08/06/2026
Can I spar at Action boxing & fitness?
I am happy for people to spar. IF they come in and CONSISTENTLY train AT LEAST two times a week at Action (in my honest opinion that is NOTHING)… AND when they “are ready”.
You need to have gone through the steps of learning how to punch & move properly. Then learn the defence side of things AND have done modified contact in our “Old School” classes.
Why can’t you just come in and spar?
We’re not interested in letting people just jump in the ring and spar without us seeing their “level” before they come in and start punching on with people. It can be dangerous and in my opinion, un professional putting two people in the ring together without knowing their physical capabilities, skill levels AND their personality types when under pressure. It’s a recipe for disaster! People’s entire personalities can change when they spar. I’ve witnessed it countless times in almost 30 years of experience in training, competing & instructing / coaching boxing.
I’ve sparred with people that seemed nice, but when it came down to it, didn’t want to have a woman be seen as being even the slightest bit challenging in the ring so they went way too hard. This can also happen when one is perceived to be more experienced, therefore can’t let the newbie “show them up.” I’ve seen very handy boxers & “nice guys” not know how to taper themselves and make people look and feel stupid in the ring & that’s not benefiting anyone except their own ego. I’ve seen “born again Christians” look like the devil himself has possessed him once sparring had started.
I’ve seen a nice, quite young guy in glasses jump in for his first spar and go flat out because he either had PTSD or just had that killer mindset drilled into them from the Army. After 3 rounds of being told to relax and settle down, it didn’t end well and he never came back. But these were all incidences that came from how much people can change when they step in the ring, and the more we as trainers can understand about them before they jump in, the better!
Personalities aside, even if you have done a heap of Boxing over the years hitting bags or focus pads, when you actually have people throwing punches back at you things don’t really go as planned at first. It’s a pretty foreign position to be in for most people, and there’s not many people that I’ve met over the years who have said; “well that was easy!” or “that all went to plan” or “I really looked like I knew what I was doing in there.” In fact, if they see footage of their first spar they usually laugh and say “wow, I thought I was going heaps faster & better than that”.
Honestly when most people first spar, (especially when they’ve just jumped in there without learning the contact side of things in a controlled, modified way). They look like a bag of cats fighting. It’s kind of like playing a game of footy without learning how to tackle someone properly first, except HEAPS HARDER! You just don’t do it. It looks s**t, it’s dangerous & it’s a waste of everyone’s time.
So in “Old School” we learn how to catch, slip and avoid punches. move around as you punch, counter punch etc. Then the modified contact continues on with drills like: “3/1/1”, “jabs only when ever you want” (as seen in the video above) & “body sparring”. THEN people will spar when they look like they can handle themselves in all of the above drills…
I get that it can be boring, but nothing hard ever comes easy and I have NO desire watching people who take no pride in learning the foundations, jump in and punch on with each other…. it totally bastardises the sport of boxing.
