Do you consider sparring vital?

Sparring, to me, is a vital form of training. It's where technique, skill, knowledge, application and experience converge. I think it's important to have a full understanding of skills first to for sparring to be of any benefit. Those that lack training in technique wil lack in development in sparring.

Point sparring even has it's place. I think of point sparring similar to a Kendo match where that one hit would of been a fatal blow. It teaches the importance of swift, fluid and functional movement and technique.

No.

There are styles that do not spar. those styles are no less effective because they do not spar. I think the sparring that I often see leads to bad habits.

It is rare that you see a technically sound martial artist using very good martial arts techniques in sparring. I think sparring is more entertaining than teaching.

There are many ways to teach distance, techniques, timing, etc that are better than sparring.

I've only seen one school that I would like to go to and participate in their sparring. I have visited their, but I saw their website. It is a shorin ryu dojo. They say in their sparring you must use techniques from you bunkai (kata). I would be interested in seeing how that is done. If it looks good I would learn to incorporate that into our dojo.

I know I will get some thumbs down on this question on my opinion. I expect the idiot trolls that follow me to give me a thumbs down. We all are entitled to our opinion. We don't have to agree on everything.

Edit:

Also consider for me, I don't believe in kicking anything above the waist. If I kick you I expect to injure you. I'm not thinking about any of those mma leg kicks. I want to destroy the joint. I don;t want you to think about standing. I wish you would try to kick me. I will kick the joint of the leg that you are standing on.

There is sparring in our dojo. I just don't feel that it is vital.

If you want to become a proficient fighter then yes. How are you going to be able to defend yourself if you have never used your techniques against a resisting opponent?

There are so many benefits to sparring that you just can't get from drilling alone. You might find that certain moves that you enjoy drilling don't work very well for you in a fight situation. In sparring, you find out which moves work best for you, and when to use them. You learn to keep a cool head and stay focused when fighting. You develop a gameplan. You toughen up physically and mentally.

I do consider sparring vital and important for people learning and developing their skills to the highest level possible as well as their understanding of them and how to best utilize and employ them. One of the reasons why I say this is because it helps prepare them to be able to hit, strike, or kick a moving, thinking, reacting opponent and how to make allowances for this as well as maybe how to develop their skills to a higher level for being capable of doing so.

Not everyone is going to be a sitting duck and you can have the fastest, strongest, side kick or reverse punch in the world but if you can't put it on the target then it won't be nearly as effective. Sparring helps teach you how to go about doing that better as well as instead resorting on another that can be effective when the situation is not right and your opponent has moved, turned, or shifted his balance a certain way or the distance has changed.

I have had a number of very good traditional martial artists in the past especially in Shorin-ryu come to me for this since there are a couple of the schools in my area that don't believe in sparring and therefore don't. They have good, strong technique but lack the skill and ability to really employ those techniques because they don't spare.

They often can't move or position or change their position in relation to me fast enough or think and react quick enough to accommodate that change and are generally to rigid and to tight. We work a lot on those things and they learn to relax more while also being able to move easier and more quickly and to make adjustments then more easily as that all changes. This enables them to be more capable and ready to handle all that and when that initial shot or technique does not work that they might rely on and throw.

I have also had a number of people from TKD come to me for private lessons also for basically the same reason. Their current training and sparring just does not help them to reach their fullest potential and limits them to just kicking and hands to the body only leaving them too limited for street situations for instance.

So even if you spare in your current training you might want to consider what that entails and if it is giving you all that it should or if not is there something else out there that can help you additionally while also making you a better martial artist.

Boxing and the type of sparring it offers for instance is a great example in how it teaches you to fight, throwing multiple combinations while also taking shots at the same time. In a street situation where it comes down to fire power in a lot of cases and who can do the most damage to the other the quickest its a little late to find out that you can't take a punch very well or how to maybe handle taking a shot or two while also being able to give back several. You just don't get that kind of training and experience without sparring in my opinion nor maybe learn how to think, react, and execute your own martial arts skills in quick, rapid succession in combination without sparring.

Tag your it sparring, like NASKA and the "open" tournament scene does without good technique, no.

Good sparring focusing on proper techniques and allowing for sweeps and contact to head and back, then yes.

Good sparring helps teach distance management, timing, and a host of other important aspects.

It is but one tool among many though. It is no more important than any other aspect of training. Can you substitute other training methods for sparring? Yes.

Edit: @ Jim. I hear you.

I believe when the student has it in perspective it is helpful. Sparring as a means in itself is misleading the student.

Fighting for your life is nothing like sparring.

In defense of sparing it does give the student an opportunity to experience randomness and full force which is helpful. Sparring is not at the core of our curriculum, rather it is an aid.

One on one drills at full speed are the core. These drills are sometimes random attacks once the student is comfortable with the techniques being studied.

I believe sparring is a very important tool to train with. It's important because it allows you to practice your techniques on a resisting opponant, and you can feel the techniques. It also teaches timing, foot work, and many other attributes. Sparring is necessary in my opinion.

Sparring has many purposes and worths on persons life, doing such things will let you realize some of your weaknesses, you will surely knows how can you handle your temper and emotion in the right place, doing it will give many adjustments on your everyday life, because such methods will let you measure your fears, likely of getting hurt and hurting someone, what to do now and what to do next.

It is the most vital points on the life of every person that trained in Martial Arts, because it's like the things that once you take a course in college, you must have on OJT (on job training), if you want that your skills and knowledge will become accurate and efficient.

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Yes, it is vital for certain things, but it is overdone these days. Sparring is not the ONLY thing that needs attention, and much attention is paid to it at the loss of something else equally important. Martial art training requires a balance of things. Darn, there are no shortcuts.

edit: @ Karate Dave...My turn, should have read yours first..lol!

Yes. even in hard-core self-defense training, competitive sparring provides work on reflexes, thinking on one's feet, adrenaline, and incentive to practice at home. For hard-core self-defense, it should not be the only training available, but it should be part of it.

Non-competitive sparring is second-best, it still allows the development of reflexes, thinking on one's feet. But without the competitive aspect, there's little incentive for practice off-line. Also, the adrenaline flow is probably very low.

I hate competive sparring, because I am terrible at it. But that doesn't mean I don't think it's necessary. I think it's very necessary.