When sparring in Karate, it’s important to have the right protective gear as in every sport. This page has pictures of the different sparring gear that we use in our school as well as what each belt level typically uses. The pictures show both the adult version (white) and child version (purple). You’ll notice that there is not a lot of difference between the adult and child versions except for size.
· Helmet
· Gloves
· Boots
Sparring Helmet
White belts to apprentice black belts are required to wear this head gear. Black belts usually don’t wear helmets. The key to the sparring helmet is to ensure that the ears are protected as well as ensuring the flaps are covering the front of the neck. I’ve actually seen hits to the neck that glanced off of the side flaps.
Sparring Gloves
All belt levels use the gloves to protect their hands. When looking at equipment, we noticed the major difference between boxing gloves and karate gloves is the amount of wrist protection. Boxing gloves tend to be shorter than the karate gloves. Additionally, the karate gloves tend to be open on one side to allow you to close your hand completely. Due to this, there are fingertip guides, plastic bands, and Velcro strips to keep them on your hands. The Velcro strap goes around the wrist to secure it safely.
Sparring Boots
All belt levels use the boots to protect the tops of their feet and ankles. Although not shown here, the bottom of the boot is open like the gloves, and has a couple of plastic straps and the Velcro elastic band to hold it on your feet. In the picture below the white boots are showing the proper way of stripping the elastic band around the boot to secure it to your feet. For the boots, you want to get them big enough to cover your toes completely to avoid injury.
Mouth Guards
All belt levels use the mouth guards. Like other sports, they are required to ensure that the teeth don’t get chipped or broken during any hits to your jaw. If you try to use a mouth guard without molding it to your mouth first, you’ll find that it is too big for your mouth and slips around too much. To mold the mouth guard, you dunk it into boiling water for a while, then in cool water, and then place it in your mouth while sucking the air to get a tight mold. You’re able to see the indentations of the teeth on mouth guard on the right.
Shin Guards
Shin guards are an optional protective gear item for any belt level. We choose to get them to protect the top of our feet and shins when doing kicks. The padding is only in the front of the shin guard even though the stocking that holds the guard in place goes all the way around the leg like a sock. I don’t use mine very often, but my child uses hers every time we spar. That might be the reason she doesn’t end up with bruises.
Breast plate
The breast plate is also an optional item which we didn’t purchase. This is a padding that protects your chest from your neck to your waist. There are different styles especially designed for men and women alike. No one in our school has a breast plate, but I’ve noticed that the Olympian Taekwondo athletes use them.
Protective cup
The protective cup is an optional item for males taking karate to protect their groins. Nothing special here, it’s like every other cup used in sports. I obviously don’t use one, and I haven’t asked around the school to see if anyone else uses them either.
