#110 - Shark Tank Sparring

So what have you found a way to use sparring not only to develop multiple tactical skills, replicate the pressures you may find in competition but also use anywhere in a training cycle? Would you use this training tool? Today I'm going to talk about shark tank sparring and the pros and cons that it brings. My name is Adam Hannover and this is the Box Gathering podcast. It was the first time that people just expected me to win. I always had a dream of being a world champion. When I didn't have nothing, they're still the same people around me. It's a job that's all we left talking and big day sounds. I couldn't jump up and celebrate or thought of an ease like I had had fun. Don't forget, he's got a period on as well and that's talking my head. The optimal time to teach something again is right when they're about to forget it. And at that point, we thought Roy's going to freeze here. We're going to be out of here in 10 minutes. People are going to be throwing ass trades at us. This is the Box Gathering podcast. So what a shark tank sparring. So to give you a bit of a picture, Boxes in the middle and they're all suited and booted ready to spar and they may have, for example, two, three, maybe even more, but I like to use three different opponents in the ring. So those opponents are all in different corners, kind of ready to go. And depending on the length of the round, so let's say it's a three minute round, one box will come from minute and then come out and then another one for a minute and another for a minute. But that same box stays in the middle. So they're doing a three minute round. It may be a two minute round. So if it's a two minute round, then each box becomes it you for 40 seconds. So that's 41, 20 and then two minutes. And of course, any other denominations that you want to do. So shark tanking is something that is becoming quite a lot more common. I think the name shark tank almost sounds like it's kind of set up to put in real pressure on the boxer. It may be, it may be quite dangerous. It may be that's kind of like what is it the Floyd Mayweather thing Jim do, the kind of a common what they call it, the dog something when they just stay in there and talk kind of last man drops. For me, it's not that at all. I just want to briefly talk about some of the science behind shark tanking today, some of the learning science that's going to go into that. Okay, so we've got a guy in the middle and it depends. So we could do this kind of covertly. So it might be that we don't know who the three people are. Nine times out of ten we probably are because they're going to be an IGM. But sometimes I've had boxes come over to IGM and we've done shark tanking and you don't know what style, how that boxer box is. So it's kind of covert. You don't really know what to expect. But then I think a lot of the times you do know. So you've got three boxes that they've all spied with before and they go into the corners. But ultimately what we're trying to do with shark tanking is we're trying to get our boxer to adapt to different styles, different capabilities of different boxes all the time. Because ultimately if you're an amateur boxer most of the time when you get in the ring you're not going to really know much about your opponent. You know, you don't know South Boy, you don't know orthodox, you don't know how they box. So in some ways actually preparing for that, the eventuality that you don't have much certainty can be a very, very positive way of going about your training. So let's just have a look a little bit more on the science. Okay, so there's something called interleaving. So within to leaving what we do is we have similar problems. So if you imagine a session it could be that we do a session on sort of trunk defenses and something on foot defenses. But there's always a theme kind of running out between it. So rather than going we're going to block our session today just on slipping. And then next week we're going to do a block on foot defense, a certain foot defense. Okay, that's block practice. If we do something called random practice that's a little bit more different problems coming on all the time. Okay, you're kind of blending all these different problems. Interleaving is very similar to random practice but it's a bit more like having sort of similar problems in a different way. And I kind of see Shark Tanking as more of an interleaving approach to learning. So every time someone new comes in you've got a different problem to deal with for the boxer has to adapt accordingly. And I think because you're having lots of different repetitions of having to adapt to what you do then the basic the science shows that every time that we are trying to adapt and we have a certain element of memory recall so we think okay, boxer one is coming in. So I have to box this way. Boxer two is coming in so now I have to adapt in boxer differently. And every time we do that we are recalling information, recalling strategy and into some ways that kind of a phasem wise the brain together. Okay, that's a very simplistic way of looking it but essentially what we're looking to do is we're employing tactics and reshaping and reviewing tactics that we've used before. So we're kind of bringing that information back to the fore so therefore it's kind of a way of reinforcing learning that we're doing because we're getting repetitions of a different problem. Okay, and as we mentioned in the box gathering pad work course recently we talked a lot about repetition without repetition so actually repeating