Yeah. there’s some sticky hand exercises, but it isn’t that widely known yet. Normally people just practise the techniques with a training partner a lot and then proceed to sparring. Later on you’ll learn 2 man forms, chi sao and dummy forms, which condition you and teach you different aspects of fighting.
I don’t know much about chi sao, but I think it isn’t supposed to teach you to spar (block strikes and counter), because you really don’t keep the contact to your opponent’s hands that often in basic CLF. I think it’s more like training method for gam na (chin na), relaxation, sensitivity and refining body mechanics.