Do you go (or take kids) to tournaments?

[Chitsu]

Hhmn. To each their own I guess.

[Toptomcat]

I think it has something to do with the fact that they permit, and somewhat specialize in, leg locks: they may be too dominant in competition with the added leverage provided by gi pants.

[Blade96]

i plan to compete all the time!

just did one tournament though so far. a kata competition.

[armanox]

I used to compete all the time. One year I did six tournaments. Last year I did two, and none thus far this year. Always have enjoyed it though, and I usually fare well in them. Hard to be a traditional stylist admist all the non-sense around here...=(

[still kicking]

There are only 2 local tournaments we compete in, plus 2 that are out of town and some distance away. I try to do the 2 local tournaments, but have gone to a few of the away ones as well. We only support tournaments that are traditional and well run, which tends to limit the options quite a bit. Which I must say I am glad of, because I definitly have mixed feelings about tournaments! Every time I go to one, the cynical side of me questions once again why I am putting myself through this, which after all comes down to 8-10 hours of boredom interspersed with a few minutes of extreme stress, but for some reason I keep doing them. On the plus side, I do enjoy supporting other students from my school, which adds a few more good minutes, but mostly, above all, it's because of how much it improves my training. I think that many people who compete will say this, but I feel that training for a tournament focuses me so that I make as much progress in a few months as I might make in a year otherwise. Plus, there is always the glory of collecting new hardware. Still, it is really stressful and especially on a nice sunny day in spring it's sometimes hard to justify. You get better at taking care of yourself at tournaments, listening to music, going outside for walks, whatever, but the trick is to not be gone when they call your division, which has happened to me, and sensei was not happy, you can be sure of that. Many people in my school don't compete at all, it is optional, except in the year or two before black belt testing. Then you are supposed to do most of them. We have another one coming up next weekend, so I hope it rains.