Having a sparring partner with the control to keep it slow helps you work on smoothing out your stroking and motion. My priority here as the coach was to work on Erique’s highline guard and to keep the contact and pressure continuous to counteract the stop-and go nature of his traditional FMA training.

This is the level at which novice stick fighters should be brought along, not shell shocked in heavy sparring on one hand or coddled with non-contact training on the other. Notice we up the pace toward the end to try and bring our strikes, checks and beats developed at this pace closer to fight pace.