Safety

SMAK-Stiks were developed with safety as the overall driving factor.  Before we get into the details, let's clarify some things regarding safety.

Regardless of what training product you ultimately purchase, remember one important thing.  There are certain points within the human anatomy that are more susceptible to injury than others.  For example, getting hit in the eye or anywhere near the soft tissue of the eyes will result in pain and potential serious damage.  This is true regardless of what training weapon you use.  It is important that you remember this because there are some companies who claim that their product will allow sparring at 100% speed and intensity without any concern for injury.  Take it from someone who's been poked in the eye with the thumb of a boxing glove, it hurts.

On the contrary, training at 100% intensity with sticks that were too much like the real thing could lead to serious injury unless full padding was worn. In this case, the padding would restrict movement and again instill a false sense of invulnerability.

So how do you make a rattan stick safe to use? There are only two ways, reduce the power by reducing the speed or soften the impact. We chose to soften the impact. Like a real stick, you can generate a tremendous amount of speed with a SMAK-Stik, however, the final impact is much less then the real thing.

So how does it feel to get hit with a SMAK-Stik? It stings! Remember part of the realism is the feeling of getting hit. Students should always remember that the object is to not get hit, so cover-up.

In short, you should always use some protective eye wear and head gear when sparring, and realize that part of the realism you seek is the feeling of getting hit, even if it stings a bit.  Let's face it, if you sparred with products that were too padded or flexible, you've lost the realism. In fact, sparring in this manner could hurt your overall training.  You may begin to think that getting struck on the top of your head really doesn't hurt too much. Big mistake.