Upcoming tourney

[cathal]

The nationals for our org are coming up over Thanksgiving (October 6-9), and I just received a copy of the tournament guidelines, forms etc. I've done my paperwork, paid my fees, and am preparing. I'm competing in Adult Brown belt categories for sparring & kata. The Kata I'm allowed to do are:

Heian/Pinan 1-5

Tekki 1-3

Bassai-Dai

Empi; and

Jion

If I progress to the finals, these kata are added:

Kanku-Dai

Hangetsu

Gankaku

Jitte; and

Ji'in

In the first round I am told which Kata to perform and in the second round & afterward I can select my own kata to perform. The bulk of the competitors stick to Bassai-Dai, Jion & Empi since they are core grading requirements. So I've decided to deviate from that track and go with concentrating on two kata which are not as common. Namely Hangsetu and Gankaku. I've been practicing with those two kata extensively recently so I feel I'll compete well with them.

As for the sparring it has classically been my strongest point and I've done well in the past. I'm not as concerned there but I am practicing a lot with my fellow students, three of which have competed at this level before (two of them are national champions themselves). My older brother's new girlfriend turns out to be a nidan from Okinawan Shorei-Ryu and she' apparently a North American champion from a few years ago in full-contact tournaments. So I'll be practicing with her a bit, we'll see where that takes me.

What do you think of my choice in kata?

[alsey]

hangetsu and gankaku are awesome kata. never seen them in competition (havn't been to many competitions, to be honest), but i've always thought they're very good-looking kata when done properly. tekki nidan is a nice one as well if you want to be a bit unconventional. but then in my limited experience of competitions, bassai and kanku always seem to win.

[parkerlineage]

Wow! That's a regemented tournament! All the ones I've been to, I could get up there and flail my hands around, and nobody would care. I would lose, but they wouldn't know it wasn't a Kenpo form. Is everybody the same style there?

[Zorbasan]

I think a good combination of kata to do would be one of the teki katas and basadai as my sempai has explained, they are opposites, teki is a quick "pretty" kata, and bassai dai is a strong "ugly" kata.

[Jiffy]

Our tourneys are somewhere between yours and that of ParkerLineage.

Good choice of Kata. The only thing I can see is that Hangetsu is not really a spectator kata as much as a deep and meaningful. But I'm sure the judges will know that.

[ps1]

Cathal,

I was competing for the national grand championship once. I was up against all kata winners in all Black Belt divisions for that day. I had won the soft style (kung fu) division and was up against the winner of weapons, traditional, and open divisions. I went third and had the highest scores thus far. So when I saw a gentleman come up to perform his Tonfa kata, I really didn't worry much. He then proceded to do the most crisp and correct tonfa form I have ever seen. Nothing fancy, nothing special (aside from it being near to flawless), just a good kata. He won.

My point is that Kwan Ku Dai and Bassai usually win because they are pretty fancy as far as traditional kata go. But if you feel your Hangetsu and Gankaku are good, do it. It will add variety and the judges will admire your courage and spirit to perform outside of the normal mold.

Good luck.

[cathal]

Wow! That's a regemented tournament! All the ones I've been to, I could get up there and flail my hands around, and nobody would care.

I would lose, but they wouldn't know it wasn't a Kenpo form. Is everybody the same style there?

Yes, all the participants are in the same Shotokan aystem as myself. We're affiliated with the JKA-WS/ISKF.

[cathal]

I think a good combination of kata to do would be one of the teki katas and basadai as my sempai has explained, they are opposites, teki is a quick "pretty" kata, and bassai dai is a strong "ugly" kata.

That's interesting, in our system Tekki is a quick power kata, and Bassai-Dai is a speed kata.

[bushido_man96]

The nationals for our org are coming up over Thanksgiving (October 6-9), and I just received a copy of the tournament guidelines, forms etc. I've done my paperwork, paid my fees, and am preparing. I'm competing in Adult Brown belt categories for sparring & kata. The Kata I'm allowed to do are:

Heian/Pinan 1-5

Tekki 1-3

Bassai-Dai

Empi; and

Jion

If I progress to the finals, these kata are added:

Kanku-Dai

Hangetsu

Gankaku

Jitte; and

Ji'in

In the first round I am told which Kata to perform and in the second round & afterward I can select my own kata to perform. The bulk of the competitors stick to Bassai-Dai, Jion & Empi since they are core grading requirements. So I've decided to deviate from that track and go with concentrating on two kata which are not as common. Namely Hangsetu and Gankaku. I've been practicing with those two kata extensively recently so I feel I'll compete well with them.

As for the sparring it has classically been my strongest point and I've done well in the past. I'm not as concerned there but I am practicing a lot with my fellow students, three of which have competed at this level before (two of them are national champions themselves). My older brother's new girlfriend turns out to be a nidan from Okinawan Shorei-Ryu and she' apparently a North American champion from a few years ago in full-contact tournaments. So I'll be practicing with her a bit, we'll see where that takes me.

What do you think of my choice in kata?

This is kind of cool. I have never seen a set-up like this before.

In the TKD tourneys, we have to do the form at our rank. Apparently the karate tourneys allow any form from the system? Kind of cool.

[cathal]

In a manner of speaking yes. The Kyu grades like myself are not given as much choice, but anyone with Shodan is permitted to use any kata in the system. We have 15 core kata, plus 5 others which are acceptable in certain conditions.