Crazy Tournament Stories

[foreveryoung001]

The last tournament I judged, I saw a 14 or 15 year old girl break her two in her breaking routine, but then went on to spar. Her toe was swollen at least three times bigger than it should have been, and was a really nasty blackish/purple color, but she hung in there and took a third in her division. I didn't judge in her ring, but she really impressed a lot of people that afternoon.

[The Saint]

My ankle still isn't right but it was worth it.

[47MartialMan]

Share your remarkable stories here. Like someone landing a crazy technique or a brawl. anything

 

I was at a tournament when a fight broke out.

 

No, that's not a joke. I ws judgeing a match between two rival schools. The guy in 'red' punched 'blue' in the face twice during the match. Remember, in WTF we fight bare knuckled and punches to the head are illegal. Well, red got disqualified. After the match the girl friend of 'red' started shouting at 'blue'. He shouted back across the crowd and eventually threw something at her. Next thing I know the stands cleared, the security guards we in there, and it was a mess. It was like a hockey game, or little league baseball!

 

And thus one of the "cons" of tournament competition. You would think that the discipline and etiquette that are supposed to be instilled, would have prevented this. Tournaments can be a boorish spectacle.

[The Saint]

Sometimes it's not the competitors thou... parents can be quite abrassive if their kid is losing bad. Thank god I haven't saw this at any tournaments.

[jman]

Last year I went to the annual tournament of my karate organisation.

 

Y'ever have one of those days where you should just have stayed in bed? Well, that was one of those days for me.

 

The person who's car I was travelling in, got lost on the way to the venue, so instead of being calm and collected and having had plenty of time to warm up, I got there about a minute before I was due to compete in the Individual Kata. The other people who travelled in that car with me were supposed to be performing Team Kata with me...only to find that because we were late the Team Kata divisions had come and gone.

 

Anyway, I just had enough time to change into my gi and managed a few brief seconds of jumping up and down on the spot as a 'warm up' before my name was called. I managed the first round of the kata OK (Jion in case anyone is interested!) and got through to the second round, which boosted my confidence a bit. I had an 'easy' draw in the second round - I'd come up against this person in kata competition several times before and had always beaten her. However, it was not to be on that day. I started my kata (Enpi) really well, but somehow managed to miss out a chunk of it in the middle and ended up facing backwards at the end - no doubt with a bemused look on my face thinking "how did I get to face this way?"!

 

Anyway, no Team Kata for me and I was out of the Individual Kata, due to my brain having a "brain fart" at an inopportune moment. As an aside, I went off the area and into the practice room and went over Enpi again and again without a single mistake in it! Grrr!

 

Well, Individual Sparring was next, followed by Team Sparring. I was doing well in the first round of my Individual Sparring (winning 4-0!) when I went for a chest-height roundhouse kick. My opponent blocked...but with the point of her elbow. I dropped to the floor like a stone. My foot felt like it was on fire (no foot padding in this karate comp) and it swelled up immediately. I had to be helped out of the area, and was eventually taken to the hospital by a friend, where they found that I'd broken my toe.

 

So, due to injury I was out of the Individual Sparring, which meant I was out of the Team Sparring as well.

 

To cap off a bad tourney day, my instructor had his car broken into and a boot (trunk) full of new karate gear for the dojo was stolen from it.

 

Definately a day where I should have stayed in bed!!

I've seen parents run into the ring when their kids got a bad score in Kata. One boy fell and the judges deducted points for it. The mom got mad and charged into the ring yelling and screaming becuase he didn't get a higher score... messed up eh?

[brickman]

How much space is there here? It seems the higher level of competition the more serious the matches become. Thus....the more fights. I remember one in particular where I was fighting a guy for the second time (in team fighting)...I reversed punched him and the fight was stopped...because my sensei was the head ref I dropped my guard and turned around...my opponent grabbed my gi top and smashed my eye (he was about 6'5" and weighed around 270)...I am 6'0" 190. My sensei slapped me in the chest when I started after him and told me he said yame.....AND THEN he gave the guy no warning or anything. SO I gave the guy a concussion. It was funny watching him trying to walk. (After the fight, people from our dojo said you could hear the pop when he hit me even in the top of the stands.....it fractured my eye socket). I love it because he tried the same stuff at the Regionals also and got his butt whipped there as well.

[isshinryu5toforever]

What happened to respect and discipline in the martial arts? This is what happens when you turn it into a sport. There is little art left at some tournaments. I saw a guy protest a judge's call by sitting down in the middle of the ring and refusing to leave even though the decision eliminated him from the competition. He took up one of the three remaining rings, and delayed the competition. I have heard guys get upset because the crowd isn't cheering for their kid when they win. It is an annoyance, and something completely new to me in competition. I will admit that it has been a good 4 or 5 years since I competed last, before joining NYU's TKD team, but I didn't expect it to degenerate this much. Self-control is part of the martial arts is it not? You shouldn't get upset. Is that little plastic trophy really worth it? Even if you're in it for money, it's just money. Is it worth your dignity? sorry for ranting, I have just been annoyed by what I have seen and heard at the latest tournaments I have gone to.