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PREARRANGED SPARRING
Author: By Dave Lowry
Many of you probably have never practiced prearranged sparring. Some dojo have eliminated it from regular training; others may never have included it in the first place. Some students find it boring— an unchallenging, static exercise that looks robotic and divorced from any kind of combative relevance. It may seem that way, but it isn’t. It’s tough to describe prearranged sparring without illustrations. Think of it like this: You and I face each other in a front stance, each with our left leg out front. Stepping forward a full pace into a right front stance, I punch at criticism often leveled at traditional karate.
What do you do in "real life" if the attacker strikes other than where you’ve agreed? How many times does a real attacker launch three strikes on a straight line, one right after the other? In response to these questions, we’re often wisest to say: "Gee, I never thought of that, and neither did all those generations of karateka who came before me. We must really be dumb. Thanks for setting me straight." Then go practice prearranged sparring. And learn.
Choreographed sequences of threestep sparring can vary. Instead of three steps, there can be four or five, or even one. Collectively, they are called yakusoku kumite. Yakusoku means "agreement" in that we agree beforehand which attacks will be made. Despite the apparently artificial training environment it creates, yakusoku kumite is a fine way to hone your timing. Let’s repeat the sequence I just described. I make three punches, stepping forward right-left-right; you step back, blocking three times, then counter. But this time, instead of stepping back on my third step, you slide forward as I make my final step, coming in at an angle to forestall my punch. Instead of blocking, you hit my midsection with a short vertical punch and break the rhythm I’ve established. This is the "stop-attack" so many innovators give themselves credit for inventing. Now we’ve moved into an entirely new area. You know where my final attack is going, so you don’t have to worry about getting hit and can experiment with your counter. When is the best moment to slide in and interrupt my attack with one of your own? Is it as I begin to step forward or just as I’m about to finish? How can you generate maximum power over a shorter distance? Sure, you could try the same kind of stop-attack in free sparring, but you wouldn’t be able to do it over and over again, to polish and refine it, because I wouldn’t attack the same way repeatedly. You’d also be reluctant to move into the attack, which is a fundamental necessity for perfecting this kind of timing, if you were worried about which attack I might make.
Prearranged kumite creates a laboratory in which you can experiment safely. You can also play around with the angles of your counterattack. What vector offers the most targets or the best chance of getting in? How about stepping off to the side and countering with a roundhouse kick? You can also try shifting slightly off-line to make a stop-attack front kick or some other counter.
Here’s another training variation: I take the first two steps forward, punching each time—right leg forward, right punch, left leg, left punch—but instead of making the last step-in punch, I shift my weight back and do a left front-leg kick. You have to deal with the sudden change in distancing, receive the kick with your block and execute a counter. At this point, you can study the options of moving to the left or right of my kick. Is it easier to shift one way or another? Which side offers the best targets?
Now let’s return to the original three-step sequence. I end with a right punch, right leg forward. You have stepped back, first with your left leg and then with your right in response to the first two attacks. Instead of taking a full step back, however, you step back so your left foot is even with your right. Now you shift your weight, and in response to my final, right-side punch, intercept my movement with a right-leg roundhouse kick. In free sparring, we tend to have an optimal balance with our legs apart. Unfortunately, in a real fight or even in a tournament bout, that isn’t always possible. In the controlled environment of prearranged sparring, you can see what happens when you can’t kick from a balanced posture. Additionally, there are few better methods for building strong hip muscles that can instantly be deployed than this kind of kicking: front stance, half-step back so the feet are momentarily together, then switching to kick with what was the back leg. This is a standard kind of solo training, but when you kick the air, you can’t get a feel for the correct distancing.
Prearranged sparring affords you an opportunity to have a moving target. You can feel how your hips deliver the power. Once you’ve tried this kind of backand- forth sequencing, you can add more steps. The variations are endless. The more complex they become, the more challenging they are. It’s like trying to remember a kata, only in this case your imaginary opponent isn’t imaginary, and if you make a mistake or forget, you feel the consequences. ...