[What makes you happy during sparring/fighting?]

Last week I managed to land a lovely knee right into my trainer's right floating rib during a clinch. I was so pleased (so was he) because I am rubbish at clinch and usually get chucked all over the place.

What else? Oh yeah, he was being deliberately super-awkward and really using every advantage he has over me, and I managed to pop one right round his guard and catch him in the ear. I was very pleased, because he really wasn't giving me an inch, and I felt I really deserved that hit!

I was also pleased that he managed not to break my nose when I made a horrible mistake and crashed in far far faster and more untidyily than he was expecting and he had no chance to pull the punch anymore than he does anyway.

And on our last session, right at the end of sparring, I caught him with a right kick to the head - yay! Mind you, it surprised us both...

Isn't it funny how those few strikes that we manage to land stick in our memories so clearly? It's that one in a hundred hook or clean round-house across the belly that feels so GOOD when it thumps home.

What sort of training does your trainer put you through? It sounds like he's got you doing a lot of sparring, ie, not just drills.

[What makes you happy during sparring/fighting?]

Being careful and technical in general.

 

Trying out knees and clinch with a 15-20kg heavier guy even though we (unfortunately) never practise that - but how can you possibly omit that in MT?!

 

Finding enjoyment in a somewhat harder sparring with one guy who I did not like to spar with previously because of that (also for other reasons).

 

Learning that it's bad for your nose if you turn your head sideways in boxing-only sparring.

 

Any learning/discovering something new experience that I can integrate in my fighting in general.

Gregor, my trainers don't encourage a lot of clinch, and I'm not entirely sure why. I'm with you on this: Clinch IS Muay Thai! Maybe they see it as high risk b/c it's easy to throw ugly spear knees or wrench someone's neck, but I don't think that should stop us from training it. 

[What makes you happy during sparring/fighting?]

Recently, my trainers have been moving our gym toward more technical sparring and away from the 'old school' beat'm up approach. As a tenured student who's been a part of the old way, the improvements have been amazing. The big guys are allowed to go easy on each other, the little guys don't have to be (as) afraid going up against the big guys, and everyone has more mental space in which to analyze their partner's style and develop answers. 

What positive experiences have your sparring partners given you lately?