day 159: partner drills & sparring

forms:

• partner drills
• sparring
  

this turned into a Sunday, since Alex was back and Sifu wanted to work on both sparring and jian shu preparations. we began around 9:30 but didn't finish until around 1:30.

partner drills

we warmed up with some of the footwork line drills from last week, and then Sifu took us through a series of partner drills. the partner drills this week involved partners moving in circles, with multiple sets of partners going at the same time. Sifu told us to switch off partners randomly during each of the drills, so as to have us acclimate to constantly changing partners and movements. the partner drills today can be broken down in the following:

• moving forward, small step-big step--each partner faces each other, with guard hands in contact, and stepping in a circle so that both move around the center. both partners step forward, and if they want to change direction (e.g., go from clockwise to counter-clockwise), they have to pivot and change guard hands. either partner is allowed to change direction at any time, with the other partner required to match. Sifu said to mix up the steps, with either small steps or little steps.
• moving backward, small step-big step--this is the same as above, except that the partners move backwards.
• moving forward or backwards, small step-big step--this combines everything above, with either partner allowed to change direction as well as moving forwards or backwards using small steps or big steps, and the other partner required to match.
  

sparring

after the drills, Sifu had us begin sparring, with the plan being to go in 2 rounds of 2 minutes each for each person. i ended up being paired with Randy.

this ended up being an educational experience. to be frank, it was a disaster from my end. as much as i tried to apply the principles i knew, i ended up just getting beat down. Randy is larger and more experienced than me, so this shouldn't be much of a surprise. but it was frustrating nonetheless to not be able to avoid his punches or land any of my own, despite my best efforts to do either.

from an educational perspective, this is the kind of experience i need to advance in learning martial arts. to date, i've done light sparring, but it's not the same as going full-speed and full-contact, and it is definitely a challenge to adjust. in order for me to really understand kung fu--or martial arts in general--i know that i have to be able to use it effectively (key word: effectively) in a realistic setting. but in order to do this, i have to get experience to know just what i need to do to protect myself and just how principles are supposed to be used.

my effort was bad enough that i ended up working with Jay for the remainder of the session on my sparring skills, even after everyone else had done their rounds and had moved onto to jian shu training. Jay was willing to share his experience with me, and had me work on learning how to take punches and kicks, holding a guard, as well as working on movement. there were a few things he told me that i thought were pretty useful:

• don't focus on incoming strikes. they move to fast to react to, and you can respond quicker by just focusing on the opponent's body and face, which often relays signals as to their movement
• don't chase incoming strikes. meaning don't reach out to intercept strikes. opponents usually want you to do this, since it often places you in positions vulnerable to the opponent's follow-up attacks. good fighters actually try to lure you to chase strikes to set you up for their big hits.
• eyes down, hands up. i apparently don't do this right.
• move. always move. opponents will try to force you to move in certain directions to set you up for their strikes. they also try to close off your routes to deny you attacking angles. you have to keep moving to deny them a stationary target and to seek out opportunities.
  

of course, the big issue for me again is experience. i don't have enough experience to recognize what is a "good" opportunity (versus a "bad" opportunity) to strike, to read an opponent's body language to know what they plan to do, or to know when a strike is a ruse or a real attempt to hit.

later over lunch i told Sifu i think i need to be doing this on a more regular basis during the course of the year, just to develop the above skills and get a better sense of just how a fight situation really works. he said that this is something we should setup as students on our own, and something he definitely encourages.

that was it for the day. definitely a wake-up call.