The Day of the Tournament

Looks like the olympics in the Marra house

The Day of the much anticipated Tournament has finally arrived, I couldn’t sleep last because of excitement- Our first Kumite.

We got to Gordons Bay Primary early this morning, allowing us time to go over our sword demonstration a few times before the official proceedings began.

We started with a breakdown of how the day will go, then we had demonstrations from the senior black belts with combinations of punches, kicks and blocks. Followed by some very good kata’s and excellent weapon kata’s. All in all a superb demonstration, once they were done they became our judges for the day.

After an excellent opening, the day went on to unison kata’s – this was a difficult event as all the participants were great, but in the end there is a winner to be chosen.

Then came the weapons kata’s this was a non- judged event within the tournament- Griffin and myself took part in this with swords, I am sure everyone enjoyed our demonstration, from the catcalls and cheers we got when we were done.

Our next event was where I won my first Gold Medal, for individual senior kata’s but for under the brown belt section. The feeling of excitement with a combination of nerves and adrenaline leaves you with a euphoric feeling when you are declared the winner. I can see myself doing this again.

Then Griffin took part in his division, junior. He came second and was awarded a silver medal, so proud of my Champion Karate son.

Then he went on to do kumite, after a super tough final he came second- once again to claim a silver medal. Well done, pictures are in this post.

Then came my final, my nerves are racing, all the training I have done for the past months is culminating to a peak – my adrenaline is pumping, I want to win, time slows down and speeds up at once, I don’t know how to explain it – but I will do it anytime again. Through the fight I lost my balance and was knocked backwards – I rolled through it easily – afterwards I asked Gail, was that cool- she said it must have felt cool but it didn’t look so cool hahahha. Also it looked as if my opponent hit me so hard I rolled backwards 🙂

I got Gold in my division for kumite, so Two Golds for me and Two Silvers for Griffin.

Looks like the Olympics at the Marra’s residence 🙂

In the excitement afterwards I knocked my toe somewhere and I think I broke it. Hopefully it is only sprained. What a bittersweet day, I am looking forward to the next Tournament.

Keep training, I hope you enjoyed the post.
TKM

Griffin and me with our swords

The Tournament is Upon Us.

It feels like forever since I mentioned we are going to have a Tournament with the collective Dojo’s, well the time has finally come for it to become reality.

On Saturday the 22 of September at the Gordon’s Bay Primary School- starts at 9am. Entrance is free for spectators. It will be a great experience for all as we have a variety of events that should stimulate everyone’s preference.

If you want to come,please feel free to support us.

Within the Dojo training has really picked up with Kumite techniques and stamina building. Two rounds of Two minutes can really test you if you are not used to it. Griffin and myself will be competing in the Kumite events and we are going to do a Sword demonstration that he devised for us. It is going to be epic, just hope I don’t get knocked out in the first round- 🙂

Karate has really been great over this last two months, sparring brings another element to it that you don’t get in the Kata’s or predetermined actions. You start to get a feel for what your capabilities are, actual striking speed, your ability to block multiple strike with counter striking and multiple strikes as well as combinations- predictability is not a good thing in Kumite, your footwork needs to be done correctly to give you an advantage in the Zero zone( giving you the advantage of striking first while limiting your opponents striking ability and reach.) You start to feel what a punch can do to you, what your tolerance for taking a punch is and of course you start to learn the importance of a solid,strong stance- being light on your feet and being quick.
You always hear that you must train your speed,power and precision- these will make you good in Martial Arts.

Looking forward to writing a post after the Tournament with regard to my experience of it and of course how it went. Have a great day, keep training.

TKM