Well, I'll give you a gold star for trying, but you'll probably want to handle things a bit more cautiously next time. He seems like the kinda guy who'd blow up at the drop of a hat.

And sometimes it pays to give them some direction, but Pokémon are the ones in the middle of the action, so it's good to give them some leeway. If they become too reliant on orders and the trainer slips up, that can be a pretty serious problem.

Besides, letting them spar with each other isn't that big of a deal. It's faster than facing level five Pidgeys for hours on end.