sparring in boston

[Eddard Stark]

[quote="scramasax"]a few classmates and i from andover were hoping to get into boston over the summer to get some better sparring in. could someone with experience in boston sparring give me the basics, ie just run through the schedule of a typical class?[/quote]

What's sparring like in Andover? I've been mulling over starting there, but I always believed sparring an important part of MA practice.

[scramasax57]

From your other posts, I'm guessing it's not what your looking for. Sparring in Andover (and all of YMAA) is very restrictive, because the idea is you must be very proficient at the techniques, solo and with a partner, before you can hope to apply them correctly. My teacher, Chris Fazzio, categorizes approaches to sparring in two ways: the "learn by doing approach", found in MMA, karate, and taekwondo, where the student is given a few simple techniques and then put in the ring to figure out how to use them. Kung fu, at least YMAA kung fu, instead spends a long time on learning and perfecting techniques, then slowly begins to put them to use and make it more alive. In short, YMAA sparring has a very long learning curve. Once you've been in the program for a couple years, you will start to see very real results, but the lack of fast progress up to then can be discouraging. The Andover branch, because it doesn't have many high-level students, is particularly slow in the psarring program. That said, if you are looking to learn a traditonal martial art that can and does stand up to testing in a ring, YMAA is the best school out there. Just be prepared to feel very frustrated and impatient at times.

[Eddard Stark]

[quote="scramasax57"]From your other posts, I'm guessing it's not what your looking for. Sparring in Andover (and all of YMAA) is very restrictive, because the idea is you must be very proficient at the techniques, solo and with a partner, before you can hope to apply them correctly. My teacher, Chris Fazzio, categorizes approaches to sparring in two ways: the "learn by doing approach", found in MMA, karate, and taekwondo, where the student is given a few simple techniques and then put in the ring to figure out how to use them. Kung fu, at least YMAA kung fu, instead spends a long time on learning and perfecting techniques, then slowly begins to put them to use and make it more alive. In short, YMAA sparring has a very long learning curve. Once you've been in the program for a couple years, you will start to see very real results, but the lack of fast progress up to then can be discouraging. The Andover branch, because it doesn't have many high-level students, is particularly slow in the psarring program. That said, if you are looking to learn a traditonal martial art that can and does stand up to testing in a ring, YMAA is the best school out there. Just be prepared to feel very frustrated and impatient at times.[/quote]

I have no problem feeling frusterated. As long as there is a destination worth reaching at the end, then I'm perfectly fine with any approach. Do you think it is possible to sit on a sparring session before deciding? You can tell pretty quickly by actually seeing students applying what they're taught whether it is something for you or not.

[zipwolf]

Just a side note.

I personally think that level one sparring should be done as well as full free general sparring at any level. Safety gear is a must, and slow calculated movements for total beginners (almost as in tai chi) so they can get used to mechanics of movements, but full free sparring i feel is essential for fully learning anything.

Also, teachers and students should discuss what they shuold be working on within their full free sparring. Weak on footwork? Focus on it. Weak on punches and getting them through opponents defence, work on it.

My personal opinion on improving faster.

Restrictive sparring, and non-restrictive sparring, both with focus on weaknesses.

[kame]

sounds good WOLF