CAMA Sparring Definition | Benefits of Sparring | Fight or Flight | A Kick & A Punch

Rules:
Please do not punch or kick other students unless you are wearing sparring gear and an instructor is present during sparring practice. In this class we work together, laugh together and learn together in an honor code. Treat others as you wish to be treated.

Please listen to the instructor speaking - it is for your safety. You will be asked to sit and watch if you cannot follow the above two sparring rules.

• Sparring Is:
  Sparring is an opportunity for you to be an example for other students by showing the fruit of the spirit -
• Show your partner love by helping him or her
• Show joy for the experience of learning
• Show humility if your technique is better, faster, etc.
• Find peace as you practice
• Sparring is an opportunity to grow your level of patience and self control
• Show kindness to your partner by building them up, and not tearing them down.
• Show faithfulness and perseverance - by always doing your best and not giving up - Remember - Integrity is doing the right thing when others aren't around
• Sparring is an opportunity to show or learn a greater sense of self-control
• Sparring is an opportunity to glorify God by doing your best with the skills He has given you
• Sparring Is Not:
  An opportunity to vent your anger or frustration from the day - on the contrary, it is the time you focus your energy the most and use it to build oneself and others.
• An opportunity to take advantage of your partners weaknesses - whether taller, bigger, etc.

- Sparring IS NOT FIGHTING - which is destructive. You are building your skill and your fellow students by helping eachother learn what to do in a given circumstance.

There are a few types of sparring - in the San Joe facility, you are learning Point Sparring. Another is known as full contact. Point Sparring deals with obtaining points by using your technique correctly, through focus, proper execution, timing, balance and power.

Learning to Point Spar is not learning how to fight.

Full contact sparring is more similar to actual combat - where takedowns, grappling, boxing, biting and other forms of "combat" are encountered.

During sparring session, there is NO PUNCHING to the face AT ANY TIME unless both parties consent, and are adults over 18. No punching or kicking below the belt. If you are not wearing protection - buy it immediately and wear it during class! If you choose to punch or kick to the face, both you and your partner must agree. Most importantly, use CONTROL. An instructor must be present during any sparring matches defined as "full-contact" or no holds barred.

Sparring of any type - whether point or full-contact, can prepare you for an actual confrontation, where self-defense and self-preservation is critical to your life. Sparring allows you to understand not only your own strengths and weaknesses, but also helps you understand the "endorphin rush"that occurs during sparring.

During a real-life confrontation, your motor skills (ability to carry out an action) and senses collapse. This is known as freezing up or Fight or Flight instinct. You tune out all noise and other distractions, and often times "freeze up," and forget what to do.

Martial arts in general can help you deal with this state of "freezing up." It is one's ability to turn a confrontation into something miniscule in a split second that can make all the difference in the world. Leaving the confrontation is always best, but in a worst case scenario - you want your reflex action to take over, and this is what is obtained through rigorous training and sparring.

A martial artist, similar to a Christian, must train one's body and mind to instinctively perform or carry out an action it has repetitively practiced. Only at this point can one be assured the appropriate action is taken, and done so swiftly, economically, and with control.

One of the greatest martial artists who ever lived paraphrased the martial arts journey as follows. "When I began in the arts, a kick was a kick and a punch was just a punch. As I began to study the art, and understand the balance, power, and movement of techniques, a punch was no longer a punch, and a kick no longer just a kick. But, after years of studying the arts and perfecting the various movements to carry them out in a split second, a punch was just a punch, and a kick was just a kick."

This ideology is critical to understanding the possible journey a martial arts practitioner may go through. However, it differs greatly from a Christian walk with Christ. We cannot rest on our laurels, and assume we are in God's grace by simply doing what is right. By nature, we are sinful beings, and only by "praying always" may be continue to be in God's will.

I Peter 4:11b
"Do things with the ability God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ."

A white belt is a black belt who never gives up