Coping with chaos at the Independent Karate School

Tournament season is here at the Independent Karate School, and preparations are in full swing.  Everyone from our littlest beginners to our adolescent brown belts is practicing hard and trying to get ready.

I mentioned in an earlier post that around tournament time, the instructional emphasis shifts a little bit at the Independent Karate School.  Our students practice forms all year round (set routines of moves that are learned at each rank).  But at this time of year, students primarily practice the form that they plan to perform at the tournament.  We break boards in class much more commonly in the late winter and spring, since board breaking is a tournament event as well.  And our students also spar on a more regular basis.

Are you imagining a roomful of kids pounding on each other?  Don't.  At the Independent Karate School, we practice a "non-contact" form of sparring.  This doesn't mean that there aren't a few bumps: students at all ranks must try to block each other's punches and kicks, which are sometimes coming in pretty fast.  Advanced students are allowed to make light contact with strikes to the torso (above the belt).  In general, however, our form of sparring is not about hitting your partner.

So how does it work then?  Sparring at the Independent Karate School is often described as a game of tag. The point is to observe the weaknesses in your partner's guard (or create them through distraction) and then get in with a punch or kick.  If you evade the guard successfully, and are close enough that you could have made contact, you score.  This style of sparring keeps our students in one piece while requiring them to develop quick reflexes, excellent control, and situational awareness.  As one of our senior instructors likes to say, sparring helps us learn to deal with chaos, when you have no idea what's coming next.  In other words, it makes our students better at real-world self-defense.

Would you like to see how we mix it up at the Independent Karate School? Feel free to observe any scheduled class, with no prior arrangements needed!  For a complete class schedule and more information, please visitwww.independentkarateschool.com.  Hope to see you soon!