Class Week-in-Review May 14, 2014

Sensei James overseeing light-contact drills

Sparring week welcomed new and continuing students. Sensei James drilled the higher rank students in light-contact format and Mr. Eric assisted the white belt students with footwork and back-fist attacks in no-contact format. Wednesday was more of the same, but with much improvement. The confidence level in their attacks really showed.

Saturday culminated with 1 minute point-sparring rounds, focusing on the previous techniques. Our focus was good technique and footwork. Everyone performed with dignity and in a warrior spirit. The most outstanding sportsmanship was also displayed. The instructors were impressed!

Remember that sparring—regardless of style—is based on 4 important fundamentals: Fitness, technique, strategy and warrior spirit. Be aware of these fundamentals in order to make your practice more successful.

Footwork and attack drills

For more about these fundamentals, we recommend the book Taekwondo Kyorugi by Sang H. Kim Ph.D. For techniques and drills we recommend the videos courses Shotokan Kumite by Sensei Steve Flores and Championship Taekwondo Drills by Master Lynnette Love (These excellent videos are out of print and can only be found second-hand on various websites—or new through Amazon.com on-Demand video).

Students interested in purchasing their own sparring gear should look at this article about buying gear online.