Today’s class was mostly sparring drills but different.  Instead of putting on the pads and free sparring, Sensei Noia, had us work on some different drills with focus on foot movements and pivoting.

Start slow

We started class doing Slow Motion Sparring drills with various partners.  The idea behind this is to constantly engage with your Partner and if you get hit keep going.  Although it sounds simple, keeping the slow pace and not speeding up as you are working is hard for many.  Once see you punches coming at your face, you have a tendency to speed up but that defeats the purpose of the drill.  Moving slowly gives you time to defend the attacks and also look for openings for your own attacks.

Block and punch

The block punch drill is always interesting because no matter how well you can do it, your mind always gets in the way and you end up making a mistake.  At least that’s what I seem to do.  The drill itself is simple, you and your partner face each other, your partner punches, you block, then you punch with the other hand, the one you didn’t block with and your partner blocks with their other hand.  You keep going back and forth until someone makes a mistake then you reset.  After you get a good pace going, you can block and punch with the same hand.  An inward block followed with a straight punch always opens your partners eyes a little wider.

We did the same drill but from a fighting stance instead of a ready stance.  This changes the dynamic a little and it has a tendency to make your use the hand of whatever leg is in front more often.

One step away

The next drill was similar to the one step sparring drills that we often do but these drills are done slowly and the defending partner uses body shifting or a pivot get out of the way.  The big difference between this and the standard one step drills is if your partner shifts in to attack, you shift away, if your partner shuffles in, you shuffle away and if they take a full step in, you take a full step away.  You have to pay attention to their footwork in order to do this drill properly.

Pivot and then add a partner

We spent a lot of time working on pivoting with blocks and punches.  We started in a ready stance, from there we pivoted on our right foot, turning our body 90 degrees to the left and moving our left foot behind into a front stance while executing a downward block and reverse punch,  We then came back to a ready since and did the same but we ended up facing 90 degrees to the right.  The main goal is to use the hips to turn the body in a smooth motion.  I wish I would have done this drill when I was coming up through the ranks because it would have made one step sparring much easier.  We did the same foot and hip actions but instead of a block and reverse punch we used a front hand jab or front punch.

After we finished the solo drills above, we got a partner and used these same pivoting motions while our partner did the standard one step sparring attacks.  I often use a similar motion when doing one step in the past but ending up in a good front stance is better for those who will be examining.  Plus, the action of the pivot and the timing of the front and attacking hand it very fast and smooth.  You can also cover more ground if you move, what will become your front foot forward and then pivot if you want to end up 90 degrees away from your partner.  I found, that the block isn’t needed and you get totally out of the way while attacking.

We finished class with three katas of our choice and then went home.

Class summary

• Slow motion sparring
• Block and punch drills both from ready stance and fighting stance
• One step matching your partners footwork
• Pivot 90 degree and attack at the same time
• End the class with kata