Completed my first tournament

[madeku]

ill post videos in the members in motion board when i get them off the camcorder onto the computer (gotta borrow a friend's capture card).. but I entered my first tournament thismorning at 11, having been at work all night and woke up at 3pm the day before ).. a small local one.. it was fun.. the only downer was in both things i competed in (im an orange belt, thus the beginner kyus in this tournament) were against one person each

Kata i did form 1.. you never realize mistakes you usually make unless you watch them in third person.. mirrors dont help as much.. my teacher is right.. i need to keep my head up.. it looks horrible.. but i beat the other guy.. i didnt even watch his form.. i think that's going to be something i do in future tournaments so i dont get psyched out. so i won first place in forms in my division.. thats okay the man who lost, won first place in breaking out of like 5 people.. cos thats what he does

grand champion i lost.. i did a form i had just thought up at the event.. because the guy i was going against (who is a yellow belt in my school) is a Brown Belt in Isshinryu.. doing Shinto Kata.. so i had to do something a little more.. "exciting" than Form 1.. head still down damnit.. habit i need to break..

i got to be score keeper for some kids, lol i was like "uhh what do i do?" and the guy was like "just get their names and when i say write a point down do it" lol

I helped my "Kenpo wife" (lol she even goes to a rival Kenpo school) by bodying for her doing Self Defense.. that was fun too. even tho im not used to her timing. she bought me a bottle of water.. so we're even.

Sparring.. there was nobody in my division.. there were just black and brown belts (the black, red, brown div).. fun fun.. there was a blue belt (dunno what style prolly TKD) from the next division.. that i ended up sparring with. since nobody was in his division (purple blue green) either.. THAT was fun.. lost that one, by 1 point.. which one of my friends (who was the judge at a few events) said he saw my kick land before his fist, but whatever.. i had fun.. not bad considdering iv sparred maybe 4 times (and i think i suck lol).. and last night (training with a friend) was the first in months i sparred.

so i got first place for Kata in my division, and second in sparring.. part of me feels like second place with 2 ppl fighting is more like a participant trophy.. but i busted my butt, made hits that the judges didnt have enough in agreement on, learned alot.. and he busted my calf when i checked one of his kicks :-p so i earned that second place trophy.

i cant wait till my next tournament.. im going to try and go to Capitol Classics in Arlington, VA on the 12th.. that looks great, lots of ppl to compete against.. IN MY DIVISION

[jfarnsworth]

As long as you had fun that's the main thing.

[Takai]

Sounds like you worked hard and learned from the experience. Keep it up.

[Celtic_Crippler]

Congratulations!

[kenpo0324]

Congratulations!

[sifuroy]

First of all you had fun, Second you got some very good experience. Also the
videos showed you what you did Wrong. Bet that won't happen again. Next time you will be ready and Smoke them!!

Iam Most Respectfully,
Sifuroy

[TopGun21]

Congrats! It is always good to get that first one out of the way, so to speak. It is fun but there is usually more anxiety for the first one. Going to tournaments now for me after having been to many is just something else I do. I have lost the major anxiety but not the fun factor and I think that is key. So keep up the good work and as long as you enjoy what you do and learn from it you can't go wrong.

-Blake