LEARNING THE INDIVIDUAL COMPONENTS of Jeet Kune Do, such as footwork, upper- and lower-body tools, the five ways of attack, defenses, counterattacks, distance, timing, and rhythm, are essential to developing a strong foundation in the art. However, further development and growth can only come by integrating these elements into practical, real-time application.
This is where sparring comes into play. Sparring is the activity in which you practice utilizing the tools within the five ways of attack against an opponent. It allows you to exercise your defensive and counterattack skills as your opponent tries to attack you. In sparring you cultivate a strong sense of the essential qualities of fighting technique, such as timing, distance, and rhythm.
It is important for you to understand what it is like to try to hit someone who is doing everything possible to avoid being hit. You need to become aware that your opponent will not stand in front of you, waiting for you to land your strikes. Opponents will be moving around, ducking, slipping, and covering, frustrating you at every turn. An opponent will also be looking for opportunities to hit you, throwing punches and kicks when he or she sees an opening. Thus, it is vital for you to know what it is like to have someone trying to hit you, so that you can make your defensive moves really count.
Sparring makes your training come alive, with energy and timing coming to the forefront. It is the way you learn to cultivate a fighting mindset and a proper attitude. You learn how to manage your emotions and your adrenal response so that you can maintain your composure and keep yourself relaxed.
Sparring is like a laboratory where you take different elements and experiment to test your theories and hypotheses. In sparring you try out different approaches and test your skills to see if you can really apply what you have learned against a live, resisting opponent. It can be compared to a mirror that allows you to see your strengths and flaws as they really are, clearly and truthfully. If, up to this point, you have been misled or, worst yet, have deceived yourself about your abilities, sparring will reveal the truth.
In the beginning sparring can be a humbling, even humiliating, experience. However, this process is necessary to convince you that there are areas that need improvement. It will not simply be a matter of your instructor pointing out these areas, for you yourself will become aware of them. This will provide you with the motivation that you need to correct your mistakes and perfect your skills.
Sparring Progression
In Jeet Kune Do sparring is not simply a matter of throwing two people together and letting them have at it. Such an approach would be highly counterproductive and increase the chances of injury and of overblown egos. What was supposed to be an opportunity for learning would quickly become a brawl with no focus and no refinement. Rather than cool calculation, strategy, and tactics, hot emotions would rule.
Instead, sparring in Jeet Kune Do is trained in a progressive manner. It is done slowly, isolating and developing the individual tools and qualities in order to cultivate them to a high degree. The progressive approach also trains the mind and the emotions in an incremental manner by focusing them on just one or two things at a time, rather than overwhelming them with multiple concerns.
Sparring Drills
To introduce students to sparring, Jeet Kune Do makes use of sparring drills. These drills emphasize the execution of one tool, or just a few tools, in a more realistic environment in which you try to hit a live, resisting, moving opponent who is also trying to hit you. In the beginning, you start with very simple drills in which you and your opponent concentrate on training just one tool—for example, a lead punch. As you become comfortable at that level, you move on to slightly more complicated drills involving a few more tools. When you become proficient at these drills, you graduate to more complex drills involving multiple tools and ranges of combat. These drills start to approach and resemble freestyle sparring, which is the ultimate goal of your training.
The following is a look at some progressive sparring drills, beginning with the most simple and leading to more sophisticated ones.
• Lead Hand vs. Lead Hand: In this drill both students are limited to attacking or counterattacking with the lead hand. This means that you can only use front hand techniques such as the lead jab, lead straight punch, lead hook punch, lead backfist, lead uppercut, and lead shovel hook (see Figure 21-1). This is an excellent drill for students who are just starting out in sparring. They can concentrate on employing just one tool for striking. At the same time they only have to be concerned with defending against one tool utilized by their partner.
• Lead Hand vs. Both Hands: This represents a slightly more advanced drill. This time, one student is allowed to strike with both hands, while the other is limited to attacking or counterattacking with just the lead hand. This means that one student can execute both lead hand strikes and rear hand strikes. While this student only has to be concerned with defending against front hand strikes, the other student has to be aware of both the front hand and the rear hand in order to defend against both.
