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Maxx · 03-30-2007, 01:14 PM

I personally have a problem with the term "full contact". I think that with the majority of practitioners out there, particularly those without a great deal of experience, the term "Full Contact" equates to full power... meaning you are generating enough force to seriously injure your training partner. I have had several experiences where people would come in from other schools and were told by students that the contact level was full contact during sparring. Someone would always end up getting hurt because these individuals in question usually launched all out attacks against my students.

At that level it's no longer sparring. It becomes either a fight or a self defense situation. Egos get bruised, and in some cases injuries occur. Not good if you're running a business.

I always have my students agree to a contact level during a sparring session. It's an agreement between the two sparring partners. How hard do you want to go? 25%, 50% or 75%? That way everyone is relatively happy, injuries are minimized and there is always a level of restraint.

I just see a higher level of control using this method as opposed to just calling it "Full Contact" sparring.

03-30-2007, 01:14 PM	#8 (permalink)
Maxx Registered User Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Redondo Beach, CA Posts: 283	I personally have a problem with the term "full contact". I think that with the majority of practitioners out there, particularly those without a great deal of experience, the term "Full Contact" equates to full power... meaning you are generating enough force to seriously injure your training partner. I have had several experiences where people would come in from other schools and were told by students that the contact level was full contact during sparring. Someone would always end up getting hurt because these individuals in question usually launched all out attacks against my students. At that level it's no longer sparring. It becomes either a fight or a self defense situation. Egos get bruised, and in some cases injuries occur. Not good if you're running a business. I always have my students agree to a contact level during a sparring session. It's an agreement between the two sparring partners. How hard do you want to go? 25%, 50% or 75%? That way everyone is relatively happy, injuries are minimized and there is always a level of restraint. I just see a higher level of control using this method as opposed to just calling it "Full Contact" sparring.