HKD sparring

[gr455h0pp3r]

When do u spar in Hapkido and whats it like ?

[gmtkd]

I hate to leave this nice question with no replies.
At my dojang we mostly teach Taekwondo with WTF sparring and start sparring as white belts. We also have separate Hapkido classes which never spar. The grand master has recently told us at a meeting of Chun Ki Hapkido teachers that he wanted us to put in more sparring in the Hapkido classes. He said to use WTF rules. So, I will start this at my dojang pretty soon. I will probably go ahead and start the students sparring at white or yellow belt.
The grand master also wanted us to practice knife sparring but he sometimes calls a sword a knife so we don't know what he means.
I want to know if any Hapkido instructors out there have a way to practice sparring that includes strikes and joint locks. If I found a good set of rules for this I would like to use it in my school.

Marcy Shoberg

[yukwon]

At my school we do a little sparring not very much. We use standard point sparring rules, but we allow grabbing to anniciate a throw. Only the adults use joint locks, and only a few locks at that. no wrist locks during sparring unless the opponent is on the ground. I feel that this teaches the students to use their thechniques in less of a controled situation (as in just standing there and countering, this way there is more movement from the attacker and the timing is different) also it forces them to counter a throw or take down, and defend from the ground. ground fighting is closley supervised and stopped befor any control is lost. For saftey reasons there are alot of techniques that we cant use, but I find this to be one more tool to aid in understanding how to flow and unite with an unpredictable attack.

[David Beckwith]

One night a week we spar like TKD except we don't stop when someone is hit, kicked or taken to the ground to grapple. We allow it to be more like what will happen in a real fight. Gives a chance to do hapkido techniques during a fight. Not as easy as when we are just working on techniques because there is less emphasis on "working a technique" as there is in fighting where everything is fluid and you can't anticipate what the other guy will do. He could just spar or he could do an arm bar, wrist lock etc...

[Tony Dismukes]

I don't do hapkido, but I've done a form of sparring in some jujutsu schools which should work for you guys. Basically, we allowed light-contact strikes anywhere except to the groin, continuous movement (no stop in action for a sucessful strike or throw), clinching/takedowns/groundfighting/jointlocks & chokes all were permitted. Striking on the ground is optional & was often saved for the upper belts. Make sure students understand the safety rules of tapping out for a submission & have control in their takedowns. (No piledriving your partner on his head.)

The light-contact aspect reduces the realism somewhat, but it's a pretty safe form of sparring which allows you to work on any aspect of your unarmed technique that you like. I've done this form of sparring with practioners of jujutsu, jukado, karate, kung-fu, taekwondo, judo, kickboxing, wrestling & taijutsu. It gives all of them a chance to work their preferred techniques & me a chance to test myself against them on a level playing field.

[traz]

My Hapkido school does sparring in a few different ways. I'll break it down for you.

Once a week, there is a sparring class open to any student, beginner, intermediate, what have you. Gloves, Footwear, Headgear, mouth piece, and cup. It's full contact punching and kicking. At the lower levels, there are no punches to the head. At the higher levels, there are punches to the head. Once the fight goes to the ground, we stop and restart.

In addition, One week out of the month, the intermediate and advanced students do sparring during class. This will either be the same type of sparring as above, or it will be a judo style randori with throws, or a complete free-sparring type environment, where punches, kicks, throws, and ground fighting are all allowed...its up to my teacher which type of sparring he wants to do that class.

I think it works alright, and I definitely go to each sparring class.

[Eliz]

We do a lot of weapons sparring.

As for traditional sparring, that is really just a series of techniques and counter moves. The victor is the person who has successfully executed a technique and locked their opponent so that no counter defense is forth coming. Or, quite simply, the opponent is forced to tap out. It's very fast paced and exciting. Although I love TKD, I prefer Hapkido "sparring" to traditional TKD sparring.