• Lead Hand vs. Lead Foot: In this drill one student can only employ the front hand to strike. The other student can use only the front leg to kick. In terms of defense, when you are the one who can kick, you only have to be concerned with attacks from the front hand. At the same time you can take advantage of the longer reach of the front leg, which gives you the edge in distance. Because of this, when you are in the other position, you have to keep a longer distance away from your partner, in order to avoid being kicked. You also have to learn how to close from this distance in order to punch.
• Lead Hand vs. Lead Hand and Lead Foot: The sophistication of the training is growing with this drill. This time, one student is limited to using the front hand to strike, while the other student can employ both the front hand and the front foot. In one role you have more striking tools that you can employ to hit at the high line, midline, and low line. In the other role you have to be aware of a strike coming from almost anywhere, and you must also maintain a distance to protect against the longer reach of the front kick.
• Lead Hand and Lead Foot vs. Lead Hand and Lead Foot: Now the situation is equal, as each student may employ the front hand and front foot for striking. Each student will stay farther away from the other to avoid being kicked. While you will have more options for striking, you will have to guard against strikes that your partner throws at various levels.
• Lead Foot vs. Lead Foot: This drill isolates the front leg tool of each student for development. Because you are limited to kicking with the front leg, you can concentrate on practicing the various lead kicks against your partner and focus on defending against lead leg attacks.
• Lead Foot vs. Lead Hand and Lead Foot: In this drill one student can employ only one tool, the lead foot, while the other student is allowed to use both the lead hand and the lead foot for striking. Therefore, one student only has to be concerned with defending against lead leg attacks, while the other student has to guard against both lead hand and lead foot attacks.
• Lead Foot vs. Lead Hand and Rear Hand: In this drill one student can only use the lead foot to attack. However, he or she has to guard against lead hand and rear hand attacks. In this position, you will try to take advantage of the longer reach of your front leg, while your partner will try to utilize both hands for striking (see Figure 21-2). When it is your turn to take the other position, you will have to maintain a farther distance against your partner’s lead leg and will have to learn how to close the distance in order to strike with your hands.
• Lead Hand and Rear Hand vs. Lead Hand and Rear Hand: This drill allows each student to employ both hands for striking. It will be similar to a Western boxing match in that regard. You will be able to utilize the full range of options available for both hands and not have to worry about being kicked.
“The best way to learn how to swim is to actually get into the water and swim; the best way to learn Jeet Kune Do is to spar. Only in free sparring can a practitioner begin to learn broken rhythm and the exact timing and correct judgment of distance.” (Lee 1997, p. 25)
There are many more drills like these that isolate certain tools for special emphasis. In addition to these you can practice certain drills that stress specific defensive or counteroffensive skills. For instance, you can train on the different counters to the jab to cross combinations that were discussed in the chapter on counterattacks. However, you will do so wearing your sparring equipment against a partner who will be throwing the punches at anywhere from slow speed to full speed. You can work on the various counters to lead side kicks or hook kicks that were also covered in the chapter on counterattacks, but now you will be wearing body armor so that your partner can execute the kicks with power.
You can practice drills that isolate and develop your trapping skills against a live, resisting opponent. These drills will be very challenging as you learn to trap with the boxing gloves on. You should then take it to the next level by working on closing the distance into trapping or by flowing into trapping from kickboxing.
Types of Opponents
When you attack in sparring, you may find that your partners will predominantly react in certain predictable ways. Some will usually open the distance to run away from your attacks. Others will utilize distance to counter your attacks. There are some who will guard and parry at a distance, while others will guard and parry prior to crashing in. Then there are those who will generally press forward.
As you spar, you will learn to recognize these different types of opponents. You will have to discover, through experience, which of the five ways of attack tend to be most successful against each of these types. You will also learn which ones will not work, and why. At the same time you can make it more difficult for your opponents to deal with you by varying your own responses to their attacks. For instance, instead of always evading by opening the distance, you can sometimes parry and crash in. In this way you make yourself less predictable and harder to hit.
As he developed his art of Jeet Kune Do, Bruce Lee recognized the importance of sparring with equipment in order to simulate the dynamics of a real fight. The emphasis on sparring distinguished his approach to training from that of other arts that were widely practiced at the time. Sparring continues to play an important role in the development of Jeet Kune Do students today because it allows them to test their skills against a resisting opponent and to experiment with different approaches. Sparring illuminates the true character of each student and, by revealing flaws and weaknesses, shows each student the direction in which he or she needs to go to improve.