Final-round pressure sparring

Setup

1. Mark a competition area. Beside it, a pad station with one holder and paddles.
2. Groups of four or five matched by size, age and experience: one student in the hot seat, one holder, and two or three fresh partners in full gear.
3. Only for students who are fit, healthy and already sparring regularly; anyone feeling unwell sits this one out.

How it runs

1. Pre-fatigue: the hot-seat student kicks fast alternating roundhouses on the holder's paddles for a short burst set by the sabeom.
2. Straight into the area against a fresh partner for a short round at controlled contact. The sabeom calls sijak and kalyeo.
3. On kalyeo the partner swaps out and the next fresh partner comes in. The hot-seat student faces two or three partners, then rests fully while the next student takes the seat.
4. Fresh partners spar at the agreed level of contact; being fresh is not a reason to hit harder.
5. Between turns: water, slow walking, and a word with the sabeom about one thing that held up and one that slipped.
6. Any knock to the head: stop, take the student out of training and follow your concussion protocol; no return the same day.

Coaching points

• When tired, the guard drops first; keep the hands up even if the kicks slow down.
• Choose fewer, cleaner kicks over many tired ones.
• Breathe out on each kick and use footwork to buy a second of recovery, without avoiding or delaying.
• Stay inside the boundary line; tired students drift over it.
• The sabeom watches for wobbly landings, pale faces or confusion and stops the round early if needed.

Common mistakes

• Leaning on or holding the partner to rest, which is a gam-jeom in competition.
• Fresh partners using their extra energy to hit harder than agreed.
• Skipping the full rest between turns.
• Dropping the chin and dropping the guard together.