different ways to solve a problem. So oh, the same problems there, you're trying to hit and not get hit but that problem is getting posed to you in different ways when boxer one comes in, different two comes in, a boxer three comes in. So we're trying to solve different problems in different ways because there's a lot more variability, right? So variability basically meaning there's different information in that spa that you have to deal with Southport or Orthodox styles, the different tempos that they might box at, the different ranges they might box at. So the cadence is very, very different and a box after tuning into those things. So the pros of that are over a long period of time we do get a lot more sort of contextualised learning, we can start really tuning into all these different cues and information that these different opponents are constantly presenting to us and we adapt to those. The contour that initially is that early learning from that part is actually very slow. Then you're going to have a lot more problems, you might have less success in terms of your offence and probably less success in terms of your defence as well, excuse for the American terms there, offence and defence. So there's going to be different problems that are going to be posed for there and we have a little bit less success earlier on. In the long run though because everything is contextualised and we are kind of bringing back these memory recall, if you want to call it that, I know it's not an ecological term, it's a bit more of an information process and approach but essentially we are still bringing information back to the fore that we are trying to refine and apply within that spot. So there is a lot less success very early on but in the long term if we take this approach then we can get a lot more success, especially if we don't really know who we're training for. Now of course if we are boxing a certain person, so you coach says you're boxing a south or and they're tall and they're on the back foot, okay then actually blocking that practice where you only have tall south or the box on the back foot coming into spy you then that makes us a sense because the information, all that kind of action fidelity stuff that you're going to see is going to be replicated, it's going to be there in the competition. So that makes absolute sense for us to have that and of course a lot of top amateur coaches will do that when they know who they're boxing in certain competitions like you know a senior elite competitions or you know schoolboy finals and all this when you kind of know who you're boxing it makes sense to replicate that. It goes without saying. The same with professional boxes, the professional boxes will you know they'll fly in top professional boxes will fly in certain sparring partners who boxing a similar way. That makes absolute sense. But if we want to develop in a long term then actually having lots of different problems thrown at us and how we react to those problems becomes really important. So the repetition about repetition approach becomes much more important is how do I solve the problem in different ways and develop a larger skill set rather than just being good at one thing because we all know that certain boxes are very good against certain people but they're not so good against other people and certain and they say start to make fights and I think that's true because certain people only beat certain people. But the person you just lost to they might go and lose to someone else that you beat comfortably. So it's bit of a strange one so I think actually training with a shark tank actually helps develop over the longer term a deeper skill set. So when can we use this? I think you can actually use shark tank at any point. So you can prep for you can prep for a tournament because in a tournament again you don't know who you're going to draw so it could be like a box cup type thing at harringer. You don't know who's going to be drawn in there and you could box anyone. So these kind of things gives you that opportunity to be exposed against dealing with the unexpected not knowing who's going to step in. So that helps as well. There's also the element of replicating chaos and all the kind of variability that you're going to see. So having lots of lots of variability as we're getting close to competition is really important too. But if we bring it further away from competition let's say a training cycle you know you don't know when you're going to box or at the start of a training cycle. There's also a great thing to start there as well because again you've got a lot of different variability. We've got plenty of time to kind of learn new skills, learn new tactics, sharpen those skills and apply it in context. So I think that's quite an important thing that we're to look at as well. So the win I think can be done kind of any time of a training cycle. If we know who we're boxing against as I mentioned then we actually get the specific person and make it a little bit more relevant. But we're trying to get those memory recall reps in all the time. So how do I deal with this? So I think that's an important part that we have to do there. Okay. The other thing that we get as well is the more we start doing this the more the boxer has the opportunity afforded to do it. to them to actually start planning. So if they know, okay, so you're gonna do a shark tank tonight and you're gonna be shark tanking against these same three boys or girls or whoever it might be, then you have that element of, okay, planning. What do