Test post-mortem part deux: sparring

After the kicking techniques were done, we had a bit of time to catch our breath while the black belt candidates were doing their testing. I was able to down the rest of my gatorade in fairly short order and then we had to go into sparring.

The only sparring that my daughter and I have done so far is the light contact sparring. Nothing with head gear or pads on. (Tangent: we now have to go to required sparring classes). I have had sparring partners who have done the sparring classes and they've taught me a thing or two. I can hold my own with classmates who are in the same boat as I am but anyone who has attended the sparring classes usually has their way with me.

The sparring is set up where we had circles of people forming 6 different sparring rings.  The groups were divided by age. In each ring, an instructor would choose 2 people randomly at a time and then going through the formality of the sparring introductions.  The rest of us formed the edge of the ring.  The first go around, they had us spar with someone at our belt level.  My partner was basically in the same boat as me without any sparring classes.  We're both a little on the competitive side.  The round went fairly quickly with each of us getting a couple of "hits" in against the other.

My first sparring round at the test

(Note to self: teach daughter about "sport" mode on camera)

The second chance I had to spar was against a black belt who had been to sparring classes. I talked about this round already here under the self control heading.

While standing on the side of the ring, I talked with a few of the guys who had been to the sparring classes.  One guy summed it up quite well: "It wasn't until I went to the sparring class that it all ended up tying together. Everything makes a lot more sense once you do that."

I'm planning on going to the sparring class soon. As I mentioned, it's required as part of our belt level.  Need to figure out the best time for it.