STEP/S SPARRING

Three Step Sparring (Sambo Matsogi)

Three step sparring is the first pre-arranged sparring sequence an ITF practitioner will learn. You may find that the exact way it is performed changes from country to country, city to city and club to club.

Generally speaking three step sparring works like this.

• Both attacker and defender take an attention stance and exchange bows.
• The attacker moves forward and places his right foot to the outside of the defenders left foot and then pulls back to form a left footed walking stance with a low forearm block. Both attacker and defender both shout ‘ki’ when ready.
• The attacker then performs forward with an obverse middle punch. The defender steps back and performs an inside or outside block. This is performed three times.
• Following the third punch, the defender will block the obverse middle punch and perform an attacking move on the initial attacker such as a punch or knife-hand strike.
• Both attacked and defender return to parallel ready stance and the whole process starts again with the defender now attacking and the attacker now defending.

Two Step Sparring (Ibo Matsogi)

Two step sparring is very similar to three step sparring. Instead of 3 punches by the attacker, a hand and then foot technique is performed (or foot then punch).
Like 3 step sparring, the attacker pulls back into a left walking stance and lower forearm block. After the attacker performs a hand and foot technique, the defender attacks back with a hand or foot technique. The attacker and defender then switch.

One Step Sparring (Ilbo Matsogi)

One step is the final pre-arranged sparring technique you learn. The attacker performs a hand or foot technique and the defender blocks and retaliates; either in the same move or quick succession.
You may choose to have both attacker and defender start in parallel stance at the start or the attacker pull back like normal.