Do I or don't I?

[DWx]

Coming up next month is this tournament which'll probably be my biggest one to date (not to mention my first this year) and I've been told that to do the sparring I will have to have both a set of red pads and a set of blue. I was planning on buying a new set anyway, the only problem is my current set is black so I would need to buy both now to compete in this event.

So do I or don't I?

Buying two full sets will cost me around £200 which will mean I will have to dip into my University savings as my parents are not going to pay for 2 sets of gear. On the other hand I could just not bother with the sparring and just do forms but sparring is my main thing.

Any opinions would be helpful.

PS I have to decide by Thursday as that's when my form has to be sent in...

[bushido_man96]

Yikes, that kind of sucks. If sparring is your thing, then I would say get both sets. Maybe your parents could dish for one set, and you could dish for the second. That would make it a bit easier on you.

[TigerDude]

Buy used or borrow.

[danbong]

Is this an olympic style tournament, you should only need red and blue for the hogu. You usually don't wear the vinyl dipped foam hand and foot pads.

[DWx]

Is this an olympic style tournament, you should only need red and blue for the hogu. You usually don't wear the vinyl dipped foam hand and foot pads.

Not Olympic, the tourny is UKTA (a UK org) and will use ITF rules so I will have to have the dipped foam ones.

[DWx]

Yikes, that kind of sucks. If sparring is your thing, then I would say get both sets. Maybe your parents could dish for one set, and you could dish for the second. That would make it a bit easier on you.

I'm trying to sweet talk my grandma into letting me have a set as an early Christmas present. Struggling to explain the concept of sparring to her though. Probably wont be able to get my parents to pay as they are paying for my entry and have to drive me 150-ish miles to get there.

Buy used or borrow.

Problem with buying used is that because its this dipped foam stuff, used ones are likely to be torn/on the verge of tearing and are a waste of time for the amount of money. Borrowing might be an option if I can find someone to borrow off. Might ask around.

[bushido_man96]

You may be able to borrow at the tourney.

[lordtariel]

The only down side to borrowing would be if you had to compete at the same time as the person you are borrowing from. That being said, I always keep my older equipment and belts for loaners in the dojo during tournament time.

[bushido_man96]

The only down side to borrowing would be if you had to compete at the same time as the person you are borrowing from. That being said, I always keep my older equipment and belts for loaners in the dojo during tournament time.

This is true, but if the person you borrow from has two sets (one of each color), then there is the chance that you can wear the other color.

[A_Train]

I probably wouldn't buy it. I just don't have the money to justify needing 3 sets of sparring gear. Unless all the tournaments you attend require both red and blue, I would skip this one.