Back To Article Brief
Back To Article List
Karate Tournaments
Author: Vince Cullan
Over the last few months I have been discussing Karate tournaments and the attitudes of the competitors who enter them. Having the correct attitude and the respect for your fellow competitor is so important when competing. An example of this would be not sitting with your fellow competitors whilst the category is underway, this shows a big lack of respect for them in my book and I am glad I have only seen this a few times, I would however prefer never to see it, particularly if the areas are all roped off and you disappear to sit with your family until you are called for the next round.
I am not going to list more examples of bad etiquette in this months article, instead I have decided to write a bit for the organisers of Karate.
Competitions, specifically how they set out their category lists for Kata. I am going to be very gallant and speak for the younger competitors who have no voice or at least not one most want to listen to (and that was a small joke for those who didn't realise).
On average an 8th Kyu will have less than 8 months experience in Karate and more often than not it will only be 6 months worth, this will be
at one lesson per week with some attending two lessons. On average a 3rd kyu brown belt will have (and this is based on gradings every 3 months) about 2 years worth of experience in Karate, and when you get up to 1st Kyu you will have anywhere from 3 - 4 years worth of training at 2 or 3 lessons per week if you are an average brown belt, some may be going to 4 or 5 lessons a week.
When I attend tournaments it always seems strange to me that competition organisers never seem to separate the grades in the Peewee categories in Kata tournaments. Under 10 years of age is a very big age range and a student could have up to 5 years worth of training behind them when they compete. Is it any wonder that the lower grades (9th, 8th, 7th and even 6th Kyu) who are under 10 years old can never win against these students.
If you go back 20 years the karate clubs were mainly older students, however nowadays more and more Karate clubs are now populated by children and more often than not these can be the younger children who fall into this age range. I therefore call on all organisers of competitions to separate the Peewee categories to give these younger children a fighting chance and more importantly a chance to compete without getting disillusioned by always being beaten by senior brown belts. Most organisers separate the 10-15 years by grades, so why not give the under 10 years the same opportunities.
And before you use the excuse that this category is not well attended, I have seen that it is, plus if you made a point of separating the grades, and this doesn't just go for the Peewee category, more lower grade students may wish to participate knowing that they would then stand a chance. Of course a few more bins that are strategically placed around the hall wouldn't go amiss also.
I take my students to quite a few competitions during the year and of course I have my favorites, Paul Campbell's competitions over in Birmingham are always well organised and fun to attend and have (probably thanks in part to the great facilities and huge hall of the sports center he uses) a relaxed atmosphere which my students seem to enjoy. I mentioned the British
Karate Championships in last months article so I will not need to go into to much detail about them (might give them big heads - you never know), I will say that they have always been well run and they seem to produce some very high standards in those competing.
The last one that I shall praise this month (last but not least) is the Lambeth Open Karate Tournament, this competition is run by Garth Waldropt and the Renshinkai Southern Academy down in London and has always been one of my favorites. It has a very competitive fast paced atmosphere and some very good well thought out categories, not just for the Kumite but also the Kata as well, I always enjoy going down for this one.
...
|
Choose your martialarm
|
|
|
Martialarm Testimonials
"This is the answer to the only problem I had in my martial arts training, 'How to effectively test a technique?' I can now experiment using full power which I could never do before with my normal training partner." L-Baxter"After training in the various martial arts systems for over 22 years and thinking I had seen it all I was extremely surprised to train with your martialarm product. It is truly excellent and proves once again simple ideas are the best." F-Barrasong
"I just started to train in Karate and also Wing Chun. I wanted to train as much as possible but there are only two classes per week. Since I bought the martialarm I now train everynight! This is great for a beginner who wants to train alot!" J. Evans
Looking for other martial arts training dummies?Purchase the Wooden dummy, Versaflex, B.O.B. training partner and boxing bags.
|