My First Taekwon-do Tournament

[Taruia]

Well today was my first tournament, and I went in with a lot of anticipation. I love competing, but having never done a martial art that has patterns for anything under black belt, I was feeling very nervous about my pattern. I did ok, not as well as I would have liked, but I placed 3rd in my division. Because my division was small I was competing against girls who were up to 3 ranks higher then me.

Sparring was a different story. I am very comfortable in sparring, and I love it. I only got to fight once, but that was because I absolutely destroyed the girl I was fighting. If I had to guess the score was probably something like 35 - 10. I got in two really nice head kicks, and she refused to bring her hands up, so I punched her in the face like 15 times. ITF taekwon-do has "moderate sparring" so getting punched in the face 15 times isn't as bad as it sounds, but it's a point per time you are hit, so I was really racking up the score with that. There were only three girls in the sparring so I ended up with gold with only one fight, but it was a good fight.

My next tournament is in June, and I can't wait. It's our dojang's tournament, so it's super small, and I'll be competing against guys, but I love being able to show up the boys when I can.

[springacres]

Wow, congrats Taru!  *high fives*

[Goddesss]

Nice, congratz and great job!!!

[indigowulf]

Awsome I hope you get a guy who talks smack, so you can beat him up

[Silvanon]

Sounds like it was a lot of fun!   Congrats on your placings!

[SeaCrest]

Wow!

I do karate, and my strong point is definitely not sparring! But my kata is great...

Anywho, great job! Look forward to hearing about the next one!

@indigowulf - LOL, I just had to laugh about that! I have several friends who would agree XD

[Taruia]

In your Karate, is it 1 point sparring? I HATE 1-point sparring, we have running score sparring. Punches are worth 1 point, kicks to the stomach/chest/shoulders are 2 points, and kicks to the head are worth 3 points.

[SeaCrest]

In your Karate, is it 1 point sparring? I HATE 1-point sparring, we have running score sparring. Punches are worth 1 point, kicks to the stomach/chest/shoulders are 2 points, and kicks to the head are worth 3 points.

Well, it has a system of half-point and one point. Direct punches/kicks are worth one point, while a punch to the head that doesn't come close enough is worth half a point, etc. It's really up to the judge. Generally head-kicks get you the most.

Haha I'm glad we don't do running score sparring, or my friend would always win XD She has awesome head level kicks.

BTW, does Taekwon-do do wrestling? And do you use weapons (like not for fighting, but like kata?)?

[Taruia]

No, no wrestling, but I did do Judo for a while, and that's almost exclusively what happens. And we don't do weapons either, tang-su-do has weapons and similar style of fighting.

[SeaCrest]

Oh, okay. Yeah, judo is mostly wrestling-based. Tang-su-do? Hm...never heard of it XD To Google it is LOL

[Taruia]

I could have spelled it totally wrong...if I did...sorry!

[Solistia]

Oh wow, you got the gold? Amazing!!! *o* congratulations =D
I've never watched a martial arts tournament, so I don't know any of the rules or anything, but it sounds like you did a fantastic job! :3

Good luck in your next tournament!! >w<