State of My Arts

The tournament is in the books.  It started slightly after 9:00 with some words from the master instructor who is the head of the TKD program.  One of the junior black belts then performed Koryo, our first black belt form, as a demonstration.  There weren’t any competitors in the junior black belt division, so it was nice that he was able to perform.

Four rings were set up.  The ring I participated in was headed by a Master instructor who brought a number of her students down from her school in the Poconos.  She had taught and trained at our dojang a few years ago, and had been affiliated with our late instructor for many years.  Our ring had 6 judges total, 4 3rd dans in addition to myself and the master instructor.

We had 3 groups in the ring: 3 white belts, 4 green belts, and 4 red/blue belts.  Forms were up first.  Two of the white belts didn’t have their first form yet, so they performed a sequence of basic moves (low block, inside block, high block, front punch).  That division was won by a boy (somewhere around age 11) who started training a couple of months ago in the adult beginner classes.  The green belt division went next; the winner performed a very nice Tae Guk Oh Jang.  She’s 10 or so and trains in the adult intermediate class.  She was one of only four students in this past Wednesday’s class (and the only tournament competitor), so I had dubbed that class “her” class, and we spent the class preparing her for competition.  The red/blue division was won by one of the students from the Poconos, a technically accurate Tae Guk Pal Jang that just could have used a little more energy to be even better.

Next up was the Grand Champion Forms competition.  Each division winner gets to compete for a trophy.  All action in the dojang ceases except for this championship.  I think there may have been 10 divisions altogether, so each student got a chance to perform.  The format obviously skews towards the higher ranking students.  The champion was a red belt boy around the age of 9 who performed Tae Guk Pal Jang.  He rushed through the form a bit, but had good energy and techniques.  He’s really energetic and enthusiastic in classes, and he’s fun to work with.

Then came sparring.  Students in our dojang don’t start sparring until they reach yellow belt, so we only had two divisions.  I have to say that I was a bit disappointed in most of the sparring in our ring.  A number of the students locked themselves into one position and played Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots until a point was scored.  Fortunately, good movement ended up winning the day.  The green belt division was won by the same girl who won the forms competition.  With four competitors, there were two preliminary matches plus the finals.  We also ran a consolation match, which ended very early on due to an excessive contact body shot.  The boy was unable/unwilling to continue.  This was the same student who had gotten injured during his last promotion exam and was unable to finish.  The red/blue division was won by an athletic boy who was very aggressive, but had good control.

Lastly, board breaking.  The younger students mostly used pine boards roughly 8″ by 5″.  They were judged on the power of their breaks, the difficulty of their techniques, and how well they flow from one technique to the next.  For two of the white belts, this was the first time they broke real boards.  The winner did a hammer fist at one station, followed by a step behind side kick at the other station.  The same green belt girl won this event as well; she did a turning palm-heel thrust, a front snap kick and a side kick.  We practiced that at “her” class on Wednesday.    Since our ring was running behind all the other rings, the final board breaking division was moved to a different ring.

That ended the competition.  We were done around noon, so it took a little longer than I thought it would.  It was a good day, with lots of happy kids, some disappointed ones, a few tears, and a sparring disqualification in another ring (apparently some excellent techniques, but the boy didn’t control them).  We would still have liked to see more competitors, but those who were there did a nice job.

TKD

There have been a few bits of news and notes around the dojang.

• Master Morgan’s book has been released, and I have my personally autographed copy.  In his note to me, he makes a crack about me needing a haircut (I’m bald).  It is neat to have a book written by someone you have trained with, if only once or twice a year.  I haven’t started reading it yet, but I will do so fairly shortly and give a recap of it when I’m done.
• As I’ve mentioned previously, this weekend is the children’s tournament at our dojang.  Last I’ve heard, there are only expected to be 25-30 competitors.  I put a couple students who aren’t competing on the spot during class, and just kind of got mumbled “’cause I don’t want to” responses.  Disappointing.  Friday night is dojang prep and ring setup.
• I’ll be testing for my 3rd dan in TKD in September.  It will be my last TKD promotion exam, as subsequent ranks are presented when the head instructor deems they have been earned.  The 3rd-to-4th guideline for time-in-rank is 5 years, so this will be my final promotion for quite a while.  2nd dan Hapkido isn’t really on the radar, either.  Purple belt in BJJ will require me to actually start up that training again, and wouldn’t happen for a few years once I do start back up.  Phase 1 Kali certification might happen at some point.
• Speaking of BJJ, I do miss grappling.  My shoulder is getting a lot stronger, but getting it caught in a Kimura or an omo plata would be a very, very bad idea.  I had been thinking that maybe I could restart in August, as my next doctor’s appointment is on August 5.  But with the upcoming TKD promotion exam, maybe I’m better off holding off on BJJ until after that.
• Sometimes, class attendence is weird.  This week, my intermediate class had exactly 4 students.  Last week, there were 15.
• I missed last night’s Hapkido class because I got stuck at work.  Can’t remember the last time that happened.
• The red belt I had written about a while ago has been coming regularly to Hapkido classes.  It’s good for him and he is enjoying it.  He might still be a bit frustrated with TKD, but he’s fitting in nicely with a different focus to his training.

BJJ, Hapkido, TKD, Training

This coming Saturday morning, the dojang will be holding its annual children’s tournament.  It has always been a big event for us — since we’re not a tournament type of school, this is the only tournament experience for most of the kids.  We spend plenty of time on forms and sparring, but very few students or instructors choose to participate in outside tournaments.  Our late instructor got fed up with inconsistent/bad judging several years back and stopped encouraging us to participate in the one or two tournaments per year some of us had been going to.

Last Saturday was Dojang Cleanup Day where we really get after some of the accumulated dirt and dust.  The folding thick blue mats got mopped, windows and mirrors were washed, fans were cleaned, and a bathroom was painted, among other things.  Plenty of people pitched in, so we were out of there after a couple of hours.  The weather was gorgeous that day, making the tasks a bit more pleasant.
Last week I ran tournament-specific classes during the beginner and intermediate classes.  I’m planning on something similar this week.  We don’t often work on setting boards up for 3-station breaks, but it is always interesting to figure out how one technique sets up the positioning of another.  We also worked on how to address the judges when performing poomsae.  This week I’ll probably spend a little more time on point scoring.  That’s something I feel a bit less comfortable with, as I’m not very fond of tournament TKD sparring.

Friday will be the day we set up rings and arrange the dojang for the tournament.  The tournament itself gets started at 9AM Saturday morning.  It looks like turnout will be very light this year, which is a shame.  I’ve been strongly encouraging students in the adult/teen classes to participate, but haven’t gotten much response.  Turnout will be higher for those under the age of ten, but might be very, very small for those older than that.

We’ll see how it goes, and hopefully we’ll get a few students to change their minds this week.

TKD