I need to do? So against box one, I'm gonna be more successful if I box like this and it can be quite open ended how you box, it doesn't have to be too specific, but we have an idea of what we should be doing. Against box a B, it's different and the box, against box a C, it's very different as well. So we're getting that element and we're getting that habit of planning, what our tactics are gonna be, right? What are, shall we say, techniques that we may use, but definitely what kind of skills that we need to use and adapt those skills, adapt those techniques to become skills. So that becomes really important. But also, I think what it also does is it gives us more opportunity, repetitions to reflect as well, 'cause we know that we might do that, we might do that shark tank again next week or the end of this week. So I think it gives us an opportunity in terms of reflection to say, right, what did work tactically, how might I amend that? So now we've got high rich level of learning going on. We've got the planning part, we've got the do part and we've got the reflection part, which then should always inform how we then spa against these people next time. So essentially we've got this ongoing learning cycle of plan deal review, which can be kind of monitored by one, the box a bit too, the coach, to see that these tactics that they've decided on and reflected upon can be used. And that is a better way of monitoring a level of learning as we move on, as opposed to just throwing them in, see how they do. So we can kind of monitor that progression. And that's a great way of motivating the boxer, knowing that they have got that higher level of competency because they're thinking about how they, what tactics to use and then employing those. Now, it might not be brilliant next week, in fact, it might look worse, but I think kind of having belief in that process that we not stick to the tactics, but always having a tactic which is flexible where mind and adjust accordingly within that. Now also with those reflections, you've got three boxes who have just spared that one boxer. So why not at the end get a bit of a point of view, instant hot review from those boxes. And so right, soon that spars over, this is what I saw against you. I kept doing this against you, you kept doing this. So we're constantly getting that feedback from the other boxes as to what they saw and why you were successful or unsuccessful. And then those reflections can be added into the plan for the next session as well. So I think that's something really, really positive and it really does create a good culture of learning where all the boxes are sharing how to improve because they know that the other box and there might be in the shark tank either in that session or they'll have more of a focus on them in the next week. So we have that constant reflection going on there with a mixture of hot and cold reviews. It cons really to this, you do need reps of this. Just throwing them in a shark tank, they might not have high levels of success initially as I mentioned. So they do need this kind of repetitions is exposure to this problem often for this to have any kind of long term learning impact. So that initial improvement doesn't really rise that quickly because in some ways, anytime you do like a kind of random practice or interleave practice it doesn't have a very fast initial impact. So I think we need to make sure that we are getting these reps in. So if we want something a little bit faster then we can block practice it. You know, the same person, the same problem again and again and that probably is something quite better in some respects nearer to competition. I did mention earlier that I think you can use shark tank in at any point. The only reason why I say you could use shark tank in towards the end of a training cycle is just to replicate the kind of pressures that you might get from competition. So more from a psychological standpoint as opposed to a skill acquisition standpoint towards the end. I think the initial confidence is learning may seem a little bit lower. So there's something like that to keep in mind. If you're going, "Might I'm going to sell this?" as this is a great way for us to learn but the boxes aren't being successful. It's important that you have a conversation with the boxes as to why you're doing shark's hanking. So why this kind of isn't a leave the approach works in the longer term for more deeper contextualised learning and the recall of these strategies all the time. So they understand that they realize at the start this is going to be difficult and there's going to be a lot of frustration but then reminding them that frustration is a symptom of learning and that it will happen later on and you will get better if you persist with this type of approach. What else have we got? So reps of the other two or three boxes become less. So if you're not careful, it might be that for this session you're spending half an hour in that ring with you doing these rounds but the other boxes one, two and three who are on the outside aren't getting that many repetitions in. So it's just something to be considered. They might feel like they are being sort of playing patsy really to the other person and they're not the main person. So there's the kind of how many reps are they getting in that is important as well. So you've got to have a look at that. So another way to alleviate that could be as the boxer does their three sets of 40 seconds or the three sets of one minute then the other boxer then goes in and then they do theirs. And