Posts Tagged ‘ttfuk’
Jenna, Coel and I attended our first ever Tang Soo Do tournament last Saturday.
In all honesty we had little idea of what to expect or even the format for the day. Whilst the actual event was a success the information provided leading up to it was a little sparse.
As a family we had modest success. I thought Jenna did really well in her grouping but unfortunately for her she came up against 11 girls that were 1 and 2 years older and had mostly been doing Tang Soo Do for a good while longer. Due to this she didn’t manage to achieve any positions.
In contrast Coel was smack bang in the middle of his age category and only lost out in the final of his sparring coming away with a very respectable 2nd place out of 10 boys. I personally think he was very unlucky not to win and watching the video of the fight only confirms my gut feeling on the day. He lost out by one point but there are extremely clear indications where he had scoring hits or kicks but wasn’t given points and other times where in live viewing it was debatable whom hit who first. On playback it’s clear that Coel got the hits in first however he didn’t once receive the benefit of the doubt. Still he was very happy with his placing and trophy.
For my part I really didn’t want to do the sparring – I’m not doing Tang Soo Do to learn how to defend myself or fight better but for the fitness and family benefits. That said, due to the way the belts work I was in the over 36 male category and there were 11 of us from all over the UK and Holland. As there were no other orange belts I ended up with a bye and my first fight was against Jon from the same dojang as myself. Jon is a far better fighter than I and definitely deserved the win – but again vagaries of judging left me frustrated that I wasn’t given the scores I should have got and was not given the benefit when I blocked kicks and ended up losing points.
In the forms competition I was stunned to be told I was joint 2nd with a chap I’d been getting to know who was down from Rugby for the day. Peter and I had performed our initial forms together and ended up in a showdown by having to do them again. Congrats to Peter who edged me out and I ended up with a respectable 3rd place.
The other event I’d entered was breaking. Breaking is done with polypropylene boards that have a pre-determined tensile strength and come in three strengths. Not surprisingly men are expected to break the toughest (black) boards. This competition is based on style, performance and doing what you say. You can opt to break up to four boards at two stations any way you pick. I was first up and advised by a black belt to not go for two boards. My response being: “I’m only going to be here once a year, might as well go for the full hog” was met with a shrug and a ‘I told you so‘ type reply.
Well I failed (no doubt the black belt probably feels justified), but I did see one set of boards fly and the second start to go … so because I’d opted for the two sets of two and failed on one my marks would have been quite low. The fact is, I now know what to expect and where to improve and I really enjoyed the aspect of trying as the only other time has been in my grading. How else will I know what I can or can’t do if I don’t try?
I measured the overall success of the day by the fact that on the half hour journey home the two children fell asleep and were out for the count!
I know Jenna and Coel enjoyed their day despite getting a foot stuck in folding chairs, a bleeding gum, constant nagging for food and a few tears by both. For myself I did too. I loved meeting fellow students of varying expertise from all over the UK and it was nice to see some of the most senior belts in the world of TSD including our Grandmaster.
Next year our federation hosts an International tournament and I’d like to think win or not we’ll be there and will enjoy the day for what it is.
Tang Soo.
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