In truth I somewhat abandoned this blog. I have only been to one tournament since my last posting and I wasn't a competitor or judge. A fellow student of the martial arts decided to compete and we went together. The tournament was the Beach Blast Open held in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The tournament was held at a Holiday Inn, a very nice one I might add, but none the less was a disappointment. The one resounding success I would give them is it seemed to be over quickly. It was a two day tournament which had most of the under BB divisions on Friday evening and all BB divisions (with the exception of continuous sparring) held on Saturday. I didn't go back on Saturday.
The tournament was very small and there were not many competitors. I'd say no more than 60 or 70. In all there were probably 120 people there. The merchandise (t-shirts) were only double X and some other cheap martial arts crap. The judging was terrible and to top it off there were absolutely no competitors in the women's division. My friend was given an exhibition match against a Karate Student of higher rank, but lesser skill. She was able to easy kick the hell out of the girl, but still "Lost". I would have lost too despite being 200+ pounds and a BB. You have to understand, all the judges were from her competition's school. Realizing the complete and utter bias the judges had, I just felt the need to leave the room. I spoke to my mother on the phone and informed her of the mistreatment of a student from my school was clearly a more talented martial artist. Now you make think this is my own bias, but what happened next shocked me. The girl who had been the competition was being carried out by two fellow students. Although she had won the match she was escorted out crying and out of breath. My friend had punch and kicked her so hard during the match the girl couldn't take it. Now that is bias on the judges part. So I comforted my friend and congratulated her on her "loss" and we went home.
Since then I have tried to spur my interest in martial arts once more, but it is very stale around here. Although people are shocked that I know so much about the history of Dojo's and Dojangs, Masters and Instructors that I have never been to and never met. Hampton Roads has a rich history of martial arts and I'd say some of the best traditional martial artists. Look forward to more posts (periodically) from me as well as reviews of tournaments.
JoKyoNim Tim
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Judges, SCORE!
I recently judged at Jack Dark's Battle of the 7 Cities Tournament and I had a decent time. Judging is completely relative to the person who is judging. I am no more qualified to judge there than the 8th, 9th, and 10th degree grand masters there. I did my best to ensure each child I was scoring was receiving proper attention and being scored accurately. I had only one problem with a parent who went a little ballistic thinking his child was doing better than she was. He was straitened out however.
I applaud our local martial arts masters who put on these excellent tournaments, but they are completely different than the way I would run one. First off I wouldn't have so many divisions and I wouldn't allow point based sparring. If I was to have tournament there would be an Adult Division and a Child Division and nothing else. I may categorize the children differently to give them a better chance of placing, but as for adults there would be one sparring division for all fighters. I would host a legitimate tournament and not just a trophy factory. Not that i mind getting trophies! I would have set system of scoring forms and weapons. Obviously there would be different divisions for forms and weapons, but not sparring. For instance; wielding an exhibition bo-staff or any other weapon that isn't real and is only for competition isn't really a weapon. Its a show piece. I would instruct all judges to give -1pt for a competition or exhibition weapon. +1pt for a weapon that is more difficult to wield. Judges would score people between 1 and 9. With 5 being average.
The point is, no matter what a martial art master wants you to think, most tournaments are designed to make it quick and painless for the host, director, and judges (most of whom volunteer the day of). Be wary of martial arts tournaments, they don't mean much out in the real world. I have a huge 4ft First place trophy. It makes me look like I defeated the worlds best fighters, but I am no better off than your average martial artist.
-JoKyoNim Tim
I applaud our local martial arts masters who put on these excellent tournaments, but they are completely different than the way I would run one. First off I wouldn't have so many divisions and I wouldn't allow point based sparring. If I was to have tournament there would be an Adult Division and a Child Division and nothing else. I may categorize the children differently to give them a better chance of placing, but as for adults there would be one sparring division for all fighters. I would host a legitimate tournament and not just a trophy factory. Not that i mind getting trophies! I would have set system of scoring forms and weapons. Obviously there would be different divisions for forms and weapons, but not sparring. For instance; wielding an exhibition bo-staff or any other weapon that isn't real and is only for competition isn't really a weapon. Its a show piece. I would instruct all judges to give -1pt for a competition or exhibition weapon. +1pt for a weapon that is more difficult to wield. Judges would score people between 1 and 9. With 5 being average.
