My 3rd time sparring tonight and I was ****! Any tips please?

Of course you were rubbish ... it was only your 3 rd sparring session.

At this stage, the most important thing is to get comfortable in the ring.

Good luck.

 

Don't get disheartened, mate! It's important to know that sparring is not fighting!

There are a few key points to sparring (IMHO) to make the most out of the sparring sessions.

- Stay relaxed (something you need to keep reminding yourself to do at first, but will come naturally later on).
- Remember that there is no loser in sparring, and don't worry if other people are watching.
- Try to have something to work on that session. So maybe work on landing your jab or landing your lead hook. When you get more advanced you can work on taking away a punch and more advanced defensive stuff.

Maybe most importantly; After sparring do some shadowboxing and try to remember your session. Think about what you did wrong or how you got tagged or got put in a bad situation and try to think of remedies for this.

For instance, if he tagged you with a left hook a few times, try to remember what position you were in and what he did to set up his shot etc. Visualize him in front of you doing the same thing and try different methods to counter/dodge/move/parry/block etc.

 

jab jab then grab