Indeed, and I think he's got it right from everything I've ever seen in my budo career, I've never seen anyone with kata only experience step onto a kendo floor and win his first match, I certainly have no illusions that I could take a moderately trained kendo kid, even if I was allowed any target at all. I twitch and he hits me, simple as that, and it has happened in the deep distant past. But I've also seen that those with kata and sparring experience are much more sophisticated in their practice, a different feel to their kendo.
Having said that, there is a story from the early days of kendo that one of the old guard who didn't approve all this new sparring stuff stepped onto the floor and beat his opponents.
Now, having swung real swords and bokuto for years could I beat that same kendo kid if we both had no armour and were using shinken? Truthfully I am confident it would come down to which of us was more willing to die to prove a point rather than whose training was better. Again there are stories of some of the old iaido guys trying out their shinken against one another "out behind the barn" and their comments were more or less the same. The training rather deserts one when facing actual sharp steel.
The only person I know of who has actually faced sharp steel is Chris Amberger who dueled in a German University Frat. His comments are also interesting and worth looking up if they're on the net.
Kata and sparring both appeared in the history of sword study, I suspect that means people found value in both.
Kim.