A great Tournament

[tshadowchaser]

I took some time off from dealing with personal situation to go to a tournament in

Manchester, N.H., given by Mr. Todd Bedard. This was his first tournament, as director, and I must complement him and his staff on the way it was run. The tournament started on time, there where enough rings so the program moved along smoothly, and he even put a small break in between the forms, breaking and sparring events.

I was happily surprised that near the end of the forms judging he had a student come by each of the rings to ask if the judges would like any refreshments, drinks and snacks where offered and made available to all judges free. That in my estimate is an extremely great gesture on his part.

I must also commend the competitors for their sportsmanship and adherence to the rules. The competition was strong throughout the day but everyone was respectful .

If any of you are in the area next year when he hosts his next tournament I would recommend that you attend.

On a final note the grand champion in fighting was Mr. Andrew Johnson of

Johnson’s Champion Karate in Hillsboro, N.H. Mr. Johnson is an extremely good competitor with a strong arsenal of attacks.

 

[terryl965]

Thanks for the info. always looking for great tournaments sound like it was a wonderful time by all..

 

[tshadowchaser]

It was. It might of been small by some standards but it was well done .
A class act by everyone there.

 

[TigerWoman]

That sounded like a well run tournament by an experienced master. Was that an open?

I like it as well as parents and nervous competitors that a tournament starts on time and progresses promptly. Usually this is dependent on pre-registration and the number of judges--how many experienced black belts are present to work.

Our master reads the rules, what the judges look for in the forms and breaking and demonstrates the sparring rules. Plus, he asks all the parents to be respectful, not deride their kids, not call out during their sparring etc.

I have found most of the students are respectful. It is usually some of the teens who have too high expectations of themselves that get upset but I have never seen unsportsmanlike conduct.

At local "practice" tournies, I don't think instructors should be "coaching" their student through a sparring match though. It is very disconcerting to the other opponent and an unfair advantage if the other student's instructor is not there for them. In other words, I think the instructor should prepare the student before the match not coach during. Unless it is a state competition on the line, where signals are used or nationals.

As for the breaks, our judges at our tournament are also given free food and drink and someone comes to our table usually but not always. That would be nice for a drink, since it is difficult to get away during judging. But for food, we need a definite break. Unfortunately, our master has too many events right now including weapons, musical weapons, musical form, pushup contests, sword sparring contests. etc. So we have to get the forms and breaking done mostly before we can rotate time off for food. Plus the fact that all these events make for way too long a day when it starts at 11am and ends 5-6pm, then to have to tear everything down and ship it back to the school. TW

 

[tshadowchaser]

Yes it was an open tournament.

I only go to open tournaments.



I forgot to say that they stopped all activity on the floor between the breaking and the sparring and made an announcement about Grimfangs (C.L.Bedell) new cook book. It was a very nice gesture on their part to plug the book for him