Principles of Sparring - Article Two
The Second Installment in a Series of Articles on Sparring Principles
by FWC Instructor David Courtney Jones
2. DISTANCING, OPENINGS & ENTERING
In order to successfully attack your opponent, you must understand distancing and entering. Your targets are your opponent?s openings.
Openings are gaps in your opponent?s guard ? opportunities ? available places to hit. For the beginner, once you have become reasonably competent at your defence, this is the next thing you need to start to look for. Openings can also be moments when your opponent is off-balance, or in an ideal position to be thrown.
As most people move, and change their guarding position, timing becomes a factor. The ability to see an opening and seize the moment (timing), enter to the correct distance and execute an attack quickly (before they can defend ? and without getting hit yourself) is everything.
As you face your opponent, look at the position of their arms in relation to the key target areas of their body. Which targets are uncovered? Is their head an easy target? Are there points on the arms you could strike? Are one or both legs in a good position to attack? How is their weight distributed ? is grappling an option? This is how you spot openings.
If the opening you want is not visible, can you see it if you move around your opponent? If you move around them, do they move in response? When they change position, are new openings appearing? This is the most basic tactical element of sparring.
Once you have spotted the perfect opening, how do you attack it? You must understand distancing and entering.
Assuming weapons are not being used, there are five key ranges you need to understand.
1. Clear (out of range)
2. Kicking
3. Punching
4. Knees/elbows
5. Grappling
Roughly speaking, a single short step will take you forwards one range. In other words, if you are stood at kicking range from your opponent, a step back will mean you can no longer attack. A step forwards will mean you can punch; two steps, elbow; and three steps grapple. Obviously by changing the length of your stepping you can change distance in different ways.
The first important thing to note is that, more than likely, these key ranges are different for your opponent. They may be taller; their limbs might be a different length. In this case, you have two sets of ranges you must work with: your attacking ranges (relating to the lengths of your limbs), and your defensive ranges (relating to the lengths of your opponent?s limbs). Consequently, if your kicking range and your opponent?s punching range are the same, you will need to take two (or even more, if they are much taller than you!) steps back to move to a safe distance, instead of just one.
The second point to note is that it is a waste of effort to take any more steps back from the ?clear? range. Many beginning students do this, and then wonder why their opponent can always detect their attacks when they come charging forwards from a great distance.
So, to attack successfully you must place yourself at the appropriate range from your opponent, and execute your attack, targeting their opening. If you are already at the correct range this is easy ? you just attack. If you are out of range, then you must enter.
In simple terms, entering is moving from a position which is out of range, into a position which is at the correct range to execute your chosen attack. As this generally involves moving your body towards your opponent (quite a large movement), it can be easy to detect.
One of the most common questions I am asked in my sparring classes is, ?Why do I always get hit when I try to enter?? The answer, in general terms, is that you must understand how to spot, or create, the correct moment for you to enter when your opponent can do nothing about it. To do this, you must be able to see your opponent?s rhythm, you must be able to manipulate your opponent into creating opportunities for you, you must have a very good sense of timing, and your entering move (and the coordination of your attack with your entering move) must be very smooth.
Again, these skills, the ability to spot these opportunities, require hard, hard training. It is something which can be explained, but not understood, until sufficient experience has been acquired by the student.
In my next article, I will discuss how an opening can be created. This is the beginning of learning how an opponent can be manipulated into moving how you want them to, and fighting on your terms.