OK, here’s another teaching concept I’ve found to be true: You get the most injuries when you hold back instead of going all out. Especially when you are in “teaching mode”.
Two of my students are preparing for a Sanshou tournament in a few months. As a result, the sparring sessions in class are more intense than otherwise. Most of my students train for different reasons than competing: they want to get in shape and be healthy, they want the stress-release you get from punching and kicking or they just enjoy the training. For them, the classes are not totally the same as for competitors. Everybody trains the same techniques but the standard for competitors is much higher. I expect and demand better performance of the techniques, speed, accuracy and above all good timing.
But when it comes to sparring, the division between the competitors and the other students can become problematic. Their sparring needs to be at a certain intensity to prepare them for the tournament but recreational students are not ready for that level. Nor should they have to be; they’re in class with other objectives in mind. So that’s one of the reasons why I still spar with my students. As I should be able to handle their techniques given my experience and the weight difference (I’m the heaviest guy on the mat, no comments please…), they can go all out and get plenty of experience that way.
