my first weapons comp

[Gstrowes]

i'm going to enter a comp in the weapon form section. it's my first comp and i was wondering if anyone has any advice? obviously i want to make a good showing of myself. i have a little skill with nunchukau, sai, and tonfa. i also have a set of kama ( i collect okinawan weapons as a hobby so i have quite a little armoury of my own so i don't need to borrow them to practice) anyway, it's in april so i have plenty of time to practice.

 

what does everyone suggest?

 

P.S.

 

currently i'm leaning toward sai.

[stl_karateka]

currently i'm leaning toward sai.

 

That would be the last one I would choose.

 

Its too easy for even the best too get a snag in the gi or something whack like that. I've seen it happen many of times. Also, unless you have some of the $80+ quality sais....I think Sheirdo makes some good ones straight from Okinawa I wouldn't do it. I have those $30-40 heavy common ones....horrible for competition.

 

**** My vote would be for bo --- but you dont have that listed so I'd say tonfa since you have experience with them. Unless you have near 100% catch / release from the nunchuck. I prefer chucks forms but its easy to spot a mistake if you miss a catch.

 

Everybody is doing the kamas! If you do these you need something really awesome!

 

Summary:

 

Tonfa

 

Nunchuck

 

Kama

 

Sai

 

Have fun!

[Pacificshore]

I too tend to lean towards the bo only because it is one of the easier one's to learn, especially being your first weapons competition. Then again if you are proficient with the sais, then go for it. I can only speak from my experience with learning the sais, when I did them in competition, it didn't turn out like I wanted it too. I started to feel the weight of the sais, and I was using a cheap pair which weren't balanced.

[Gstrowes]

my sai are quite well balanced, and i've had them for 10 years (i was studying ju-jitsu at the time and learned the basics of how to manipulate them).

 

as for the bo, there are three black belts in my club all studying with it for the comp. i wanted something different hence the options list. however thanks for your input.

 

now i know there are people on the site who have judged weapons competitions before. any tips on common mistakes/things to avoid doing? anything you can tell me would be a great help.

 

thanks.

[stl_karateka]

I've judge weapons,

 

however, the first thing I look at when judging is not the weapon --- its stances and posture....make sure that stays on point.

 

Then I will be looking at the focus, accuracy, speed and power.

 

If you go with sai...make sure you do a form with enough open/close movements to give the judges something to see

 

Good luck

[ninjanurse]

Use kamas. They are an extension of most empty handed techniques you know and it does not take long to learn to spin & slash, etc. Can be quite flashy and mixed with intense "kills" make quite a routine.

 

[Shorinryu Sensei]

I've been a weapons judge for around 20 years now, and the one best piece of advice I can give you is this. Make sure you really know how to use the weapon! Time after time..white belts to black belts..I've seen some of the most HORRENDOUS weapons technique you can imagine!

 

The biggest mistake I see from all belt levels is this. When you do a block with the weapon, make sure the "blade" of the weapon is running along the part of the arm that is actually going to come into contact with the attackers weapons (ie: katana). I, as a judge, will immediately give you a low score if you do an upward/high block and the blade of the sai, kama or tonfa is in FRONT of the forearm, and not along the top of the forearm where the attackers weapon is going to hit.

 

Also, learn the proper name of the weapon. Nunchauku are the most normally mispronounced weapon there is. If you come up to me at the beginning of your presentation and tell me your going to do a "Numchuck" kata...you are doomed to a low score from me immediately, no matter how good your technique is.

 

I could go on and on with this because I'm a picky "bugger" when it comes to this subject..but I'm a bit of a perfectionist, in that if you're going to compete, then you should know what you're doing.

 

Good luck and I hope this helps.

[Gstrowes]

thank you Shorinryu Sensei, that is exactly the sort of thing i was looking for.

[Shorinryu Sensei]

thank you Shorinryu Sensei, that is exactly the sort of thing i was looking for.

 

No problem, glad to help.

 

Of course tournaments differ from one to another, but personally, fancy, flashy and INEFFECTIVE technique does not score well with me. Good solid technique, along with form (stances, etc.) does. But I've been to tourneys that encourage flashy crap and want the judges to score it higher. I won't, and have backed out of judging specific events if that is the case.

 

I'd suggest just keeping the thought in your head while preparing and practicing for the tourney on what exactly the technique you are doing is in a real situation, and how would you use the weapon REALISTICALLY in a fight. Splits, back flips, cartwheels, etc don't impress me, unless you're in a gymnastics tournament. In a karate rournament..do karate!

 

Good luck..train hard..and let me know how you do.

[Rich_2k3]

I think nunchakus are really hard, but still really cool!