Interesting topic. Agree with much what has been said. I've done my share of sparring against various people with different background. I've never felt very comfortable with more traditional or common type of sparring, but I found the Karate people I have sparred good to work against. You should probably also want to find other people from other styles for a broader view and experience.
I am not very fond of working with gloves, though it's sometimes good to feel what it feels like I suppose. I am also not a big fan of the common sparring mind-set of chasing hands and chasing points.
@Maarten, as you mentioned it, do you have suggestions on rule-sets that would suit Tai Chi better?
For sparring, a more MMA like mind-set, to have in mind that you should enter and set-up for a take-down and similar might be a better approach than just trading punches. The best of course is if you could focus on Tai Chi strategy and mind-set as much as possible. But I also agree that in the beginning especially, it's good to try adapt to and use regular sparring tactics and sometimes even forget about Tai chi.
Anyway, here is an excerpt from something I've written earlier, some things that I personally like to keep in mind and work on when I practice fighting:
Following and adapting
In T’ai Chi, you don’t choose what to do, your opponent does. In T’ai Chi, it doesn’t matter what your opponent does, what kind of kick or fist he throws at you or from what angle. Your opponent is merely a physical body in movement. Treat him as such. Treat him as such evenbefore he forms his limbs into weapons. Follow and adapt to the body always, even on distance. Follow the whole body, focus on the center and balance, the limbs are of less importance. If someone throws a kick or moves in for a take-down, it’s the same. It’s just a physical body in movement. Always consider the distance and angle and position yourself accordingly.
Positioning
Using distance and angle, position yourself always where you have as much advantage as possible and he has as little advantage as possible. For instance, a kicker or someone with long reach, always try to be inside his reach and closer than his favorite distance. With a little bit of sparring knowledge you could easily learn to determine your opponents favorite distances. Don’t wait until he goes in or throws something at you. Even before you know if you will fight or not, use distance and angle to make sure that you are in a favorable position.
“If my opponent moves slightly, I move first”
This might appear a bit cryptic, but it’s an important rule about timing. Every slight move your opponent does is a “tell”. It can teach you when to move in and when to position yourself into another angle. Again, always adapt to your opponent’s center. The small changes can tell you a lot about the changes and preparations for his overall strategy.
Enter and make contact – ASAP
If you encounter someone aggressive and you know that there is going to be a fight, don’t wait. Don’t take distance. Don’t go into a chasing punches sparring mindset. Just go in and make physical contact. Don’t do it fast, aggressively or something similar. Just walk in and put your hands on top of his. Now you can either wait on his reaction or you can separate his arms: to the sides, one arm up and the other down, or you can push both arms to one side. All of these methods give you different opportunities to enter and bring him down to the ground. From a T’ai Chi perspective, when you go in to touch him, you need to connect with his feet and center. You need to learn how to feel this. This is real T’ai Chi skill we are talking about now. If you have this physical connection through his structure, you will be able to follow and guide his ever slightest movement. If you have this connection and he moves first, you would probably find it ridiculously easy to guide him to the ground. But this is really where T’ai Chi practice as free push hands comes into play.
“Suddenly appear, suddenly disappear”
This is a traditional Tai Chi expression. It means that you need to completely hide your intentions and intent. Your stance must be natural, no aggression or preparation must be visible. Every of your attempts to attack must come suddenly out from nowhere. This could seem different compared to many other martial arts, but it’s in fact one of the real benefits of Tai Chi practice. You won’t need to visually withdraw a fist before attacking. You can also learn to do it with a good amount of speed. Your balanced structure, you rooting, will support the fist upon impact. Strike from a completely calm and balanced body, from a natural looking posture and from close distance. Your opponent won’t even have a chance to know what happened.
From:
https://taichithoughts.wordpress.com/20 ... chi-chuan/And here is some thoughts on why it's sometimes hard to make things work and about working on how to make things work:
https://taichithoughts.wordpress.com/20 ... e-it-work/