Competition part 3

This past weekend, our dojo hosted our annual Traditional Tournament. This tournament differs from every other tournament in that it's closed, correctness counts, it's little more relaxed and the judges are BRUTAL. If you've read some of my previous posts, you're aware that I wasn't looking forward to competing. As far as I'm concerned, divisions like kata and weapons for a first degree competing with 2nd, 3rd and 4th degrees was a wash. At that rank, you've been doing the material longer, your technique is more refined etc.

Boy did I ever get lucky.

At our tournament, black belts *randomly select* their kata from a bag and perform it on the spot; weapons are drawn at random but the competitor selects the form. If you lose your balance, drop your weapon, mess up or forget, you automatically get a zero.
Weapons were up first and I drew nunchaku first. My gut reaction was "Sweeeeeeet!". The only weapon I'd taught for the past few weeks was Shodan requirement for nunchaku, I thought it was a lock! Then I broke the ice on earning goose eggs. I hit the third turn and totally forgot what I was doing.I was smart enough to not move or make it immediately obvious that I forgot --after about 6 seconds of standing motionless,  in what could have been a quite epic kata, I made a face, and that was it. I bowed out amongst jeers of disbelief from the black belts behind me. I felt a little vindicated afterwards however: the next to competitors that drew nunchaku scored zeros as well. The only person to finish with nunchaku won first place.

Next up was open hand. I was totally nervous about open hand as I've been trying to be more precise in all of my strikes and more "correct" in my stances...wholesale changes like that rarely transition beautifully. I watched quite a few competitors (I was next to last) in my division do absolutely great, then it was my turn. All I could hope for was Tenchin, because I knocked it out of the park about three days prior. It was even better, Seisan, my favorite open hand kata. I was so shocked by the good fortune that I knew for sure I was going to mess it up. I thought about every time the stars lined up (looking Picklez directly in the eye, blue tape on the floor, or a combination of both) I screwed up. I knew Picklez was behind me and the ring (you guessed it) was marked off in blue tape. I was doomed for sure. I took three deep breaths and proceeded to look right through everything. I didn't see faces, I saw bodies; I heard trees rustling, I was in the zone. When I got my scores, I was little disappointed...I'm not sure why, but then again, I wasn't paying attn to the other scores, so I didn't really have a right to be. Scores were tallied, 3rd place. Not bad, but I still think it was luck of the draw.

Later on was point sparring, also known as "The only game of tag you'll ever play where you're likely to get hurt". I did pretty well. First match was lights out; best point sparring I'd done since I was a yellow belt. Second match I approached like a semi knockdown fight --I knew he had something up his sleeve, it was a matter of being patient. I found myself in the first/second place match --nice, especially since I HATE POINT SPARRING. I lost a close one, but it was a very good match with 3 E's: Entertaining, Exciting, Enjoyable. I received many complements on my sparring.

Little known secret: I managed to tweak the tendon in my left foot in point sparring. Why won't the damn thing heal? It's been like 3 yrs now. Any who, I digress, next up Semi Knockdown fighting. I was a heavyweight again this year (I got a slight reprieve last year because there were only 3 lightweights..I say slight because Dub-D was one of them and he hits hard) and had to fight a gentlemen who is pretty much *the* fighter in our style. He's big, he can take a punch (and throw a pretty mean one), he's an intelligent fighter and he's quick for a big guy. I wasn't intimidated, and I don't think he expected me to be.

I have a chip on my shoulder about big guys. I'm always outweighed, and I hate being bullied...this was not the guy to have that chip with. I got a lot of advice, some of which wasn't all that feasible given the condition of my foot:
"Stick and move Hangtime" --> gee thanks, but I knew that already.
"You can't fight toe-to-toe Hangtime, circle, circle" --> Yup, I was aware...
"Kick the legs Hangtime" --> What fight are you watching?

Any how, there was one highlight of the fight for me, which quickly turned into the end of the match; after throwing a few blows without retaliation, I realized he was trying to intimidate me by showing he can take a hit; what I think he doesn't know is that I knew that already...I also think that he doesn't know that I can be a really big smart ass, so I engaged him: two punch combination to the chest @ 60% power, then two to the solar plexus @ 80%...

...you're expecting two more at 100% right...WRONG, knee kick somewhere around the breast bone/solar plexus (I was aiming for the latter, but moving backward it's hard to get one right on target...) to which he aptly responded with a flurry of punches followed by a sweep and follow up; he managed to get part of my foot --OUCH! A few more sweeps and an inside leg kick and time was up. No brainer, he won.

At the end, the "Dojo Champion" was announced; as if there was any doubt, our dojo won; there's something to be said having the tournament in your own backyard.

All in all a good day. There are definitely things I need to focus one and get better at, but I can't say I'm the least bit disappointed about the day as a whole. Read Picklez post #200 for the hilarity that ensued afterwards; fun times had by all (even Overboard).

Now on to the fun stuff
In this post Picklez commented on my potential status as a "legend" in martial arts; well, I think legend indicates something far greater than one can set out to achieve; it's something earned, don't get me wrong, but you don't wake up and say "I'm going to make myself a legend". However, one can make moments in their life memorable. Those memorable moments can add up to becoming legendary, however it's a status bestowed not taken. I personally do not see myself becoming a legend in martial arts, our style, or even our dojo. Case in point; only I would make a comment like "he's having a Hangtime-like testing" (and yes I have said this about 1 student recently), but no one else would think of that. I say all of that to say this, I don't need nor really want to be a "legend" in martial arts; just knowing I took a medal over my fourth degree sensei is enough for me ----OOOOOOOOHHHH BURN, you like that don'tcha. </gloat>