Hundred Rounds of Sparring

By admin under Martial Arts

108 GTI TaeKwonDo students, including myself, fought 100 minute long rounds of sparring at the Crypt School in Gloucester, against different partners, to raise money for charity. 54 of the highest grades formed an outer circle, with 54 junior grades partnering us from a concentric inner circle. After each round a whistle blew and the inner ring moved 1 person to their right, bowed and started the next round. We got a 2 minute break to have a drink of water and towel down after 33 rounds, and again after 66 rounds.

I think I paced myself too slowly, because I wasn’t particularly out of breath by the end, even though I was drenched in sweat (no thanks to the blistering 30 degree heat outside). I did lose the skin off the pads of both big toes on the ceramic floor surface, as did many of the other participants, and my arms and legs feel like lead this evening.

I was pleased with the conduct of all who took part, with only a tiny minority of the lower grades trying to earn kudos by getting a punch through to a black belt. But that is to be expected really.

I should have driven the 100 miles to Coventry for JeetKuneDo immediately after the sparring, but with my main TaeKwonDo lesson tonight, I couldn’t quite subject myself to another gruelling 2 hours of training punctuated only by 3 hours of driving there and back to Worcester. I did have a good time, and the turn out was even better than last year.