First comp

[Shotokan-kez]

Hey guys. Last month i entered my first comp and i was very dissapointed. There wasn't really enough ladies so for the kata the judges decided there wouldn't be an elimination so basically one shot one go. I decided to do Kanku_Dai which i had been working on for weeks prior to the comp. I scored 17.9 which was one point from 3rd place. The thing that bothered me is that if there had have been an elimination i would have got through on that score.

Then there was kumite and i got knocked out on my first fight by a lady with a much lower grade...i was gutted. I was winning the fight all the way through but then it was a draw, it was like she was scoring without me realising. Anyway the fight came to time and the judge said the first to score wins, she punched me in the hip and they gave her the point, i was gutted. They must have thought she got the body i know it was my hip.

Well i don't know if this experience has put me off comps, i can't decided weather to go in for one again or not. Just wanted to share.

Kez x

[ninjanurse]

Sorry to hear it was such a bummer! Scoring is very subjective due to the human element so these kinds of things always happen but sometimes it does go your way. Doesn't seem fair though...winning on opinion not skill is just as disconcerting-at least for me. Don't let it discourage you much...giving your best performance should be your goal!

[DWx]

Sounds like you got the short straw. Bias inevitable leads to unfair decision but you just have to accept that it was a poor decision and try to take something away from the experience

Don't let this put you off competing, sometimes you have evil referees that seem to single you out, other times the whole thing is great and you end up winning.

Just to cheer you up:

Bob's dad took him to his first tournament. Noticing that the organizers seemed a little shorthanded, he approached the officials table. "Good morning," he said to the director. "You seem to be a little shorthanded. Is there anything I can do to help?" "Do you know anything about sparring?," asked the director. "Sorry," Bob's dad said, "I don't know anything about sparring." "Great!" said the director. "We need another referee."

[Shotokan-kez]

Thats so strange cos they seemed to be doing that at the comp, just picking people out to ref, seemed unfair. Also it was an open karate championships so you could have had wado ryu refs judging a shotokan kata which i also considered to be a little unfair.

[bushido_man96]

Many of us that have competed have experienced this in some form or another. You can't let it tear you down too much. Use it to motivate your training, and then try to give it another go. It is another experience to learn from.

[Shotokan-kez]

yeah maybe i will, i need much more training first, especially in the kumite part