By sparring with other students, a student's skills will be much more effective in a street altercation. If a student is training at the right place, this can be done safely, and it can be a lot of fun. Aerobic Kickboxing is very popular at many gyms. This type of training is dangerous because a student will have a false belief that they have developed self-defense skills. This type of training is only for a student who is not interested in learning Martial Arts.
Students learn and develop practical fighting skills.
Many of the students at American Kickboxing have had to use their training to defend themselves against street violence. Once students have developed good skills, they are allowed to enter competitions. Go to the Competitions link to see a schedule of up-comming kickboxing competitions, or go to the Tournament link to see a schedule of martial arts tournaments. Competing can be fun for a well-trained student. Competing is totally voluntary.