first tournament--any advice?

[taekwondomom]

I guess I have a lot of questions these days!

I'm thinking about entering my first tournament in two weeks. I am an orange belt. I think I'll enter all three areas: forms, breaking, and sparring. (I have gotten to really enjoy sparring, thanks to advice from ninjanurse, jasep, and others of you--plus lots of practice! Thanks!)

It will be a small tournament at my own school.

My reason for entering: I LOVE new experiences (I look forward to writing about it in my blog), and I think it will be fun.

Any advice for me? Anything you wish you'd known before you went in your first tournament?

[hammer]

I know that it's not a lot of advice, but the only things I can suggest are to just relax and have fun.

One other thing that I recently heard in a sparring class -- even when you lose, you win.

[EternalRage]

For forms, since every school does forms differently (slightly due to teaching idiosyncracies), aside from just knowing the sequence, you should work on the little things that the judges CAN expect from everyone.

1.) Always look before you move/turn.

2.) Breathe with every technique.

3.) Keep one body level throughout the whole form - don't bob up and down.

4.) Try to start/stop in the same place.

5.) Always be aware of where your hands and legs are - if during an intermediate position there is an ununsed hand - chamber it/do something with it, just don't flop it by your leg.

6.) kiap loudly.

7.) This may be a little more advanced - try to make a cadence or rhythm for your form. Too many times people get up there and either rush through it or robotically move at a single speed. In every form there are places where you move moderate and where you move fast and sometimes where you move slow (usually depends on what type of movement - neh gung or weh gung type)

8.) Keep your eyes focused forward, don't look down during a technique or look at your coach, etc.

9.) Stay relaxed and don't tense till the very end of each technique.

10.) If there are kicks, usually in a form you do them on either side, make sure both are at the same height and that there is good snap and extension.

That's all I can think of now, I'll post more later.

As for the sparring - what kind of TKD tournament is it? As in what are the rules? Because that is a major component of it, it will shape your game.

And what break are you doing?

[Slydermv]

1.) Always look before you move/turn.

2.) Breathe with every technique.

3.) Keep one body level throughout the whole form - don't bob up and down.

4.) Try to start/stop in the same place.

5.) Always be aware of where your hands and legs are - if during an intermediate position there is an ununsed hand - chamber it/do something with it, just don't flop it by your leg.

6.) kiap loudly.

7.) This may be a little more advanced - try to make a cadence or rhythm for your form. Too many times people get up there and either rush through it or robotically move at a single speed. In every form there are places where you move moderate and where you move fast and sometimes where you move slow (usually depends on what type of movement - neh gung or weh gung type)

8.) Keep your eyes focused forward, don't look down during a technique or look at your coach, etc.

9.) Stay relaxed and don't tense till the very end of each technique.

10.) If there are kicks, usually in a form you do them on either side, make sure both are at the same height and that there is good snap and extension.

Sweet forms tips. Also, know your form so well that you can do it in your sleep. You'll have less of a chance of having a blackout when you do it in front of judges.

Sparring... the biggest thing is not to get flustered and try to keep your cool. Use simple techniques that you know (many olympic matches are won by turning kicks)... rather then more advanced ones where you may leave yourself open.

As for breaking.... remember showmanship. Yell loud... and distroy that board. Breaking is more then just hitting the board with your technique. It your preparation before hand, the breaking motion, and the movements after. Show you have complete control over your body.

[taekwondomom]

What kinds of different rules might there be in a tournament? This is just ITF type Tae Kwon Do.

Are the rules just for sparring, or are there different rules for forms and breaking?

This has been great advice so far!

[cjburns77]

just relax and have fun... easier said then done when it is your first time.. But remember you will learn and get better everytime..

For forms try and forget about anyone watching you and focus on the form only...

for breaking remember kick past the target. and if you are worried about getting hurt remember the harder you hit the board then less likely it will hurt..

most important HAVE FUN and GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!

