The purpose of this article is to promote the use of sparring as a vehicle of learning. Some of the advantages of sparring is that if your goal in the martial arts is that of the combat aspect, sparring is the first step to take to see how much you actually have developed in your body mechanics and what you need to work on. There is no "cheating" in how you actually perform. Straight put, this is where you can actually find out the truth if your "stuff" actually "works". The disadvantage is obvious; there is a chance of someone getting hurt. Let me be the first to say, STICKFIGHTING IS DANGEROUS"!!! Especially as you use real rattan, or hardwood sticks, and even more as you use less to no gear. I want to make it clear right now if I didn't in the disclaimer above, "FULL-CONTACT STICKFIGHTING IS NOT FOR EVERYONE". Not everybody should take this step in his or her martial arts journey. This article is for those that are interested in taking the steps, but maybe don't quite know how to go about it. First off, I would like to state that it is not a wise decision to just walk out there using only a face mask and real rattan sticks and swing it out for two minutes. There are certain steps that can be progressively taken to better prepare an individual for the experience of a full contact stick fight using minimal gear, relying on your skills to protect you. First, watch a couple of fights. Decide, is this something that you would like to pursue. I am assuming that you have some martial arts background at this point. If you don't, get some. If you don't believe that your skills are adequate, find someone that has them, preferably someone that has done this type of fighting or training if that is what your goal is. Remember that the magic words are, "IT DEPENDS ON WHERE YOU WANT TO TAKE IT". What this means is that 15 seconds into the match, when you have a big, heavy rattan stick smashing into your shin or forearm, no one is going to feel the pain but you. Anyways, assuming that you have the skills, or are learning them, and feel ready to take the next step, here are some ideas. Order some padded sticks, set some basic rules, like when one guy says stop, stop. Simple enough. Now go at it for about two minutes. The tricky part here is that you have to be realistic and have a realistic partner. Realistic meaning that both participants are visualizing that this is a real stick and in realizing this you are both not taking risk and doing unrealistic things. After you have done this a few times a way you can learn to make things work is a method that Paul Vunak uses (or used to use, I saw it on one of his tapes once) and isolate one guy doing one type of attack. For example you can isolate angle #1. One guy can feed nothing but the first angle, eventually progressing to the same angle as a follow through or as a retracting jab. Eventually you add feints. After you've got a pretty good feel for this angle try moving to only angle 2. Work the same progression. Next try angles #1 and 2, using fakes, follow-throughs, jabs, and some footwork. You can work through all the angles this way if your picking up fast and have the time to work on this. Each step should probably take some time, depending on what you're looking for. Everyone is different. If you like, you can even take the same course of action using a rattan stick. This is where you will see some difference in what you try though because of that fear factor. Another drill that I saw Burt Richardson do once is a hand sparring game. Use real rattan sticks and light hockey gloves and go only for the hands. You know your doing the drill right if you get some bruises on your arm. This is basically the same type of isolation plan that we just talked about with the padded sticks. Work on these types of drills as long as you feel you need to. At no time should you step out on the field if you don't feel comfortable in your skills to protect you. When you do feel ready to step on the field, it's a wise idea to start with a heavy fencing mask, two gloves, two hard elbow, and two hard knee pads while both fighters use light rattan sticks. The first few fights are going to be where you feel yourself out. Believe me, most of the traditional training you took will probably go right out the door. There is no lying here, guaranteed to be only the truth as it stands for you. By the way, I don't care what anyone says, I don't believe that people who have not fought like this has any authority to say that you are doing something wrong. You'll know when you did something wrong when you feel it. And you may curse everyone that told you that this or that are guaranteed to work, but have never taught you how to do it while factors like power, speed, fear, adrenaline, feints, etc., etc. are coming into play. I always tell people that my best lessons in distance and timing came from actually fighting against a heavy rattan stick using only a light fencing mask and baseball gloves. Anyway back to the point. You may want to continue at this level for some time. For progression, look at you strong and weak points. Is your weak point your leg? Is your knee constantly getting hit? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that you should keep your kneepad on. Have you got hit on your left hand or elbow yet? How about your rear leg? Maybe you can take off or lighten up some of the gear on your strong points. It should also be about this time that you are figuring out just how much the human body can take in certain areas. You should be considering this as you start to work on your attacks and what you want to accomplish. You always want to fight someone better than you, stronger and faster than you, so that you have someone constantly pushing you. Remember that throughout all of this it is still nice to go back to the padded sticks or put on some of the gear so that you can "try " new things out, because it sure ain't no fun trying things that you're not quite sure are going to work or not. The main thing is that you have fun, reach your goals, and become realistic (assuming that is what you are looking for). Train safe everyone.