Grappling is a process where more advanced students practice what they have learned in as real a situation as possible whilst maintaining control and safe practice. It is important to have some understanding of grappling and ground defence regardless of the style you are training in because in any fight you could find yourself on the ground trying to defend yourself.
Within our classes all grappling is supervised by an Instructor of Black Belt Level. Two students wearing the required amount of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) will practice various drills and techniques before spending a number of timed 3 minute rounds practicing what they have learned in the format of a light contact match.
The purpose of Grappling is for students to move away from doing a technique in a controlled environment such as Grading and to practice it in a situation where someone else is able to defend themselves and attack you.
This enables the student to try out techniques and combinations, figure out what works for them and what doesn't, practice breaking through your opponents guard whilst assessing the effectiveness of your own and combine techniques into combinations and test their effectiveness.
20250527_GRAPPLING POLICY (doc)
DownloadYou are welcome to grapple at any level but are advised to wait until you have a couple of belts before you begin.
Due to the close fitting nature of the equipment it is not hygienic for the club to provide equipment. Anyone wishing to grapple must provide their own PPE. The equipment you wear is mandated by the insurance company and if you do not have it you cannot spar.
Our governing body C.M.A.A. advise all students to wear the following when grappling:
A Gum Shield
Knee Pads
Elbow Pads
For more extreme grappling a Gi is advisable.
Every precaution is taken to avoid students being injured in any of our classes and our risk assessments are available to all students upon request. Injury is unlikely as all grappling is light contact and is supervised at all times by an experienced instructor. Martial Arts is ultimately a contact sport and there are occasionally minor bruises and cuts etc but these are dealt with immediately by the instructor.
Before purchasing any equipment please speak to your instructor. It is very easy to spend a lot of money on equipment which is unsuitable or not worth the price. Your instructor will be able to show you a set of sparring kit, talk you through what you need and has a handout with rough prices you should expect to pay.