[JaseP]

As for forms,... Stances, stances, stances, and, oh yeah,... stances...

As far as overall, just go and have fun,...

Put forth your best effort and don't expect to win. If you do,... Great! If you don't, then you have learned where you need to improve.

[EternalRage]

Ok ITF sparring. (To answer your question, other TKD tournaments, like WTF, has Olympic sparring where you pretty much only score to hogu and helmet with kicks, no punching. Other tournaments may let you kick to the legs, sweeps, etc).

ITF sparring is heavily linear. Have to put the pressure on your opponent - from the ITF sparring I've seen at my university, they mostly rely on the offense for points. Offense jumping and spinning techniques may not work best in this type of point sparring (if I understand correctly these don't score more points do they?). Since it is fast and linear, keeping it simple would be best. Front kick, jab, cross. Sidekick, backkick, jab, hook. And so on. Doing 720s and kicks where you are 8 ft in the air will most likely just open you up for a good counter.

Since they will be charging down the line, on the defense, if you are moving backwards, do it with a kick (ie jumping backwards and short roundhouse, or jumping sidekick, or step-turning back kick). You can also sidestep (a little harder) and throw a technique. Blocking and reverse punching will be the easiest counter, but always remember to push on the offensive afterwards. Even if there is a clash, the judges will usually see the competitor who is aggressive and kiaping like everyone's deaf in the room.

From the ITF fighters I've fought they like to do several things. First thing is they like to chamber their leg, raise it, and just fire kicks without dropping their leg. From what I understand, you can kick their legs when they chamber them like that. Knock the crap out of it and follow through. Or (something I kept doing, kinda amusing actually) you can raise your own chamber, and climb over theirs, pushing their knee out of the way and firing your own rapid kicks.

Another thing they like to do is the flying backfist. this is actually also common in Karate tourneys as well. Keep enough distance so that you can see this coming, some guys are too fast for a defensive sidekick or a sidestep.

This is alot to remember and train, but its your first tournament, so go in there, do your best, and try and learn something. Sparring is not fighting - you have to remember this. It is a game with a little showmanship mixed in. Like any game, the rules form the strategies you have to adopt. No one is good at Monopoly the first time they play. You should form your arsenal (just a template because you will probably always have to adapt to the opponent) for point sparring around your strengths and also the rules, because you know these things for sure.

Treat it as a learning experience. See if anyone can tape you. Also make some friends.

[EternalRage]

For breaking, make sure you know which way the grain should be going for whichever technique you use. Also make sure your holders are holding correctly (ie whether the technique is jumping or standing makes a difference, whether the board must be at an angle or not). Make sure you get good extension past the board (as someone has already stated). Use good technique - just don't muscle your way through it. Get a good hip turn to get all of your body into it.

What I think is most important - you must focus. For a clean break, you must focus through the center of the board and snap. Too many people push the break instead of snapping through it. One second your leg is occupying the space of the center of the board and the next second it isn't.

[ranger1100ky]

I guess I have a lot of questions these days!

I'm thinking about entering my first tournament in two weeks. I am an orange belt. I think I'll enter all three areas: forms, breaking, and sparring. (I have gotten to really enjoy sparring, thanks to advice from ninjanurse, jasep, and others of you--plus lots of practice! Thanks!)

It will be a small tournament at my own school.

My reason for entering: I LOVE new experiences (I look forward to writing about it in my blog), and I think it will be fun.

Any advice for me? Anything you wish you'd known before you went in your first tournament?

The main purpose for tournaments, is two-fold...

1.) To allow you a chance to meet with other students and instructors from other schools, and to make new friends and 'learn from one another together'.

2.) To have FUN.

Everything else... the trophys, medals, etc...

That's window dressing.

Go to the tournament, be prepared and ready to make some new friends, and be ready to compete for the heck of it, don't worry one way or the other about who gets the trophy... and, for God's sake...

HAVE FUN!!!

Your's in Taekwondo,

Paul