My first tournament back as a competitor in 8 months, and I'm very glad this was my re-entry as it was a smaller event. In the past this tournament has been quite large, but the last several years has been seeing a decreasing number of adult competitors. This year, in particular, the tournament director decided to allow no registration at the door, pre-registration only. It's very typical, in the adult divisions, for competitors to come on the day of the competition and register, so removing this ability certainly limited the competitor's pool. On to my performance:
Kata - 2nd place
Opened first round with Sochin against Gojushiho-Sho, the Gojushiho was pretty good, but a little wobbly. My sochin, however felt very strong, good solid, finishes to stances and stayed low throughout. I had a little fumble with my feet from the last shuto-uke into the mae-geri, but nothing to throw me too far off.
Second round was Kanku-Sho against Kanku-Dai; this competition had brown and black belts combined, so there were some lower level kata thrown in. However, the kanku-dai wasn't particularly good. Too many pregnant pauses, and a lot of rising and dropping when there shouldn't be. Kanku-Sho was a little wobbly for me in the opening sequence but settled down with oi-tsuki soto-uke combinations and went strong from there. Mae-geri were very sharp with good body momentum into tate-uraken-uchi. The jump, as far as I could tell, was very nice, once I stop attempting to make my hand and foot meet with the mikazuki-geri it's usually fairly smooth.
Finished off with Gojushiho-sho against Sochin, I'm pretty steamed about this one. The kata felt perfect! And then, disaster struck; after the shuto-uchi/shuto-uke sequence did soto-uke, mae-geri with the drop punch and stepping away with the gedan barai behind...and instead of pulling back with the shuto-uke I pulled back into gedan barai as if I was going into empi. I was beyond livid, caught myself without too much hesitation, but it was pretty obvious. The rest of the kata felt just as great as before the mistake...oh well, got me a second place (of course, if I'd gotten first place, I would have competed for Grand Champion with a grand prize of $500).
Kumite - 3rd place, doesn't say much since there were only 4 in my division, I was fighting heavyweight.
Kumite was completely different from usual, my fighting was leaps and bounds above how I was fighting previously, lots of angles, changes of direction, misdirection and constant action. I lost 7-1, but my fighting was still the best yet, I think I got robbed on a few points, but it is what it is. The guy I was fighting is a national team member plus a local favorite, somethings can't be overcome. Anyway, I definitely feel like my regular gym sessions are really paying off, my legs have more spring and power in them than I remember, my cardio hasn't suffered as much as I expected to have.
No more competitions until Feburary, so over the winter I'm going to start incorporating more sprinting sessions to increase power output in my legs and continue lifting the way I have been; aggressively and explosively. Skill work is definitely on the menu, that's for the dojo, though.
All-in-all a decent performance, and if I can find any videos I will certainly post them.
Thanks for reading!
Kata - 2nd place
Opened first round with Sochin against Gojushiho-Sho, the Gojushiho was pretty good, but a little wobbly. My sochin, however felt very strong, good solid, finishes to stances and stayed low throughout. I had a little fumble with my feet from the last shuto-uke into the mae-geri, but nothing to throw me too far off.
Second round was Kanku-Sho against Kanku-Dai; this competition had brown and black belts combined, so there were some lower level kata thrown in. However, the kanku-dai wasn't particularly good. Too many pregnant pauses, and a lot of rising and dropping when there shouldn't be. Kanku-Sho was a little wobbly for me in the opening sequence but settled down with oi-tsuki soto-uke combinations and went strong from there. Mae-geri were very sharp with good body momentum into tate-uraken-uchi. The jump, as far as I could tell, was very nice, once I stop attempting to make my hand and foot meet with the mikazuki-geri it's usually fairly smooth.
Finished off with Gojushiho-sho against Sochin, I'm pretty steamed about this one. The kata felt perfect! And then, disaster struck; after the shuto-uchi/shuto-uke sequence did soto-uke, mae-geri with the drop punch and stepping away with the gedan barai behind...and instead of pulling back with the shuto-uke I pulled back into gedan barai as if I was going into empi. I was beyond livid, caught myself without too much hesitation, but it was pretty obvious. The rest of the kata felt just as great as before the mistake...oh well, got me a second place (of course, if I'd gotten first place, I would have competed for Grand Champion with a grand prize of $500).
Kumite - 3rd place, doesn't say much since there were only 4 in my division, I was fighting heavyweight.
Kumite was completely different from usual, my fighting was leaps and bounds above how I was fighting previously, lots of angles, changes of direction, misdirection and constant action. I lost 7-1, but my fighting was still the best yet, I think I got robbed on a few points, but it is what it is. The guy I was fighting is a national team member plus a local favorite, somethings can't be overcome. Anyway, I definitely feel like my regular gym sessions are really paying off, my legs have more spring and power in them than I remember, my cardio hasn't suffered as much as I expected to have.
No more competitions until Feburary, so over the winter I'm going to start incorporating more sprinting sessions to increase power output in my legs and continue lifting the way I have been; aggressively and explosively. Skill work is definitely on the menu, that's for the dojo, though.
All-in-all a decent performance, and if I can find any videos I will certainly post them.
Thanks for reading!
Well done. Some good kata there. Kudos on the Sochin - I stay away from that at competition ;-) I'm pleased for you - ANY VIDS?
ReplyDeleteI'm hitting a traditional comp. this weekend. Looking forward to it.
Thanks, James! Sochin has been a pretty good one for me as an opener at the WKF style competitions, depending on who I get paired up with. If I go first in the match, then I will do Sochin, if I can see what my opponent is going with I might switch it up. My favorite two kata to open with are Empi and Sochin, very different but both highly dynamic and fun to watch. I was coaching as well as competing this time around so I didn't have a chance to ask anybody to take video, I'm asking around with the tournament director to see if anybody has some. If I get any videos, they will definitely be posted here.
ReplyDeleteHave you been competing at the the "open" type tournaments lately?
Most competitive stuff I do is "open", which is why my routine is a mixture of Shoto and Shito. My kata list is Enpi, Kanku Sho, Unsu and Gojushi-ho shoto from Shoto, Matsumuru no Passau, Anan and Chatan yara kusanku on the shito side. I try and pick my 5 kata from this list.
ReplyDeleteI'm uploading my enpi as we speak. Hope I get to see yours. Ossu
Are they open tournaments in the WKF-sense where it's traditional styles, or mixed styles with Chinese and Korean and "Freestyle" kata being allowed?
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing it! If I can't find tournament footage, I occasionally record my own kata practice on here or on Google+ so you can always find me embarrassing myself there LOL