I competed in my first tournament yesterday

[dmsdc]

A local so-called traditional one here in Washington, D.C. I took 1st in traditional forms in black belt women 18-34 and 1st in sparring in black belt women 18-34. However, the biggest victory for me was showing up and participating in my first tournament.

Most divisions in men had about 10 participants. However, there were only 3 other women in my forms division and 1 other in my sparring. Many people came up to me after my form to ask me what my style was and where I trained. (Uechi is not widely practiced here in D.C.) There were several men who, in particular, complimented me on my power. Though I am a nidan I performed Seichin Kata - my favorite in Uechi. The other competitors did much longer forms. But I guess sometimes quality is better than quantity.

The sparring....I'd never seen open tournament sparring before. No grabbing, no sweeps or throws, and you can get a point for bopping someone with a flailing backfist on top of their head or the back of their head as long as you give a good yell when you do it. I think I got 2 warnings for grabbing onto their arms and 2 because I slow to stop fighting. I dunno. Not really my style. And the whole, I got in 1 strike and now we're done -- bleck. It was a "Promoter's Plus" tournament. So I don't know if I'd do this particular brand of tournament again. I don't think I'm a very good point sparrer. I don't really have the mindset for it. I prefer to stay in there until the job is done.

I did really enjoy watching and participating in the forms division. It is wonderful to see so many who have worked hard and put in many hours on the floor -- be able to demonstrate their skill for others.

I had lots of fun. Glad I went. Didn't get hurt, and now I have these two 3 foot trohpies with men with bad haircuts doing flying side kicks on the top. Whatever am I going to do with those?

Dana

[This message has been edited by dmsdc (edited February 17, 2002).]

[david]

Excellent, Dana!!! Regardless whether you want to be a "hardcore" competitor or not, by stepping in the ring you got an opportunity to test yourself a little bit outside of the normal training routine. It's a good thing.

Seichin remains my favorite kata. Would have loved to have seen you do it.

david

[This message has been edited by david (edited February 17, 2002).]

[Allen M.]

Congrats,Dana.

You might want to paste a picture of yourself in the trophies to hide those bad haircuts.

------------------
Allen Moulton from Uechi-ryu Etcetera

[Bill Glasheen]

A number of things don't surprise me here:

* There weren't very many women participating,

* Dana kicked bootie (no matter the competition or lack thereof),

* The majority of the kata - even in a "traditional" tournament - were forms that looked much longer and more complex than the Uechi ryu forms. You should see the likes of Margaret Chojin compete in a world class tournament. She can do an excellent form, but the judges don't understand Uechi ryu and they like the longer forms. Oh well... Uechi can do just fine in the sparring ring, which says something I'm sure.

I too like seichin form. Of all the eight, it was my favorite for many years. Oddly enough, seiryu has caught my fancy lately. I started teaching Vicki how to do transitions in seiryu (since it has little other value in terms of originality of technique) and it suddenly clicked with me. Ever since Peggy Hess showed us some of those toe focus moves from Okinawa that she applies at the end of the three scooping block techniques, my seichin has lost its flow. But my toes are getting much stronger from it, and I suspect it'll capture my fancy once again.

David brings up a good point. It's so important to constantly knock yourself out of a compfort zone and test applying your art under stress. You learned more than you realize, Dana.

What say we do a trip to New England in May? I have another I'm trying to convince to go up. My van has an extra space or two...

- Bill

[Adam]

Good for you!
Guess I'll add in my experience...
I went to my first tournament a few months back. I didn't like the way it was run as far as information distribution. (I wouldn't have known any of the rules unless I had known one of the judges as and was talking to them before hand.) But, the rest was good.
In forms, I got stressed out and didn't stop my movements from turning into quick flails. I did Kanshiwa by the way.
When I got into sparring, I loved it. There was me and one other guy in my division, so we were fighting for 1st place. It was an even match in just about all ways. There were 2 simultaneous points and one point on his side. If the whistle hadn't blown when it did, I would have gotten my own point in a few seconds. Well, the sparring session was such a rush. Clearing out the mind and letting training take over, combined with the adrenaline.
I'd deffinately do it again, and recommend it to anyone who hasn't gone to a tourney before.

Adam

[dmsdc]

Hey Bill,

Thanks for the invite. However we are two years overdue on a visit to Bruce H. in Atlanta -- and I promsied him I'd get down there this spring. I don't think the budget would support two karate travels in one season....if I had a million dollars....

But I'm not saying no entirely. Let me know the dates you plan to go and I'll see where things are. It would be great to see folks outside of the often rushed & busy camp format.

Dana