# 2008 Nat'l All Martial Arts Tournament - w00t!



## JT_the_Ninja (May 3, 2008)

Just got back from the tournament, and good news! First place in breaking w00t! 

Video: http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=33541663

So here's my breakdown of the day:

7:45 - arrived at Trees Hall, U. of Pittsburgh, right across from the place where we usually hold tournaments. This year, though, that building is under renovation, so we had to move to a slightly smaller space. What saved it from being even more crowded than usual was that this year, only people who studied MDK-type styles, both TSD and TKD, were allowed. So fewer people, smaller space...about evened out in the end.

8:30 or so -  got my boards, all seven of them, and got myself seated next to one of the others from my dojang. I'd brought along a six pack of Dasani bottles and a box of Twinkies (which I'm finishing at the moment) for nourishment, until lunch.

9:00...roughly - opening ceremonies, opening speeches, horribly long waiting.

somewhere around 10:00 -  after the masters division of forms, it was black belt adults up...and that includes me, of course. So I did the best form I could (no video, sorry), but (a) I was second up, never good, and (b) there were two sam dans in my division, so yeah...jinte (read: jindo) vs. kong son deh, doesn't fare so well, especially when your feet hurt from sitting down so long. But I'm not complaining. I didn't place, but at least I know I wasn't the worst.

long hours later...around 2:00pm - break in competition for the "halftime" demonstration. I had been holding boards for the midget competitors for the last, oh, hour or so, so I was glad to get back to the bleachers. Also, my mother had arrived with Subway...an hour ago...so I was able to eat lunch. 
...>_<....maybe 4:30-ish? 5:00-ish? Finally, time for black belt men's breaking. I'd been prepping this whole past year for this moment. If you recall, last year I got second place with (a) downward elbow strike through three boards, (b) spinning jump round kick through one board, and (c) flying side kick over three people through two boards. The guy who did a flip kick last year was absent, so I felt a sigh of relief. But it wasn't easy. This year, I added a second board to my spinning jump round kick. I was lucky in two areas, though: (1) I'd been conditioning my left instep for the past year, and (2) I prayed right before I had to break. That second one is the major factor, I'm convinced. Anyway, the elbow strike was easy, after having done it last year, but they held the board a bit too low for the jump round kick (after I placed it high for them), so I missed the first time. After they raised it a bit, though, the second try was a smash hit, pun intended. Also, there weren't enough people handy for me to jump over anybody, so I just told them to imagine there were three people in front of the boards for my flying side kick. I never have trouble breaking that one, so I ended with a smash.

A couple things I forgot to do during the break: (1)  Knowing I couldn't jump over anyone, I got a bit flustered. (2) I bowed and asked for permission to break at least twice, in various orders... (3) I forgot, in several locations, where I'd planned to stop, go into hugul jase, and kihap, most notably at the end. Granted, I was thinking more about having finished the break, and landing on the ground, but it annoyed me.

Anyway, I got first place, and I thank God again that all my foot suffered were a few scrapes and a bit of bruising which doesn't hurt as much anymore. That is, this is what my foot looked like after going through two boards with the instep:
http://a902.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/119/l_cbaf1c2233970b3288e28e81654086d5.jpg


So yeah...great time, great fun, and a huge trophy! w00t!

For those interested, they're held every year on the first weekend in May, and next year we'll be back in the old location, with more room and better seating. 

Tang Soo!


----------



## OnlyAnEgg (May 3, 2008)

Congrats!

Sounds like it was a grand day for you 

Keep up the good work!


----------



## terryl965 (May 3, 2008)

Congrats and since you critiqe yourself, I will not.


----------



## MBuzzy (May 3, 2008)

Congratulations, awesome break!  Although I would give yourself more credit.  It takes a lot of self discipline to train that much and do a break like that.


----------



## Yossarian (May 4, 2008)

Congrats JT, nice breaks.


----------



## JT_the_Ninja (May 4, 2008)

Thanks, but I still credit God...if only for the fact that my foot stayed intact, and that I managed to get first place for missing one of my stations on the first try.

Oh, another interesting thing: at the same time, there was a kendo club or something having practice downstairs, near where the tournament people had set up a concessions stand (way too overpriced). Had some fun watching them for a bit (I knew it was kendo, not gumdo, by the fact that they were speaking Japanese). 

Tang Soo! I don't know who all might be able to attend next year, but it'd be great to see some of yinz there.


----------



## MBuzzy (May 4, 2008)

JT_the_Ninja said:


> Thanks, but I still credit God...if only for the fact that my foot stayed intact, and that I managed to get first place for missing one of my stations on the first try.


 
Good point!  I have a lot of respect for people who do things like this and I feel that it is what is inside you that allows you to do stuff like this - by whatever method it got there!

Were you able to see any of the weapons forms or demonstrations?  What kind of stuff did they do?  What were your impressions?


----------



## JT_the_Ninja (May 4, 2008)

I didn't compete in weapons (although i love practicing with them), but I did see a bit of the competition. It's mostly all bong hyung, since that's all the ITF, or at least C.S. Kim, teaches. There were some unorthodox forms in there, and a few nonstandard weapons - one of the e dans from my dojang, who came from a different federation, knows a nunchaku form (which he showed me at one point), so he competed with that. Don't know how any of them turned out, as I was helping hold boards at the time.


----------



## MBuzzy (May 4, 2008)

I'd love to see some video of the ITF bong hyung if you ever have any available.

What kinds of forms did you see being performed for the competition?


----------



## JT_the_Ninja (May 5, 2008)

Well it was mostly the bong hyung taught by the ITF: bong hyung cho dan, e dan, sam dan...I may have seen sa dan or o dan out of the corner of my eye, but I really wouldn't know how to recognize them at a glance. As to videos, I'm sure they're out there. 

In terms of regular hyung, everyone usually does the highest one they know. For one guy in my division, that meant sip soo, since he'd just recently been promoted to e dan and hadn't learned jinte (read: jindo) yet. But yeah...so most cho dans did sip soo, e dans jinte, sam dans kong sohn deh (or however it's spelled), sa dans some form I don't even know the name of...

The forms you really don't see, though, are keema hyung (naihanchi) or, surprisingly, lo hai. I mean, it's conceivable that someone might have done lo hai and I didn't see it, but I'm guessing that, since (from what I've seen around the dojang) it's so short, most sam dans do kong sohn deh instead, which is learned first, much longer, and still an awesome form.


----------

