Need some knowledge on fight results

[Dracco121]

Hi there, short introduction: I am the uncle of a kid that loves karate, and goes to frequent tournaments. I know nothing about the sport except for Bruce Lee and if you had black belt I'm in trouble , but heres were I need your guys expertise , I recently came back from a tournament and cant help but feel my nephew has been robbed - I dont understand how to score the matches and why he lost the match were can I get the video reviewed as I need some clarification on the judges results so we can rectify it in the kids inkata. Thanks

[Montana]

The best advice I can give you is to see if his instructor, or a senior student (preferably black belt) watched the match and ask them these questions. They should be able to give you an answer to your questions.

I've been a tournament judge for well over 20 years and one thing I've learned is that judges are human, and humans see things differently. What one judge will see as a point or good technique, another won't.

[Dracco121]

Montana thank you for your responce , I did consult hes Sence , but the chap was speachles didint get any answeres from him , hence ive come to seek advice here . I need some prose opinion on what they thought of the kata , I dont want to raise too much fuss about it just wanna be more informed for the next champs he attends .

[Adam_XKT]

If and when you review the video, the judges at this tournament you went to will probably not be too inclined to switch around who won what.

The best advice I've ever been given about tournaments goes to the effect that how you performed that form, that sparring match, that break, has no bearing on the next time you perform it. Your nephew fought as he did, and he can't take it back, and nobody else is going to take it back. "You're only the best on that day," say my instructors.

Every tournament and every judge sees something a little differently. For example, I don't score points often because as a karate stylist who practices sparring for legitimate self-defense, I want to score controlled points that would injure somebody outside the dojo. Others score anything that touches the opponent. For something that seems so general, everybody has a different take.

That out of the way, watching those tapes would be good for your nephew. If he lost, that should serve as a motivation to help him do better next time, I'd say. Help him find weak areas. For example, if his arms keep falling down, suggest he work on keeping his arms up and ready.

When I was at a tournament a few hours away, one of the kids didn't place first in his division. The dad came over to me and I asked his son did, and one of the first things he said was, "Bad judging," as he shook his head. I just kind of sat there and listened to him go on about the judges.

I like this guy and his son, but they didn't seem to feel responsible for not winning.

That got longer than expected, so here's a recap for the "too long no read" folks.

-The judges probably won't watch your tape. This is not the Olympics.

-Your nephew should watch that tape and identify some things to work on in the future, with your help or an instructor's help.

-Judges and tournaments vary. Some are fair, some aren't. It's a risk you take.

[bushido_man96]

The best thing for this situation is to get more involved in what the judges do look or at the tournaments. Get a copy of the rules, and read it thouroughly. Watch a lot of matches, and how the judges score what they see.

Without seeing a tape, or knowing the rules of the competition, it is going to be difficult for any of us here to give you anything other than general advise, or opinions on competition. But keep asking questions of the school, and find out what you can. These things can happen from time to time, unfortunately.

Welcome to the Forums.

[Dracco121]

Adam_XKT and bushido_man96 thank you for your advise , well keep working on the kids enkata , I dont want to change the judges outcome for the event , I just wanted someone who knows aboutt this to review the vid and give me there non biast opinion and hinters ,ill post the vid on my sight if any one has 5 mins please take a look and let me know what you think . Thank you . http://www.3dhellas.com/movies/karate1.wmv

please take a look and give me your opinions ty .

[ninjanurse]

Without knowing your style (or which one your nephew is in the video) I would have to say the while it appears to be a fairly even match the kid in the red belt has more detail and snap in his techniques plus he has a nice head snap when changing directions. The other kid is a little soft in some techniques and his technique is not as sharp-plus no head snap. Sometimes you have to look past the effort they put into it and see the subtleties of technique-you can look good without really understanding what you are doing and sometimes it shows. That being said-judges are individuals and as such have individual ideas of what a form should look like-that is why they have more than one and take a majority vote.

[Dracco121]

Ninjanurse and all the other very helpfull people in here thanks again my nephew is the blue belt , ill definetly give him the pointers on the head snap , and polishing up hes technique . Drac over and out keep well guys

[Montana]

Looking at the video twice to allow me to see each child do their kata I would say that your sons stances were stronger and from what I could see they both had very good technique for their ages and belt levels.

I agree that the other kids head was better at turning before he moved, which is something I look for when judging kata.

I don't like it when 2 or more participants all do their kata at the same time because you can't see everything and really give a fair judging when competitors are close in skill level, which I think these two were.

All judges look for different things. Power was good for both, speed and "snap" was good, and in general you should be proud of BOTH of these young martial artists.

[bushido_man96]

I never liked the two-at-a-time forms format for tourneys, either. Better to take the extra time and let each do the form by themselves.