Quick Tips for Sparring

Need some quick tips for free sparring?

In a new series for TKDCoaching Members, Mr Mark Trotter teaches sparring skills and tips that are easy to learn and understand.

Instructors – use these as teaching ideas for your next class. And those new to sparring will learn lots of new skills to help you improve.

Members get these sparring tips each month.

Related Articles

The Unseen Clips

When we first launched TKDCoaching.com we intended to publish five free clips of each video. We ended up settling on just three, so some of the clips have remained unseen. We have gathered together those unseen clips in to over 1 hour and 20 minutes of special footage for TKDCoaching Members Only.

The clips you will see in this video are by:

Mr Carl van Roon – Free Sparring Strategies

Mr Mark Trotter – Free Sparring Skills (22:52)

Mr Chris Broughton – Free Sparring Drills (34:25)

Master Michael Daher – Free Sparring Class  (41:28)

Mr Carl van Roon and Mr Mark Trotter – Pre-arranged Free Sparring (44:02)

Mr Mark Trotter – Patterns (46.12)

Master Rocky Rounthwaite – Power Breaking (53:44)

Mr Chris Broughton – Teaching Kids Course (1:04:19)

Master Michael Daher – Kicking Class (1:10:14)

Snippets of amazing old footage

DON’T FORGET TO WATCH No. 10 – Paul McPhail performs Juche forwards and backwards

For my 5th degree black belt grading in 1993 I thought it would be a cool idea to perform Juche Tul forwards then backwards for General Choi.

The plan failed miserably as I started the backwards part… I hadn’t even considered the possibility that General Choi would take offence to it. He turned his head and refused to watch. I figured… well… I may as well carry on now and struggled through to the end.

I passed the grading so I guess the General had forgiven me by the day the results were announced.

Here is the footage of the pattern at the grading.

ITF Technical Seminar On-line

In December 2020 the ITF Hosted an On-line Technical Seminar. We had well over 1000 participants from 60 countries take part.

Here is a bit of behind the scenes background… and some new videos to come out of it.

This course came about due to Covid19. Around the world we were starting to get a backlog of people who wanted to grade for higher degrees but couldn’t, due to the requirement to do an IIC. So originally the idea was to do an on-line IIC.

After some discussion it was decided by the Technical Committee and the ITF Board to do a qualifying course for gradings… but it would be different from an IIC (obviously), so wouldn’t be called one.

The plan was for each of the technical committee members to create videos of our subject matter, and use those videos in conjunction with live Q&As. So we all set about doing that – only to find on our first practice that the videos would be too unreliable to use. Depending on the connection, they could be shaky and with bad audio.

So two weeks out, and already 800 registrations, we had to change our plan.

So we each then had to find people to work with, either in person or remotely, to demonstrate the patterns and do corrections with them. Master Judet and GM Lan were able to do that in person, but the rest of us had to work with people in remote locations.

In a way it worked out well as our sessions took on a different feel as we brought in some of the best pattern performers from around the world. I got to work with some world champions from Argentina and it was nice to meet and practice with them on-line.

Leading up to the seminar I have to tell you we were nervous. How would Zoom cope with 1000 participants… and how would we? With the help of the chairman of the Communications Committee we practiced being able to find the people in Zoom, Spotlighting them to full screen and so on. I also used some slides to try and make the most of what Zoom can do.

In the end we were happy with the way it all went. Everyone was so positive and we hardly had anyone drop off over the four hour sessions each day.

So some of the videos I prepared that didn’t end up being used, so I have uploading those for Members to watch.

This videos ended up being quite different from the Live version so should be of value even if you were at the seminar.

Chon-Ji Tul

Click CC (on video above) to see sub-titles in Finnish, Portuguese and Polish.

This video of Mr Mark Trotter coaching Miss Niketa Wells on Chon-Ji Tul is ideal for both beginner and senior members alike. Even a simple pattern contains many key lessons and Mr Trotter picks up on many of these in this session including:

Not holding the intermediate position for too long

Preparing the foot correctly before turning

Creating urgency in the movements especially when punching

Keeping the position of the attacking and blocking tools held correctly

Not over-doing the forward motion of the punching hand

Performing the pattern is Miss Niketa Wells, New Zealand Junior Team member and former World Cup Champion. You can read about Niketa’s incredible recovery from a crippling disease here.

Este video do Sabum Nim Mark Trotter instruindo à senhorita Niketa Wells sobre Chon-Ji Tul, é ideal tanto para iniciantes quanto para membros sêniors. Mesmo um Tul simples possui muitos elementos chaves, e o Sabum Nim Mark Trotter trabalha vários destes pontos nesta sessão, dentre eles:

Manter o “timming” certo nas posições intermediárias

Preparar o pé corretamente antes dos giros

Acelerar devidamente durante os movimentos, especialmente ao atacar

A boa colocação das armas de ataque e defesa

Controlar o movimento de pêndulo da mão que ataca

Quem executa o tul é a senhorita Niketa Wells, membro da equipe junior da Nova Zelândia e campeã da Copa do Mundo. Você pode ler mais sobre a incrível recuperação de Niketa de uma rara doença neurológica (SDCR)
Tässä videossa Mark Trotter valmentaa Niketa Wellsiä Chon-Ji-liikearjan parissa. Video sopii erinomaisesti sekä aloittelijoille että kokeneemmille harrastajille. Jopa yksinkertaisesta liikesarjasta voi oppia paljon, ja herra Trotter käsittelee tässä muun muassa seuraavia asioita:

Tasapainotukseen ei saa jäädä liian pitkäksi aikaa

Jalan valmistelu käännöstä varten

Liikkeiden kiireellisyys, erityisesti lyönneissä

Hyökkäys- ja torjuntatyökalujen oikeat asemoinnit

Lyövän käden tasapainotus

Liikesarjan suorittaa neiti Niketa Wells, Uuden-Seelannin juniorimaajoukkueen edustaja ja World Cup 2014 -kultamitalisti. Voit lukea Niketan uskomattomasta palautumisesta lamauttavan sairauden jälkeen täältä (englanniksi).

W tym filmie Mark Trotter uczy Chon-Ji Tul. To wideo nadaje się zarówno dla początkujących, jak i dla starszych stopni. Nawet prosty układ zawiera wiele ważnych elementów i Mark Trotter omawia wiele z nich podczas tego treningu.

В этом фильме Марк Троттер учит Чон-джи Туль. Это видео подходит как для начинающих, так и для старших поясов.  Даже простой туль содержит много важных элементов, и Марк Троттер обсуждает многие из них во время этой тренировки.

Juche with Mark Trotter

This video is a coaching session of the pattern Juche tul. It is a full video of expert Mark Trotter (6th dan) coaching Phillipa Henry (2nd dan) and is part of our on-going series of videos of Mr Trotter coaching black belt students.

Once again you get to be inside a one on one coaching session where each movement of the pattern is analyzed. On this video you will pick up lots of great tips especially for the more difficult techniques in the pattern.

The video finishes by showing with Mr Trotter performing the pattern – twice, from different angles.