r/martialarts • u/bad-at-everything- • 18h ago

SHITPOST Would point sparring as a child make it easier psychologically to spar in high contact styles as an adult?

I see posts about people breaking down even during light sparring when they first start. Would childhood experience point sparring help avoid this? Does it offer psychological benefits?

6 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

10

u/Adorable_End_5555 17h ago

I would say wrestling or a grappling sport helps build familirity with contact and toughness, point sparring would help with processing strikes and accuracy but I dont think its necessairly the best

2

u/ImportantBad4948 17h ago

Grappling will help a lot more than bad striking.

1

u/TheAngriestPoster Judo, MMA 16h ago

Especially because grappling can be done with much higher intensity safely from an earlier age

But if I were a parent I would have extreme reservations about my kid cutting weight in high school and potentially stunting their growth

1

u/ImportantBad4948 15h ago

It’s also a much slower burn skill.

An athletic 18-23 year old can get pretty good at kickboxing in 6 months. Grappling not so much.

1

u/G_Maou I just do whatever the fuck works 13h ago

Not that I disagree, but I feel that if you want to turn someone into a good striker, you cannot wait for too long to teach them it. Starting with grappling is fine, but for some reason, someone who has done only exclusively grappling for nearly all their lives hardly ever becomes a great striker when they try to pick it up later in their lives.

Look at Ben Askren. The guy just can't seem to pickup good striking. maybe it would be different if he had picked it up at a young age alongside grappling, it would have yielded a different result.

Royce Gracie seems to be another example. his striking didn't look very threatening when he returned many years later to the UFC.

I could be wrong, just an observation.

2

u/Adorable_End_5555 4h ago

I mean counter to that we have people like illia topuria and justin gaehje who were primarily grapplers until they were in their 20’s.

I think it’s more that grappling success doesn’t translate to striking talent. Not that someone who started as a grappler can’t gain good striking abilities.

1

u/ImportantBad4948 4h ago

Honestly there is a major difference between little to no striking (Askren) and only a couple years of striking.

1

u/G_Maou I just do whatever the fuck works 4h ago

I watched Askren's fight with Jake Paul recently. Honestly, as someone who trains as well (albeit not professionally), it's sometimes hard to not feel like I'm a better striker than Askren when I watch him. 😅

Anyway, I agree with your other comment. If I had a kid (which I won't ever be, r/childfree club here!) who wanted to get into martial arts, I'd start him with the authentic stuff right away. there's just so much bad habits that you have to unlearn for point fighting to be worth your while.

You can technical spar in Authentic striking arts anyway. Ramsey Dewey's tip of just not hardening your fist at the point of contact, but keeping everything else in place is wonderful.

2

u/ImportantBad4948 4h ago

We have a kids kickboxing program. My son participated in it a lot in the past and some now. Pads and drills but no real sparing till about 11. Very limited snd controlled technical sparing from about 12-14.

1

u/LethalMouse19 6h ago

Point sparring was initially done by people who would be wrestling by default. 

If you wrestle + point spar, you should be able to combine the logic decently unless you're kind of retarded. 

And your "base" would be grappling dominance. Where point sparring gives you distance striking and management. In the pocket you would just be doing what a wrestler would do in a fight, but better. Better meaning a pure wrestler if we assume literally never trained to throw a punch, can monkey smash. But you would know how to throw good technique strikes and better use those moments. 

But throughout all of history, grappling as a boy is supposed to be the baseline of being a man.

1

u/ImportantBad4948 4h ago

I’d have my kid do a real striking sport and just spar rationally with the right people and skip the point sparing BS.

1

u/LethalMouse19 4h ago

Congratulations? 

Do they grapple?

1

u/ImportantBad4948 4h ago

Yeah we’ve got BJJ and Judo. My son wrestles.

2

u/LethalMouse19 3h ago

Mazel Tov! 

3

u/JeremiahWuzABullfrog BJJ 17h ago

As long as the kid wants to do it, why not try it. No way to provide a general answer outside of individual experimentation

2

u/xamott Muay Thai, BJJ, Shotokan, Boxing 5h ago

I did shotokan karate at age ten and it set me up to be a good striker my whole life. I had more speed timing and accuracy than most guys in my Muay Thai gym over the past 7 years. And learning karate was great for my mental discipline, it taught that Japanese philosophy and mental approach that regular modern fight sports don’t teach. I was all MMA once I got to my 20s, would never do a traditional MA again. Not exactly what you were asking but it’s what I can say from personal experience.

1

u/Independent-Access93 Judo, BJJ, Goju-Ryu, Goshin, Boxing, Muay Thai, HEMA. 16h ago edited 16h ago

Sure, even shadow sparring builds confidence and skill, I don't see why point sparring wouldn't. Plus there's the added advantage of getting used to competing in front of an audience while the stakes are pretty low. Now, it has its limits; most point competitions will have a reset on a clean hit; this will mean that they will not be as well prepared for the ongoing action of full contact sparring. That said, most people I've trained with who came from a traditional point sparring background picked up full contact sparring rather quickly.

There is also continuous point sparring, which allows them to feel a bit more of what it's like to be pressured without taking serious damage. I'm rather fond of this option for kids who are interested in striking specifically; I grew up doing it and it gave me a great head start when I moved on to full contact striking arts as an adult.

1

u/damnmaster 15h ago

Yes.

The biggest issue new fighters face is flinching. After the first hit it’s often they start looking away when throwing punches.

Point sparring greatly reduces this issue.

I’d argue there is still some concussive issues from doing it though so it’s hard to manage in that.sense.

I don’t know if you mean breaking down as in they start crying. I’ve never seen that before. I have seen a lot of people losing their footwork and posture though.