Any Tae Kwon Do sparring tips for me?

**kevinlolwut** · Posted On: 4/18/2012 4:17pm

Hi everyone, I'm a white belt with a yellow stripe in Tae Kwon Do. My friend is a second degree black belt, and he is about 4 inches taller than me, and has a much longer reach. I am able to kick as powerfully as he can, however, everytime I kick, it is much harder for me to reach him. We often spar for fun, but when we do spar, we do not wear gear, since we feel that gear is kind of bulky to wear and move around in. My question is, what kind of tips would anyone give me to last longer against a match with my friend? I am 5ft7 and 150lbs, and my friend is 5ft11 and 160 lbs.

**1armedwonder** · Posted On: 4/18/2012 8:31pm

Jam him up when he goes for a kick. Kicks generally take a longer time to pull off, so you should be able to see it coming. All you need to do is close the distance. If you allow punches, start punching him when you're in real close. Maybe try hit and run? Another tactic would be just to defend against the kicks until he gets tired, which shouldn't take too long as kicks take quite a bit of energy to use. This doesn't mean you should always block them, dodging works just as well.

Also, although you guys are just sparring for fun, you should still wear a cup and mouth guard. A martial art with mostly kicks can result in some accidental nut punting, and losing teeth is never fun.

**alcole** · Posted On: 4/20/2012 9:16pm

Originally Posted by kevinlolwut

Hi everyone, I'm a white belt with a yellow stripe in Tae Kwon Do. My friend is a second degree black belt, and he is about 4 inches taller than me, and has a much longer reach. I am able to kick as powerfully as he can, however, everytime I kick, it is much harder for me to reach him. We often spar for fun, but when we do spar, we do not wear gear, since we feel that gear is kind of bulky to wear and move around in. My question is, what kind of tips would anyone give me to last longer against a match with my friend? I am 5ft7 and 150lbs, and my friend is 5ft11 and 160 lbs.

Ask him if he can teach you to spar, if not, find someone who will.

**hungryjoe** · Posted On: 4/23/2012 8:43pm

Keep your hands up. Chances are you'll eventually leave TKD. Keeping your hands up now negates you having to unlearn a bad habit.

Breath through your nose. Keep your mouth shut. Mouth breathers get KTFO.

Do you mind letting us know what TKD organization you're with?

**jedtex88** · Posted On: 4/24/2012 2:45am

I had a similar problem at my dojang fighting trees with blackbelts. I still do sometimes. First and formost lie to him. Fight defensively if possible. Answer a kick with a punch, and a punch with a kick. attack from angles. I'm not saying that you do this but most of the novice fighters I know(Myself at one point in time) have a tendency to move straight in on an opponent which is a good way to eat a defensive kick, or reverse punch. Do you and your buddy allow face contact? Do you just play around or do you try and wallop the **** out of one another?

**lordbd** · Posted On: 4/25/2012 9:19pm

If you don't mind sparring dirty, one piece of advice that I got when I used to do TKD competitions: Bend the knees and crouch with your elbows tucked when he's setting up a kick so you can take the kick on your elbow. It will hurt you like hell, but since TKD is all about the kicks, your arm is a worthy sacrfice for hurting his shin and teaching him to be a little gunshy about unloading roundhouses to the body. I only used this tactic once and I will repeat: It hurts!

**jedtex88** · Posted On: 4/25/2012 11:49pm

Originally Posted by kevinlolwut

Hi everyone, I'm a white belt with a yellow stripe in Tae Kwon Do. My friend is a second degree black belt, and he is about 4 inches taller than me, and has a much longer reach. I am able to kick as powerfully as he can, however, everytime I kick, it is much harder for me to reach him. We often spar for fun, but when we do spar, we do not wear gear, since we feel that gear is kind of bulky to wear and move around in. My question is, what kind of tips would anyone give me to last longer against a match with my friend? I am 5ft7 and 150lbs, and my friend is 5ft11 and 160 lbs.

Are you guys actually making good solid contact or just promise sparring? Does he maintain a good guard or is he one of those Taekwondo guys who fights with his hands on his crotch to avoid getting hit in the groin when he kicks at your head? Also how is your wind? Do you needto do more cardio? Are you overly tense and burning more energy than is needed? You may also want to come to terms with the fact that are a beginner and it may be a while before you can hold your own against an experienced practitioner.

**blue-dragon** · Posted On: 5/17/2012 7:07pm

If he kicks alot and doesn't like to punch like alot of TKDers then close the distance and use your hands. Styles make fights and infighting helps against outfighters. Be aggressive.

If he likes to punch and set up the kicks like a better fighter should then defense should be a priority at the same time don't be a punching bag keep moving and look for an oppening. Try working the jab and keep your hands up.

**Eric-The-Red** · Posted On: 9/11/2012 12:12pm

To all whom I offended with my previous post (especially the mods), I sincerely apologize. I will be more careful in the future to indicate when I am attempting to be humorous and I will refrain from using all caps to do so.

kevinlolwut - What I was trying to convey (apparently poorly) is that, to me personally, kicking someone in the head when they are 4 inches taller than you does not make sense. Play to your differences. If you can move in close enough to bind up your partner's kicks, the height difference may allow you to still be able to kick him, but I recommend kicks to the body because they take less time to execute.

Again, I did not realize I was breaking KMA forum rules (which I had read) when I posted but I sincerely apologize for the offense. I have since read the rules again and realize that my attempt at humor could have been interpreted as being disrespectful. The fault is mine alone.

** Ah. Upon further investigation, I found that I apparently tried to give my own post props. I could use the excuse that I was on my iPad (web browsing is tricky on those things) and that I honestly had no idea what I clicked (tapped) out of curiosity. Really it just comes down to the fact that I am a nooby space-case. **

**1evilgenius** · Posted On: 10/17/2012 9:24am

Apparently spending time at a boxing gym is the way to go. I have a friend who is a decent amateur boxer who decided to enter the Diamond Nationals as a white belt. He did it basically to see if being a decent fighter would cross over to other arts. Not knowing TKD or Karate he figured he should at least learn a few kicks from a guy who did some point sparring in his youth. So with about 2 hours of training, 3 weeks before the Diamond Nationals he won first place in the white-orange belt category for 18-29 heavyweight.