tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-604374948527118297.post8278485577597963159..comments2024-03-11T02:57:11.930-07:00Comments on From Shotokan to Wado-Ryu - A Black Belt Adventure: Down but not outblackbeltsuzehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04230478490899005759noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-604374948527118297.post-58016027955554502182011-02-02T09:51:59.108-08:002011-02-02T09:51:59.108-08:00Well, alright! It takes a lot of courage to even g...Well, alright! It takes a lot of courage to even get into the ring, so hats off to you for doing your thing. Remember, even the world's best boxers, MMAs, kickboxers and karateka get hit!<br /><br />Just like you did, I always see things that are a little out of whack in tournament sparring - and I agree that some of it is sexist in nature - like a tourney last year where the female sparring winners in each division were not allowed to fight each other for the grand championship while the males were). Some of it may be happenstance - like the points you know you and your opponent scored but were not counted because not enough judges saw them. Perhaps having an uneven number of judges (3 or 5) is great for avoiding a tie, but it may not be so good if you happen to connect with a reverse punch but only two of the five judges catch it. Sometimes, even when a punch hits nothing but glove, the sound makes the judges on the other side who only HEARD it without seeing the actual technique go ahead and award the point anyway. It really sucks...<br /><br />And head contact should be head contact, IMHO. At the last tourney I went to (mixed styles), it was made clear at the BB meeting that NO HEAD CONTACT in the kyu divisions was to be allowed, yet time and time again I saw points awarded for light touches to the helmet. At the same BB meeting, they said that controlled/non-excessive head contact was allowed in the dan divisions, but no explanation of either term was offered, which made it too subjective. You can guess the mini chaos that resulted...<br /><br />Maybe it is a good thing, then, that international competitions have CERTIFIED judges. I'm sure there are still issues, but...<br /><br />Anyway, I'm high-fiving the 'puter screen for your success - and it was one because of what you learned/observed. And that you have your match on tape is a great thing. It's an amazing learning/training tool, which I'm sure you already know...<br /><br />Thanks for sharing, Suze :-)Feliciahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09017194727231120284noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-604374948527118297.post-56959142459809780052011-02-02T08:32:30.560-08:002011-02-02T08:32:30.560-08:00Bad luck Suze! We generally learn more from our fa...Bad luck Suze! We generally learn more from our failures than our successes so I'm sure you'll do better next time. We are told that to score you must not only make light contact but you must pull back the punch/kick cleanly as well, contact alone will not score.Sue Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16008609198511182782noreply@blogger.com