The point is, no matter what a martial art master wants you to think, most tournaments are designed to make it quick and painless for the host, director, and judges (most of whom volunteer the day of). Be wary of martial arts tournaments, they don't mean much out in the real world. I have a huge 4ft First place trophy. It makes me look like I defeated the worlds best fighters, but I am no better off than your average martial artist.
-JoKyoNim Tim
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Lazy Martial Artists, Give it your all!
To often have I seen unfit and lazy martial artists. I personally could stand to lose a few pounds, but I have found for the most part my weight hasn't impacted my martial arts. This post wont go into fat martial artists, but I will cover my thoughts on lazy martial artists. Lazy martial artists will half ass everything they do, saying to his or herself or to others that they will do it for real when the time comes. This is as false a statement as one can say. I train just about every day, but it is not a full work out. I rarely get a full workout in due to lack of sufficient area, but forms are one thing a martial artist can do just about anywhere. Preforming a form half-assed is negating the purpose of a form. A form is for muscle memory and to train your body in a combination of techniques. Throwing lousy punches or just throwing semi-kicks just wont cut it. You need to perform each movement with intent and sound off when you need to kiyap. Kiyaping is to stiffen the muscles and channel ki. It can also be quite intimidating to your opponent. When you don't kiyap in practice, you wont kiyap when it counts.
One of my Hap-Ki-Do instructors, KyoSaNim (2nd Degree), gave me some great advice when punching. I was punching with little intent or power and he told me to punch harder. I neglected to punch harder and so he stood in front of me and told me to punch him. I punched him continually and he continually told me to punch harder. Finally he punched me and knocked the wind out of me and said "Punch Harder! Like this! Understand?". I nodded and attempted to catch my breath. The point he was making is that if you don't give it your all in training you wont give it your all in life. So please, if you are a martial artist give it your all when you are training! Or hang up the dobok and belt!
JoKyoNim Tim
One of my Hap-Ki-Do instructors, KyoSaNim (2nd Degree), gave me some great advice when punching. I was punching with little intent or power and he told me to punch harder. I neglected to punch harder and so he stood in front of me and told me to punch him. I punched him continually and he continually told me to punch harder. Finally he punched me and knocked the wind out of me and said "Punch Harder! Like this! Understand?". I nodded and attempted to catch my breath. The point he was making is that if you don't give it your all in training you wont give it your all in life. So please, if you are a martial artist give it your all when you are training! Or hang up the dobok and belt!
JoKyoNim Tim
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Redbelts, my favorite color
I recently watched the movie Redbelt and it got me thinking about the rank of red belt and how it has many different meanings in different martial arts. In my art, taekwondo, it is most often the rank before one achieves their probationary black belt or even 1st degree black belt.
Lets look at the traditional emotions associated with the color Red; anger, passion, love, boldness, and different forms of rage. Red is also traditionally associated with blood for obvious reasons as well as fire. Red could mean you have committed your blood to your art or that you are truly passionate about your martial art. In one case, a Shorin-Ryu Renshi (4th Dan), told me that the Koreans had Red come before black to insult the Japanese, as they traditionally have Red as the final rank, usually achieved at 9th Dan. I find the validity of this statement to be false, but it certainly added fuel to my intrigue.
In Brazilian Jiu-jitsu Red belt is the highest rank one can achieve. Which is somewhat part of the plot of what the movie Redbelt is about. While this post is not really about ranking in martial arts, it does describe a little bit about Red Belts. Red Belts in any martial art are generally one of the top ranks. As I learn more about the rank of Red Belt I will post part two.
JoKyoNim Tim
Lets look at the traditional emotions associated with the color Red; anger, passion, love, boldness, and different forms of rage. Red is also traditionally associated with blood for obvious reasons as well as fire. Red could mean you have committed your blood to your art or that you are truly passionate about your martial art. In one case, a Shorin-Ryu Renshi (4th Dan), told me that the Koreans had Red come before black to insult the Japanese, as they traditionally have Red as the final rank, usually achieved at 9th Dan. I find the validity of this statement to be false, but it certainly added fuel to my intrigue.
In Brazilian Jiu-jitsu Red belt is the highest rank one can achieve. Which is somewhat part of the plot of what the movie Redbelt is about. While this post is not really about ranking in martial arts, it does describe a little bit about Red Belts. Red Belts in any martial art are generally one of the top ranks. As I learn more about the rank of Red Belt I will post part two.
