Sparring in BJJ is much safer than other martial arts such as boxing as there is no striking involved. Sparring is about improving your technique rather than about beating your opponent and there is never any intent to try to cause harm to one another. To make sure it is as safe as possible, you can stop a sparring round at any time by “tapping” (this is where you tap the mat, tap your partner or shout “tap”). When this happens, that current spar will stop, the partners then reset and spar again. All sparring is optional, so if you don’t feel comfortable you can opt out until you feel more confident.