Another tournament of egos...

Recently I attended a national level tournament. It was ran fairly well and the competition was tough but what has prompted me to write this blog was what had occured during the black belt meeting prior to the second day of the event.

Part 1 - Who are you and what did you say?

At this event there were a whole bunch of masters not wearing a uniform. They were getting upset because people did not "bow to them" or talk them in the manner in which they were accustomed to inside their own "dojo world". One of them even went so far as to make a bold statement commanding everyone respect them but none of us even knew who the heck this person was...never seen them before and what was worse they ranted for 10 minutes about how important they were. This entire situation was just plain stupid.

Part 2 - Tie your belt right!

During the black belt meeting several of the old timers from the USKK that were present started ranting on about how many people there did not have their belt tied appropiately. Upon further discussion they were yelling about kids more than the adults. As I look around there were two others there, both masters, complaining about this with them and neither one of them even had their belt tied properly according to tradition! Lead by example so you don't look the fool when you bring it up!

Part 3 - I am the God of this event!

It soon became clear that there were some favorites at this event since it was being hosted in their home state. It was really apparent in Kata where a very good traditional master ran a flawless Naihanchi kata...it was perfect...and he was blantantly robbed because three of the people on the board were from the other master's dojo. I watched this board and they were looking around while the good guy competed instead of watching his kata. When it was over I asked the lead official, who gave the good Niahanchi guy the lowest score, why he did it. He said that the competitor lost balance two times and messed up the form. I video taped the kata competition and played it back on my computer at least four times and that competitor never lost balance and never messed up the kata...not once. I brought this up later at the tournament and that official got mean with me demanding I stop questioning his motives! He was acting very god like so I simply smiled, asked if he would be doing Kumite and when he asked why I said I couldn't wait to see how good he was! He quickly departed and would no longer talk to me the rest of the day (BTW he did not fight after he told everyone he was going to!).

Part 4 - My school is the best! You SUCK!

I literally heard instructors bad mouthing other schools at the event all day long. They would complain about getting ripped off over and over again. I really felt sorry for the arbitrator that day as you could see he just wanted to go old fashioned kumite on these "modern" instructors who had no clue what competition was about. During the event one so called 4th dan Master, who referred to himself as "grand master" LOL...began throwing a fit in a ring I was judging at. I was not the center official but I listened to him complain at the gentleman who was (a 45 year 8th dan veteran I have known my entire Karate life). This complainer was asked to leave the ring twice and finally I stepped in and ask to speak to him outside the ring. He followed me over and I said stay here, turned around and we went back to work. Man was he irrate and he started talking smack behind my back...but it was all funny to listen to him whine like a child. There was nothing wrong in the ring he just couldn't handle it that his students weren't as good as he believed them to be...that was the only real problem.

Part 5 - The end came suddenly...

By the end of the event it was clear there were some hot heads in the black belt divsions. Fortunately for me the other five in my division were guys I had fought many times over the years and we were all friends for the most part. After winning my division I had to fight for Grand Champion and the real fun began. The hot headed guy from earlier never fought but was a corner judge. I had to fight the heavy weight winner first and that was a fun fight! He hit hard but was really technical which was fun. During our match the hot headed guy never called a single point for me at all and everytime a point call was made he always gave it to the other guy...even when my opponent never threw a technique! Didn't matter though as I won 5 to 2. The center official removed the hot head after this fight as well and he complained all the way to the exit! Next came the lightweight winner who had the buy. He was a nice guy but not very good at kumite. I beat him 5 to 0 but he was fun to kumite with and very nice. I got to watch the middle weight winner fight the senior winner and it became the clear the middleweight guy was there to win. He was throwing everything hard and with attitude. I felt so honored that he even stared me down after hit some "old guy" with a side kick as if to intimidate me. Well he won and then it was my turn. Right off the bat he tried to take my head off and I eluded his attack and ran out the ring with a smile on my face. I knew the madder he became the easier it would be to beat him. They said to begin again and he ate my side kick nice and solid in his ribs. He backed down after that and the fight ended 5 to 0. Afterward they presented my the nice little GC trophy and I handed it to Senior in our division with a bow and a hand shake. No one even knew why I did it...it was called respect (this senior had been in the martial arts ever since I was a young kid)...

As I was leaving the event I heard a few snide remarks about me and two of my students who also won grand champions in their divisions that day. It was just amazing to me the ego, the demanding of respect, the ridiculing of other schools and what not...most of which came from people to lazy to even wear an uniform and belt at the tournament! Regardless it was an interesting experience but to be honest...we will never attend that event again...one to the next one!