Need Advice

[Karate Mom]

My eight year old daughter will be in a competition in American Freestyle Kenpo--kata, kumite and weapons. She wants to present in a XMA gi. Her weapons are double broadswords. She is a yellow belt. What do you think?

Karate Mom

[marie curie]

Is your question what do we think about her wearing an XMA gi?

[bushido_man96]

Check the tournament rules on gis, and check with the instructor as well.

[Karate Mom]

Yes, I am wondering if the XMA gi for a little yellow belt will turn the judges off even if she's good.Her Grand Master really does not care. Eight year olds seem to want to be a bit flashy. She always has to wear her traditional gi when she does her Shorin Ryu. Does American Freestyle Kenpo translate into freestyle gi!? Also she can weild those aluminum double broadswords better than some adults I've seen. And she is pretty darn good with the sai.

[obiwansbane]

well if the instructor doesnt mind, and she really wants it, id say go for it. It'll make her happy along with her having a nice gi she can specifically use for tournaments.

The one thing to be careful about is gi colors have some sort of psychological effect, i know some people see this as false but i personally believe in it. There was a tournament i went to where a club wore pink gi's. People i had known for years to never get a single excessive contact warning were disqualified. This is why i think a white, black, or blue gi would work best.

(I wear a red one and yes people are slightly more aggressive when sparring against me as opposed to others, although it also has a slight intimidation factor)

Of course being 8 i dont think that they (people in her division) are old enough yet for all of these things such as gi colour to matter.

Good luck to your daughter let us know how she does

[DWx]

The one thing to be careful about is gi colors have some sort of psychological effect, i know some people see this as false but i personally believe in it. There was a tournament i went to where a club wore pink gi's. People i had known for years to never get a single excessive contact warning were disqualified. This is why i think a white, black, or blue gi would work best.

(I wear a red one and yes people are slightly more aggressive when sparring against me as opposed to others, although it also has a slight intimidation factor)

You could always buy her a soft green colour gi. Light greens are supposed to make you feel peaceful and calm so her opponent might not do much

[Karate Mom]

Sasha is a blonde haired blue-eyed freckeled cute little Russian girl. Green would look good on her but haven't seen one. She would not like a calm sparring partner--I can see her going full contact at 18, she loves it. She's tough. But she loves flash and bling too.

[baronbvp]

Is this her first tournament? If so, maybe you should see how that goes before being different from others. I'm not opposed to style points, though.

[Karate Mom]

Is this her first tournament? If so, maybe you should see how that goes before being different from others. I'm not opposed to style points, though.

Sasha has been in several tournaments. She qualified at the Feb Disneyland Martial Arts Festival for the Oct Disney World Martial Arts Festival- but those are in Classical Japanese-Okinawan so we know what she wears there. In the local tournaments she does American Freestyle Kenpo. She has always been fairly traditional.

My concern remains if I let her wear a XMA uniform will she lose points just because she will be "different"?

[lordtariel]

It's possible, especially if she's the only one with a flashy gi in a sea of traditional ones. My suggestion is to keep a plain one on hand just in case. If everyone else is wearing different gis, great. Otherwise you'll have a backup if you need it.