Sparring Range Playbook

Mat Manual companion guide to "Kicking at Air: The Sparring Distance Problem." Print it. The article explains the three ranges. This book measures yours, drills the entries and the exits, and gives you the audit that tells the truth about your rounds.

Name: ______________________________ Dojang: ______________________________ Instructor: ______________________________

SAFETY, BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE ☐ Sparring drills in this book run at the protective equipment and contact level your instructor sets for the class. Range work is not a license to raise power: a kick that arrives correctly at drilling power teaches more than one that arrives wildly at full power. ☐ Head kicks in entry and exit drills are shown, touched, or thrown to pads unless your instructor calls live head contact for the pair. Range errors at head height are how students get hurt politely. ☐ A partner who is falling, jammed against a wall, or out of the practice area is never kicked "because the drill said so." The drill stops. The range lesson keeps. ☐ Boundary awareness is part of range. Drills are set with space behind both partners; a retreating partner is never driven into furniture, mirrors, or other pairs. ☐ Ankles and knees: entries and exits are footwork, not collisions. A jammed kick that lands on a knee stops the session for that leg, and the instructor hears about it the same day.

The Range Test, Done Properly

Your anchor: the distance where your rear-leg turning kick lands with the full foot, at full extension, while your base stays yours. Measure it the way rounds actually happen.

Step 1: The static mark. Stand at your fighting distance from a partner holding a pad at trunk height. Shuffle in with small steps, throwing the anchor kick at each step, until the kick lands exactly as defined: full foot contact, full extension, balance kept. Your partner marks the floor at your support foot with tape. This is Static Range, and it is a lie you will correct in step 2.

Step 2: The moving mark. Same drill, but the partner now drifts backward at walking pace as you enter, the way opponents do. Enter behind your lead hand and kick when your step lands. The tape goes down where the kick lands correctly. Expect the moving mark to sit half a step to a full step closer than the static one. That gap is the size of your range illusion.

Step 3: The bounce mark. Both partners bounce at sparring rhythm. Enter off the bounce, kick on the landing, and mark again. This third mark is the only one this book trains from. It is called Your Range in every drill that follows, and the tape stays on the dojang floor until the monthly retest.

The retest rule. Ranges change as legs grow stronger and timing sharpens. Retest monthly, write the new marks over the old, and never train from a range older than two months.