My First Karate Tournament in Years

I’ve been taking karate lessons off and on for years now. I started with my Dad and my brothers… at some young age, and have tried to continue those lessons as life has permitted. For the past year and half, I’ve been taking lessons at my church. Saturday, I competed in my first tournament in many years. It went well, overall, and, as I’d hoped, was very educational.

I’ve never been real big on tournaments. When it comes to things athletic, while I enjoy participating, I’m just not that competitive. Tournaments like this, though, are a good proving ground for the skills and techniques we learn in class. For those that don’t know, there are, in my experience, two basic parts of a tournament, the kata (or form) and the sparring.

The kata part, which is usually my favorite, went OK for me, I think. I did Kata Heian San Dan (and here’s hoping I spelled that right :), which was the the test kata for my blue belt. Due to my commitments to my son’s Cub Scout den, I haven’t spent enough time on the purple belt katas to attempt those in competition, so San Dan it was, and I think I did fairly well at it. I think there were times I rushed things a bit, but, overall, I’m pretty pleased with how I did. I was the first to compete, though, so I didn’t get scored until two others had gone, and the guy that went after me, who won first, incidentally, killed it. He did, IIRC, Go Dan, and was amazing. He did really, really well. I think, though, while not taking away from anything he did, I might have scored better if I hadn’t gone first, and if I had done a longer, more interesting kata. I’m going to try to push harder in learning the newer katas, and I must work harder outside of class, an area in which I’ve been spotty.

The sparring was a different story, one in which I was “one and done.” While I sparred a really good fighter, I think that the biggest problem was me. I’m simply not aggressive enough in my sparring, being content to wait for my opponent to come to me. As I watched my opponent’s later fights, as well those of classmates of mine, I noticed a marked difference in the go-get-em-ness 🙂 of each contender. John, a fellow classmate (who beat me in class Monday) and fantastic fighter, was a good one to watch. Go in there get your point. Don’t wait for the other guy to bring it to you. It’s tough to score when you’re on your heels. 🙂

Overall, I’m pretty happy with the tournament. I didn’t place, which I wasn’t expecting to (which may explain why I didn’t :), but I had a good time and I learned a lot. As I continue my training, trying to finish what I started with my Dad, I’m going to try keep these lessons at the forefront of my mind, and, of course, constantly replaying tourneys and classes to see what I could do better. In that regard, the tournament was a smashing success for me.

To top things off, my wife was there to watch me, possibly the highlight of the day. 🙂 Onward and upward…