Another Rocky’s Tournament and Results We’re Used to

On Feb. 27, we attended another Rocky’s Tournament and a return to results we’ve grown accustomed to. The most interesting part of the event was a synchronized kata team made of three people competed together. That in itself is not extraordinary. What made it interesting was that, several months ago, Teri and I had set up a synchronized team of six people and, when T called Rocky to tell him of our plans, we were instructed that we needed to stick to pairs. We broke the team up into three sets of two, but we were heart broken.

At the tournament, we saw the group of three practicing. I could feel Teri bristling with the unfairness of it all. But, where she saw unfairness, I saw an opportunity. I did something I don’t like to do, I turned into Alpha Dog.

“OK, here’s the plan,” I said leaning into her and Scott (another member of our defunct synchronized team).

 “We’ll just keep our mouths shut and don’t say a thing. If they’re allowed to compete, we’ll get our group back together again.”

Teri turned an uneasy eye toward the threesome. “But if they have a group of three, they’ll probably win, because of its difficulty.”

I looked back, too. “It’s one tournament. We kicked it up a notch last time, now they’re reacting to us. We take one loss, we come back with a stronger team and a stronger kata.”

I grinned mischievously. “We’ll have precedent and they can’t hold us back. Think of the possibilities: 10-person teams, 20! Hell, we can do bunkai demonstrations like those team katas we saw on YouTube.”

She and Scott kept silent. I’m not sure if they ultimately agreed with me but, I think, they agreed that one tournament, either way, wouldn’t hurt.

In the end, Teri and I did place second in synchronized out of 11 teams. We didn’t lose to the threesome (who didn’t even place) but to a pair of greenbelts who did a very nice and tightly choreographed H-pattern.

Walking away, to grab our weapons for the next event, Teri said, “Did you see any flyers for the I next tournament?”

“No, were they out?”

“I didn’t see any. The next one will probably be held in April or May,” she did some quick math. “That gives us three months to get something together.”

* * *

In weapons kata, Teri placed second out of 5 with a nice kusaku sai. I didn’t place, but I’m pretty sure I got five out of five based on some rough math. I can’t figure out how many pounds of weight I’m lifting at CrossFit, but I can usually estimate the places of everyone in divisions of up to 12 people. I guess my math skills aren’t too bad; just inconsistent.

I’m still working on a new kata that’s above my rank level, so I’m not expecting to place. I’m giving myself a year to either get the kata down or regain my love of tokameni. I also misplaced an entire section of the kata and had to wing it on the second half. (Consider it an impromptu creative kata.)

* * *
In open handed kata, Teri got second of three with kusanku and I got, you guessed it, third of three with my sunsu. Once again, allow me to say, I have no problem getting last place. God knows, I’ve had plenty of experience. But one of the judges was so OBVIOUSLY watching one of his students in another ring, I was tempted to stop my kata and ask him if I should wait until his student was done.

Shaking hands with the judges after the match, one of the newer judges grinned at me and said, “Wow, you certainly surprised me.” I have no idea what to do with that comment. Did he mean he was surprised with my personally or our group as a whole? And why would expect something less than what we had done?

* * *
Finally, sparring. I got first of four, with a couple warnings for excessive contacts. (It was nice to be the aggressive one in the ring again.) Teri got second and was far more assertive than I’ve seen her in a long time.

I loved sparring this time because, with four people, everyone got to fight twice. No matter how you place, that totally makes the competition worth the entry fee.

My first match, I took 3-1. I don’t remember much of the match itself. I do remember that, prior to the match, when we were trying to group up by rank, my opponent said she didn’t know exactly what rank her red belt was but she knew it was higher than brown belt. And she threw me a pointed look.

Part of me said, “ok, in her style that may be true.” (In our style, we have three brown belt levels followed by black.) The other part of me said, “Oh, yah? Prove it.”

T took her match 3-2. By her own admission, she had underestimated her opponent, who was a new student attending her first tournament. Teri was expecting a less aggressive fight.

T and I were very close, 3-2. Her second point was earned when she did a loud kai, charged, and aimed a blow directly at my nose. She made solid contact and got the point. Knowing what would happen next, when the judge called “go,” I heard Teri yell “kai.” So, I stuck out my fist and waited for her to hit it. That point was mine, we were tied 2-2.

There is one thing I learned in point sparring. The only advice I feel, at this point in my career to give: If your opponent does something and it works, they will almost always try it again immediately. It’s human nature. Although, I anticipate that, at the black belt level, this would prove to be true less frequently.

Teri actually tried this move a third time. But, the last time, she applied  an angle, so her blow wasn’t straight on (easier to block) but she ended to my side (harder for me to hit her back). It was a strong move and if she had done it the second time instead of the third, she may have left with the bigger trophy. (Because I would have expected her to make the same exact move again.) We sparred a few more seconds and I got the last point. (I just wish I could remember what it was so I could brag about it here.)

* * *

So, in the end, we did about as well as we typically do at a local tournament. Although Teri, I think, may be suffering from some remaining confidence issues from our Chicago tournament. She didn’t capture all the big trophies, like she is accustomed to, but she did well in all her katas and in sparring. I did poorly in all my katas and did well with sparring.

The weird thing is, now that I’ve had a taste of doing well in kata competition, it’s a little hard to go back to where I started.