JoKyoNim Tim
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Women and Children first
Okay this is a big topic for me and people around me. Opinions on women and children black belts. First off I have nothing against women black belts, but I will be covering my thoughts, but children black belts is where my opinion differs slightly.
To start, I have worked for a Martial Arts school and learn some of the tricks of the trade for enrollment. While some schools may not be "McDojos" they may operate under some of the same guidelines. I am 100% against giving black belts to children. That being said I believe there are ways around conferring a BB by giving them a comparable rank. I have familiarized myself with all the schools in my area and have seen what some of them have done. Some Karate schools give a BB with a white stripe through the center and some TKD schools have all white belts with different colored stripes in the center. I support this idea. Having studied martial arts at different ages, I can tell you I was not ready to be a black belt at ten or eleven years old. You might think a child is old enough, but if they can't tie their own shoes they haven't mastered the basics of the martial arts. If your child is a black belt, you should consider searching for a different school.
Women black belts are just the same as men who are black belts, but I believe in most schools aren't given an opportunity to truly test their technique. Most schools have women spar women and men spar men. This is the completely wrong thing to do. I feel the same way about tournament divisions. I believe women and men should compete in the same division. As a real martial artist, must be able to defend themselves in any situation.
That is just a few thoughts on women and children black belts!
JoKyoNim Tim
To start, I have worked for a Martial Arts school and learn some of the tricks of the trade for enrollment. While some schools may not be "McDojos" they may operate under some of the same guidelines. I am 100% against giving black belts to children. That being said I believe there are ways around conferring a BB by giving them a comparable rank. I have familiarized myself with all the schools in my area and have seen what some of them have done. Some Karate schools give a BB with a white stripe through the center and some TKD schools have all white belts with different colored stripes in the center. I support this idea. Having studied martial arts at different ages, I can tell you I was not ready to be a black belt at ten or eleven years old. You might think a child is old enough, but if they can't tie their own shoes they haven't mastered the basics of the martial arts. If your child is a black belt, you should consider searching for a different school.
Women black belts are just the same as men who are black belts, but I believe in most schools aren't given an opportunity to truly test their technique. Most schools have women spar women and men spar men. This is the completely wrong thing to do. I feel the same way about tournament divisions. I believe women and men should compete in the same division. As a real martial artist, must be able to defend themselves in any situation.
That is just a few thoughts on women and children black belts!
JoKyoNim Tim
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
White Belt Post
This post has relatively nothing to do with the rank of "White Belt", but rather that in most systems of martial arts, white belt is the first rank and this is the first post.
I began my study of the Martial Arts in 1997, under the tutelage of 5th Degree Master Brad Tinnon of Action Arts Academy, but I didn't stay with him for long. It wasn't until age 14 that I found Chon Mu Hap-Ki-Do Martial Arts Association. It laid the foundation for the way I perceive and learn about the martial arts. I again didn't stay with them very long due to high school, but I keep in contact with my instructors. I studied independently and with fellow martial artists until June of 2010 when I rejoined Tae-Kwon-Do under the tutelage of 7th Degree Master Bob Zacharias. I did not stay with him very long due to personal reasons, but leaving him enabled me to meet other martial artists and further my education. As of May 20th 2011, I am officially a 1st Degree Belt under the Martial Arts Club; MAMA-SAN Martial Arts.
Through this blog I hope to capture my feelings and thoughts towards the martial arts, help other martial artists young and old, and to reflect on different aspects of the martial arts.
JoKyoNim Tim
I began my study of the Martial Arts in 1997, under the tutelage of 5th Degree Master Brad Tinnon of Action Arts Academy, but I didn't stay with him for long. It wasn't until age 14 that I found Chon Mu Hap-Ki-Do Martial Arts Association. It laid the foundation for the way I perceive and learn about the martial arts. I again didn't stay with them very long due to high school, but I keep in contact with my instructors. I studied independently and with fellow martial artists until June of 2010 when I rejoined Tae-Kwon-Do under the tutelage of 7th Degree Master Bob Zacharias. I did not stay with him very long due to personal reasons, but leaving him enabled me to meet other martial artists and further my education. As of May 20th 2011, I am officially a 1st Degree Belt under the Martial Arts Club; MAMA-SAN Martial Arts.
Through this blog I hope to capture my feelings and thoughts towards the martial arts, help other martial artists young and old, and to reflect on different aspects of the martial arts.
JoKyoNim Tim
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)