How many of you do step sparring? Do you find it beneficial? Do you like it? Please share your step sparring experiences. We do 1,3,5 step sparring at almost every session.
Yes we do ITF Pre-arranged soaring which includes 3, 2, & 1 step sparring. This is practiced by 10th gup white belts to 6th gup green belts. Then they move to Semi-free sparring as 5th gup green belts. We follow the syllabus & instructions of Gen. Choi as outlined in the 15 volume Encyclopedia of TKD, that includes a whole volume on fighting, where this is covered. I think it is an important part of one's ITF TKD training. The way we do it is unlike the 1 & 3 step sparring that I usually see which seems similar to Karate training. Nothing wrong with that, but it is very different from the ITF TKD way. Now I never really heard of 5 steps! Can you expand on what they are & what training in them entails, as well as what the purpose is & what it hopes to impart?
Shotokan and other styles I posted this in the Karate forum too but it got deleted by the moderator. I guess they considered it a duplicate post. They use 3 step and 5 step sparring in Japanese Karate. Perhaps someone else will spot this thread and comment. My understanding is that 5 step sparring is rarely used by modern practitioners?
That was me who deleted the post in the Karate forum. Sorry about that, but we don't allow cross posting.
with one step sparring you attack with one technique (moo duk kwan tkd) then you receive an attack with one technique. With 5 step sparring you go forward with five offensive techniques then your training partner comes forward with 5 offensive techniques as you retreat with 5 steps backwards and 5 blocks.
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Do you mean attacker "A" attacks Defender "B" with 1 attack & Defender "B" delivers 1 counter attack?
Thanks Do both retreat doing blocks? Is there a final counter attack? Are the attacks mixed or 5 of the same? Is this also from the MooDukKwan? (sounds a little like 3 steps, but with 2 more techniques added in)
No, it's not from moo duk kwan, it's from shotokan. I don't know that much about the history/formal techniques thus the reason for this thread. The attacks are mixed. Yes, retreat doing blocks. It's exactly like 3 steps with two more steps added in. I heard the purpose of step sparring was to prepare nervous students for free style or full contack sparring
There are different ways to do 1 step sparring. Some instructors prefer to eliminate the premeditated aspect of it and some prefer to keep it rigid.
Yes MooDukKwan & Tangsudo do come from primarily karate. Gen. Choi had very different reasons or purposes for his Pre-arranged sparring, defined as 3,2&1 step sparring. 3 steps to teach distance 2 steps to familiarize attack & defense with both hands & feet as well as defense against hand & feet. 1 steps to simulate the initial attack of an actual fight
We do, 3, 2 & 1 step in that order. Each is different and used for various reasons/purposes/training. Stuart
We do five step sparring for the first couple of belts in shotokan. As our instructor describes it, it's basically to teach beginners how long their arms are - i.e. how far they need to be from an opponent and how long their steps need to be to maintain striking distance. It's not really fighting training - it's preparatory training to get beginners acclimatised to being attacked (as many haven't experienced someone throwing punches at them before) and help them work out the right distance for their own arm length.
I think step sparring is a flawed training method founded on flawed understanding of karate/TKD techniques. I think it's safe to say the karate/TKD "blocks" are often poorly designed to be blocks and modern kata sees them more as "receivers/uke" and percussive forearms smashes from clinch/grab range. As such I don't see what step sparring is teaching people? It's not proper blocking (because no one uses blocks in that manner for real). And it's not using the techniques themselves effectively. If it's an introduction to sparring then make the blocks sparring type blocks (covers, parries etc). If it's teaching people how to use fundamental techniques then make the format and range more realistic. This was really brought home to me when I visited a TKD club recently and was partnered up with a complete beginner to so step sparring. I had to tell her to slow her punches down and chamber them because I couldn't block them! How crazy is that? She was just stepping and punching and there wasn't enough gap for me to chamber and block in between. I honestly don't see how step sparring as done in TKD prepares people for anything.
I could not disagree more, but only from an ITF TKD perspective. We do not do step sparring like karate does & many other tkd styles follow. The example of you facing the beginner female is precisely the benefit of ITF tkd 1steps, that come as a 6th gup green belt after you have trained several months with 3 & 2 steps as white & yellow belt levels. Our 1 step sparring are designed to be adversarial & attacked from a natural standing position or stance (PRS). There is no stepping back prior to the attack & the attack should be for real. The defender must defend or get hit. Then they must counter with 1 focused counterattack to a vital spot appropriate for the attacking tool. This is usually done for awhile by telling the defender which attack would be used. Once opponents are comfortable with the format, they can & should switch to surprise attack. Problem is I don't think many do it that way
Hmmm elitism much? Are these different then? [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9L3qwUbC-eU"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9L3qwUbC-eU[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaRUcg0VrBI"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaRUcg0VrBI[/ame] Because where I'm sitting the format is identical. How is it benefical to tell a new student to slow down and change what they are doing in order to make a flawed drill work? The problem wasn't so much her punching but that it didn't fit the "rhythm" of the drill (1 and 2 and 3 and counter) and so there wasn't the little pauses between punches to fit a chamber in. IF I'd been allowed to use the blocks in a "receiver" manner I could have used the chambers as the blocks/parries and then countered with the "block". A more pragmatic way to use them IMHO.
So do you think the originators of TKD had a good understanding of the karate techniques they inherited? Because I don't think they did. Hence why I think three step is flawed.
