a straight fight with other martial artists, and another way for the street. Some argue that by sparring in more than one way you may inadvertently use the wrong method at the wrong time. I can follow this logic, but it’s my view that the dojo and street environments are so radically different that it is unlikely you’ll mix up the various methods so long as you keep the various types of sparring totally separate. (Almost all the leading realists that I know and train with also engage in sparring methods that aren’t directly transferable to the street and yet they are easily able to keep the various methods separate.)
Having covered some of the key issues, it’s now time to look at the 10 ways to make your sparring street smart.
Important point: All sparring is potentially dangerous and must always be closely supervised by a suitably qualified and experienced person. If you don’t have such supervision, don’t try out the methods we’re going to discuss.
Be aware of the flaws of any sparring exercise
No matter how realistic sparring is, it is never real. We are always making compromises in the name of safety. If we didn’t, every training session would result in the majority of students going to the hospital. We need to introduce necessary flaws into training to ensure that we can do it safely. Without these flaws, training would be just as dangerous as the street; which kind of defeats the whole point of training. It won’t make our lives any safer; it will just expose us to many more life-threatening encounters.
The necessity and problem of compromise
If you do any of the following you’ve introduced a flaw into your sparring: train on mats, wear sparring gloves, use a gum shield [mouth guard], limit contact levels, omit techniques such as biting, eye gouges, and groin attacks, you or your partner end the fight by tapping out or submitting, and so on. Changes such as these will make training safer and more productive, but they also move it further away from a real fight. The trick to ensuring that this drift from reality is minimal is to be aware of the flaws and their effects.
By way of example, let’s say you and a partner were about to engage in heavy contact sparring. To maximize safety, one precaution you may take is to wear boxing gloves. Before you start sparring, you should think about the flaws that donning them has introduced:
Your fists are now much bigger than they would be in reality and hence your hit rate may increase.You can hide behind the gloves to protect yourself.You can’t grab or effectively set up a datum and neither can your partner, meaning you use one hand to locate and control the opponent’s head so the other hand can strike more accurately during the chaos of combatThe blows have less of an effect than they would in reality.The nature of the gloves means that open-hand strikes cannot be delivered.Your grappling techniques are severely limited.
By being aware of the flaws introduced by any safety considerations, you ensure that the reality of the street stays at the forefront of your mind. Sparring is a means to an end; it is not the end in itself. Being aware of the flaws in sparring also helps keep that distinction clear.
It’s not just safety that introduces flaws. You may also purposefully introduce some limitations to enhance certain skills. As an example, when sparring you may wish to isolate striking from a clinch. You limit the sparring to striking from a clinch, and therefore throws and takedowns would not be allowed. It’s my observation that as soon as you limit what techniques are allowed – which can be a very useful training method – people forget about the methods that have been omitted and hence leave themselves vulnerable to them. So even if you’ve agreed not to permit throws when working on clinch striking, you should still ensure you don’t get into bad habits by being aware of the flaw you’ve introduced.
Start with aggressive dialogue; not etiquette
Competitive and dojo sparring often begins with a formal show of respect. Depending on the nature of the art being practiced this may be a bow, a touching of gloves, shaking hands, and so on. Street fights don’t start that way. They are frequently preceded by deceptive or aggressive dialogue. To be adequately prepared for the street, you need to have exposure to such talk so that it does not faze you.
When sparring for the street, begin the fight with one person (or more) taking on the role of the bad guy. They should close the gap with either aggressive dialogue, or deceptive dialogue that will switch to aggressive. It’s important to make the dialogue and associated body language realistic. Push, shove, splay your arms, shout and swear (not in front of any kids, though). Although it’s training, as the bad guy you should attempt to intimidate your partner in the same way a real assailant would.
The other person should attempt to control distance and talk the situation down. Sometimes the bad guy may decide to back away without the situation getting physical. On other occasions, either party can begin the sparring when he feels it is appropriate.
Deceptive and aggressive dialog
Deceptive dialogue occurs when the assailant closes the gap between you by asking for directions, the time, or a light for a cigarette. He appears friendly and unthreatening until it’s time to become physical. Awareness, controlling distance and trusting your instincts are the key to dealing with this.
Aggressive dialogue is when the assailant screams, shouts and swears to intimidate you. The aim of this aggressive behavior is to pump himself up enough to physically attack, and to hopefully overload you with fear so that you freeze and are unable to effectively deal with the situation. If you’re not used to such naked aggression, this methods will probably work and render all physical skills you have redundant.
Start without warning
Some situations will start without any warning, i.e., if your awareness wasn’t what it should have been or if you are the victim of a well-executed ambush. It can therefore be good training to also have your sparring start without warning.
Sudden and unexpected sparring
Seeing as the sparring can start at any time, all participants need to wear their protective equipment throughout the entire session. The students will then engage in normal training (fitness work, drilling techniques, and hitting the pads). Whenever the leader of the training feels like it, they will shout out the command, “Fight!” At that instant all students should begin sparring with the person or people nearest to them.
The great thing about this type of training is that you are never sure what situation will develop or when. You might quickly respond to the command and attack an unsuspecting class mate, only for someone else to attack you from the rear. One second you thought you had the advantage, the next you’re frantically doing your best against two opponents. After a certain amount of time, the person leading the training will shout, “Stop!” and the students return to whatever they were doing previously.
If you are training as part of a small group, another way to have sparring start without warning is to agree that anyone can attack anyone else at any point during the session (you may want to make some exceptions in the name of safety: i.e., agree that you can’t be attacked when handling weights). The lack of the command to start makes the sparring all the more unexpected. It also ensures that all training done between the sparring is done with the correct attitude. If you start doing things in a half-hearted fashion, your partners may very well decide that it’s a good time to attack you.
Surprise sparring is a great training method that can get you used to having to fight without warning. It is also a great way to give a training session that added edge.
Fight! Now!
It’s important that the person giving out the commands does his best