Need some martial arts research for a story I'm writing

[KenpoMaster805]

Of course theres children in the tournaments during the 80 90s up to now children do katas or sparring but in 2000s they added like self defense or weapons category and you can also do it with music and make self defense or weapons forms creative.

 

[Lotuswheels22]

Just find a tournament/style that interests you in terms of writing, train for a bit so you understand what that's like, and then participate in a similar tournament so you understand what that's like, and you'll develop realism from there. If for whatever reason you're not able to do that, find current tournaments, go to some of them, and write down your observations. Again, the type doesn't matter for realism, capturing what happens there, how it happens, and people's emotions in the place does.

I would do all this if places I knew were easy to join after covid, same for observing the tourneys, which have been on lockdown by my area. And I don't have the budget for it at the moment as many martial art schools are very expensive nowadays, so my best bet would be to do all the research and base my own set of rules and style on existing styles/tournaments and make this a fictional/hidden underground tournament that existed somewhere.

Sometimes the punch lines actually do write themselves

You're right. Which is why I'm a terrible writer.

 

[Lotuswheels22]

Of course theres children in the tournaments during the 80 90s up to now children do katas or sparring but in 2000s they added like self defense or weapons category and you can also do it with music and make self defense or weapons forms creative.

It takes place in the 90's to 2000, and I researched tournaments with kids or teens fighting in competitions at that time and all I could find are small unsanctioned matches, more like old footage of sparring. No big events like WTF or WKF.

 

[skribs]

Tournaments? Only a few thousand. Maybe more.

But I wonder if this is a good idea for part of your story. I mean, if you don't even know that tournaments exists, how are you ever going to write a remotely believable story?

I want to disagree, because a few thousand sounds incredibly low.

 

[skribs]

It takes place in the 90's to 2000, and I researched tournaments with kids or teens fighting in competitions at that time and all I could find are small unsanctioned matches, more like old footage of sparring. No big events like WTF or WKF.

Where in any sport is there a big event like that for kids? Did I miss the 10-12 Super Bowl? Even Karate Kid wasn't an international tournament. It wasn't even a state tournament.

 

[Balrog]

Were there any martial art tournaments that had children through late teens, compete in fighting competitions through the 1990s to 2000? Specifically open styles or anything similar to kumite matches, maybe even also including weapon demos and such. It’s for my story for a part that takes place, particularly through the 1990’s and up to 2000. It should be in the US but can also be based on world competitions. I can’t seem to find anything. Can anyone help? Or I can just make one up?

I started training in Taekwondo in 1966. Went to my first tournament in 1967. It was an open style and there were kids competing.

 

[Hanshi]

There were always kid's divisions in the tournaments I promoted. I even held one tournament for all divisions under 18 yoa.

 

[Steve]

I can write good. I'm just focused on getting the right information for this moment.

@Dirty Dog can you let know what you disagree with so I can correct it? Is it the type of tournament I would set up in the 90's?

"I can write good."

 

[sddoherty]

Were there any martial art tournaments that had children through late teens, compete in fighting competitions through the 1990s to 2000? Specifically open styles or anything similar to kumite matches, maybe even also including weapon demos and such. It’s for my story for a part that takes place, particularly through the 1990’s and up to 2000. It should be in the US but can also be based on world competitions. I can’t seem to find anything. Can anyone help? Or I can just make one up?

Yes, the Battle of Columbus (Ohio) has been doing competitions for 44 years.