Choosing your moment
This sparring between sensei Lynton and sempai Ieuan shows you two karateka figuring out how to get inside their opponent and hit, then get back out of striking distance, with minimum contact. Reading each other's intentions and choosing when to move, is crucial.
Inside the dojo, we practise control over the strength and impact of all techniques. We use restraint to practise karate safely. Even without the threat of grievous harm, we want to avoid being tagged.
The sparring in this clip shows us practising timing and finding ways to achieve a striking position before attacking. Again, and again, and again!
This clip shows a teenager sparring with an adult with more experience and way more physicality. But the benefits of karate go way beyond the physical.
Self-control and all-round belief in our physical ability build incrementally, with every training session. Sparring adds another drop of confidence onto the scales of the karateka practising kumite.
No rewards or congratulations follow the fight. Just the sense of succeeding at another challenge. Embracing kumite as a complex mental and physical game gives karateka an edge beyond the dojo.
