[chiuchimu]

^ My couch told me that long time ago, Muay Thai allowed groin kicks and headbutts too. The groin kick wasn't that effective in the ring because Thai boxers at that time( I don't know if they still do) used steel groin cups. These cups had ridged reinforcements. Full power kick to a cup like that would be painful for the kicker. you can still buy the steel cups but I doubt professionals use them. Why would anyone want one of those steel ones when there are the new high tech plastic ones that can disperse the shock.

On ,sparing. My Shotokan Sensei was a bit odd. Most Dojos practice their techiniques by the book: low deep mountain climbing stance, fist cocked at waist. etc.. But when time to spare, all correct forms are thrown out the window and everyone looks like they are kick boxing: doing the boxers shuffle, hands high, throwing jabs etc... My dojo, we spared as we did practice and Katas. Our sparing sessions were to look just like our Katas. I'm not sure if that was an effective way to spare, but boy did we look great doing it that way.