SKILLS OF SPARRING
Skills of sparring
Question
I have a question about Kung Fu. Some time ago I did a lot of sparring and got to opponent number 16. I wish to finish and spar with the remaining 14. One reason why I didn't carry on was because I first wanted to be better at executing sequences. Defending and using openings left by the opponents was usually how I won.
-- Sifu Roeland Dijkema, Shaolin Wahnam Netherlands
Answer
You should continue with the remaining 14 opponents, irrespective of how well you use your sequences.
The onus of the 30-opponent programme is improving your sparring skills, irrespective of the level of skills you started with. If your skills were low when you started, your earlier opponents would be less skillful. If your skills were high, your earlier opponents would be more skillful. You are always more skillful than your opponents from number 1 to number 30.
At the beginning, you have 95% chance of beating your first opponent, but your last opponent had 95% chance of beating you. By the time you complete the 30-opponent programme, you have 95% chance of beating your last opponent because of your improvement of skills while your techniques may remain the same. In other words, at all time you have 95% chance of beating all your opponents.
You will be quite formidable by the time you have completed the 30-opponent programme. You will be able to handle masters and professional fighters quite easily.
LINKS