then the other boxer goes in and they do theirs. So you kind of kind of equal that exposure to the amount of repetitions that they're gonna get as well. So shark tanking, like I say, I think can be a very, very positive thing. If done, we've learning in mind as a poster, this is just gonna make your tougher, make your tougher, more resilient, all that kind of thing. I think it does have that as a byproduct but maybe not going into the shark tanking with that in mind as I needed to toughen this bug as up. So I'm just gonna throw him literally throwing the deep end with the sharks. It's about repetition of adaptation, of learning how to change their strategies, learning how to identify what they need to do whilst being under pressure in the moment. And that's boxing, isn't it? We need to be able to adapt that. So we're teaching adaptability whilst under pressure. And like any good coach, you can ramp up that pressure or bring it down to meet the challenge point of that individual. And I think that's something that a good coach can always do. Hey guys, it's Adam. Just a little intermission here just to say thank you to all of the members that have sent me feedback around the coach's course and all the areas that have had impact already. I know a lot of people are starting to use some of the challenge years and lessons in their pad work already. And I've had several people actually talk to me about certain penny drop in moments where they thought, "Do you know what that does make sense?" I'm gonna give that a try, especially around the constraint-based approach in the gamification area. Also had some good conversations with people around the whole one, two, three part about static, to punch and move, to punch on the move and how that's kind of made them have that. And maybe that might be an issue that I have. And maybe I need to try that. So again, thanks to all the members. If you're not a member yet and you want to jump on board, it's www.thepoxtheading.com. Become a member and to access all four of our courses, all of our downloads, all of our instructional videos, all of our club communication information that you can send out to parents, that you can send out to your boxes and to other coaches as well, to help develop and grow and share as a community. And also remember, you can be part of our WhatsApp group community where we share ideas, thoughts and challenging chubber to be that bit better. Okay guys, back to the potty. So it doesn't have to be fully chaotic as well. We can really plan and do a little bit of collaboration with the boxer in terms of right. Rather than just being this chaotic one, two, and three comes at me and I've got to adapt, make sure you adapt. What we can do is actually plan and bring down that level of chaos and variability by saying, right, let's make sure Box of One is posing this type of problem, Box of Two, a different type of problem and three different problem as opposed to just hoping they are, but they pose different problems. So this could be something we would go. So what do we struggle with a little bit? Well, I struggle with this type of Box doing this one and this one. Okay, so let's get them to play that role. So we can be a little bit more structured in this approach. So that way we can plan for that. So we have a little bit more element of control and confidence over the situation and probably a lot more likely to have it more buy-in from the boxer who is the focus point. So I think that's a really great way to do it as well. So less of a cover, more of a structured approach, kind of knowing a bit more about what's come in. So you are developing that confidence while still having a various level of variability and challenge posed to you, less kind of uncertainty. So again, it's about meeting that challenge point of the boxer. We talk about that in the Box gathering pad work course, talking about how we use challenge point theory to raise the pressure or the challenge point to each individual boxer, how you bring up variability and you play with something called representativeness, which is what are the problems that are going to be posed in competition and how you bring that up and down. So we talk about that in the pad work course as well. So there's two different ways to that for me. A covert one, a more of a planned one where we're actually catering for the individual needs of the boxer. You're bringing down that challenge a little bit more, but you have to meet the needs of that individual boxer. So Shark Tank can be chaotic or it can be a lot more structured depending on who's in front of you. And again, I think a good coach will plan that and make sure that there isn't, there's a level of challenge in there about going over the top. So you're hitting that challenge point for the boxer. There we have it, Shark Tanks. I love to hear your thoughts on it. I love to hear what you already do and how you adapt Shark Tanking for the individuals. What do you do? Do you change up who's boxing how? Are the time differences? Do you do manipulate the time in terms of the respiroid, things like that? I love to hear how you guys do Shark Tanking and your general thoughts about how successful it's been in your gyms. Okay, guys, thanks very much. and look forward to hearing your thoughts on this. Cheers now, bye bye. If you enjoyed today's episode, then head on over to the BoxGathering.com. We have a wide range of resources for coaches, boxes and boxing parents to support you and your club on the road to success. 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