[QUOTE=Mr Punch;717352]It’s all irrelevant: If you want to enter a sporting competition you have to follow the rules.
What are you telling us? That if you go into a sports ring you’re not going to be able to win without grabbing someone’s clavicle? That it’s going to cramp your style? Be serious, what proportion of your art is clavicle grabbing?
:rolleyes: 
[/QUOTE]
I understand you argument but the other factor here is timing. Yeah, maybe an elbow or eye gouge isn’t a bread and butter technique but in a real fight, not sport, you need to be able to use whatever tactic is available to use…AT THE MOMENT IT IS NEEDED!
When your personal saftey is on the line then you may only have one opportunity and you may only have a couple milliseconds to react.
When fighting within a set of “rules” then you must intentionally adjust from the most efficient method of attack or defense to something that is less efficient simply because it fits within a rule set.
Let me give you an example. In Taiji punches we hit with fist, elbow, shoulder. It is all one movement, if the fist misses the head, then then elbow hits the chest and the if that misses then the shoulder drives into the body.
If I’m fighting in sport venue where the elbow cannot be used, then my shoulder is out as well and I have to adjust my game…to be less efficient…to fit the rules…to only hit with my fists.
It is no wonder then that most kung fu fighters end up looking like “kick boxers” in the ring. In those moments when they might have chosen another anatomical weapon they will go back to what fits within the rules not what is most expedient…which is what you would want to use in a real fight.
Having said all this, there is definite value in free sparring, whatever the rules. The more “realistic” you can make those rules, the better. BTW, “realistic” doesn’t necessarily mean “with the most force.” It can also mean using the most amount of weapons available (which in a street fight=ALL!). Often it means striking a balance between the two.
The issue for your kung fu is when you start COMPETING within a specific rule set. In order to be competitive you have to train ad nauseum certain techniques that fit within that rule set in order to be competitive…the techniques that are most expedient within that rule set…but not necessarily the techniques that are most expedient in a street altercation.
So I look at sparring as a useful training tool but when you take it to an extreme (as in competition) then you may be negating more efficient ways of moving to get the same result. It would be nice if we could just “change it up” for ring or for sport but we only have one body and in fighting we rely on muscle memory …often we have milliseconds to react and counter so there is no thought of “changing it up” to be found.
So I think you really do have to choose where you want to focus your training, to the ring or to the street. These are analogs to each other and not the same thing. There is an overlap, of course, but the goals are very different. This will determine how you train.
Peace.
FP