"Should I let my students spar?” It’s a common question among martial arts school owners. Some balk at the idea. After all, sparring is – and is supposed to be – as close to a real fight as students get, without actually getting into one. Instructors worry that students will have one bad experience in sparring and quit, or will simply be too intimidated at the idea of sparring to participate.
Hi! It’s Sarah Lobban and Sarah Alpar, back with some more Thai pad holding tips (if you missed the first blog post, showing you hold to hold Thai pads for basic moves, go check it out).
Working with Thai pads was always one of my favorite parts of martial arts training. At the start of every kickboxing class, the woman I normally partnered with and I would ask our coach, “Thai pads or focus mitts?” hoping for the former (sometimes we’d just grab Thai pads without asking, hoping to subliminally sway Coach).
In film and TV, martial arts are too often depicted as gory, violent, and inherently aggressive – something that is simply not true. Unfortunately, this perceived image leads some parents to shy away from enrolling their children in martial arts. Although martial arts do contain a physical component, they also emphasize values more than many other sports and activities.
Recently, I went over the benefits of Thai pads vs. focus mitts in partner training. Now, I’m a huge fan of partner training with any equipment. However, if that choice were refined to partner training with Thai pads vs. partner training with focus mitts, I’m Team Thai Pad all the way. And I’m not alone.
Partner training is one of the best – and most fun!—components of martial arts or martial arts fitness training. It gives both parties an opportunity to work on distance and timing. It’s also a great way for trainers to work one-on-one with their clients, for a workout session that’s much more personalized.
Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee, affectionately known as the Father of American Taekwondo, passed away today, April 30, 2018. He was 86 years old. His death leaves a void in the world of martial arts, and the world at large, that will be hard to fill. However, his legacy lives on through the thousands of students he trained and inspired.
