Tournaments: AAU, WKF, Open or what?

[HankinSalem]

I've been taking my students to open tournaments for years now and frankly I'm tired of having my guys lose at times due to judges from Kenpo or TKD who wouldn't know a good kata when they saw one.

I'm in the process of joining the AAU but would like to hear what other folks think about the AAU, USA-NKF(WKF) and other tournament venues.

I know that tournaments are essentially a crock, but still, I like to take my kids out some times and show them off.

We always win more than our share of medals and trophies at open tourneys but I'd like to see how my guys would do against only Japanese stylists.

 

[terryl965]

AAU is the fairest of them all and very well run. I have enjoyed them for years

 

[HankinSalem]

Doi you do AAU karate or Tae Kwon Do tournaments?

 

[searcher]

I have competed in and still compete in "open" tourneys, like the NBL and NASKA. As well as local tourneys. It took me a while for myself and my students to get the hang of what we had to do to win at any type of tourney, except knockdown. Knockdown is easy to know how to win, knock them out.

My suggestion is to find out why you or your students are not winning and fix it, don't run away. Anyways, winning is not the only part of going to a tourney. You want to test yourself and some of that is when you lose.

 

[terryl965]

Doi you do AAU karate or Tae Kwon Do tournaments?

We have done both, I'm a BB in both Okinawa Karate and TKD and my students do both as well. Like I said the AAU show no favortism or at least the tournaments that I have done which is reginal qualifiers and the Junior Olympic and Nationals.

 

[terryl965]

I have competed in and still compete in "open" tourneys, like the NBL and NASKA. As well as local tourneys. It took me a while for myself and my students to get the hang of what we had to do to win at any type of tourney, except knockdown. Knockdown is easy to know how to win, knock them out.

My suggestion is to find out why you or your students are not winning and fix it, don't run away. Anyways, winning is not the only part of going to a tourney. You want to test yourself and some of that is when you lose.

I have doen the some of NASKA and they are run well too. like searcher has said investigate what you are doing wrong and try to adjust.

 

[chinto01]

When I was competing the fairest organization being run at the time was the NBL. Since I am no longer competing I have not kept track with any of the organizations. I would guess however that even now you will still find the problems that have corrupted tournaments since the beginning.

In the spirit of bushido!

Rob

 

[Grenadier]

The AAU is still a decent organization, but it lost its luster to the USA-NKF a long time ago. It used to be that the AAU was pretty much the governing body, and that the reins were passed to the USA-NKF.

The AAU nationals didn't have very many people the last time I saw it, and the officiating, while mostly good, still had some judges and referees who weren't quite familiar with the rules.

The numbers were small, and it's just not the same as it was just 15 years ago. Many folks were winning their divisions just after one sparring match, and some were even given it outright, since they were the only competitors in their divisions, and the divisions couldn't be combined.

It's not the competitors' fault; they have to play the cards that were dealt to them.

 

[HankinSalem]

Your comments about AAU are interesting. I am planning to take some students down to Grants Pass Oregon for the District Championships in mid March. I'm also considering having asking some students if they want to compete in the USA-NKF tournament in Portland on Feb. 24th.

The thing I find fascinating is that there is only ONE school in the Portland-Salem Area affiliated with USA-NKF and none at present affiliated with AAU.

What I'm interested in is the fact that both Elisa Au and George Kotaka came out of the AAU program and ended up WKF world champions.

There was reportedly a LOT of corruption happening in USA-NKF, but my understanding is that there was a purging of the former regime and the new folks are working at making it squeaky clean.

My only experience with USA-NKF came about8 years ago when I attended a tournament with a friend who was attending another school as a brown belt. There were 4 contestants in brown belt sparring two each from two schools. The promoters of the tournament set up the matches so that the first match pitted people from the same school against each other guaranteeing that in the final match for First and Second place, there would be someone from each school, mandating that the lowest a school would get was a Silver medal.

It also meant that someone went home without having sparred with someone from another school, having paid a pricy entrance fee to fight a guy he spars with all the time.

Needless to say, I was not impressed. Hopefully this type of behavior will no longer be allowed.

 

[Grenadier]

There was reportedly a LOT of corruption happening in USA-NKF, but my understanding is that there was a purging of the former regime and the new folks are working at making it squeaky clean.

You're right, that Roger Jarrett has done a really good job of reshaping the USA-NKF. The federation isn't perfect, but it has come a long way ever since he took over the operations from Thierry not too long ago.

One of those differences, it seems, is that Jarrett is willing to reach out to everyone, and not keep the USA-NKF a closed society. If anything, he even extended an offer to the AAU to work together in a way that can help both organizations.

I was able to watch a good bit of footage from 2007's USA-NKF tournament in West Virginia, and it seemed to be smoothly run. Some complaints about some of the scorekeeping, but those were honest mistakes.

The Shitei division looked pretty darn good for all competitors in it, and I hope that this trend can continue not just for the Shitei, but also the Tokui division.

 

[TallAdam85]

I have competed in over 200 events , recently just had my own tournament with over 250 people who competed. Anyways , judges are not prefect if a judge calls 90% of the calls right they would still get an A but no one can call the right calls 100% of the time no matter how hard we try. Best bet keep training and try again.

 

[twendkata71]

Both the AAU karate program and the USANKF are good programs. Since the USANKF restructuring things have started to change for the better. Most of the USAKF people have went to the USANKF or do both.
As far as developing as a competitor, I think that one should experience Open,AAU, and USANKF competitions. The AAU and USANKF have cleaner technique. You do get a lot of slop in the open curcuits,but there also some very talented martial artist in the open curcuit.
The AAU and USANKF are the gateway to he world class competition, or truely international competition, whereas Open tournaments that have the title of World Championships are usually just people from the USA. The exception being the WAKO.I say try all three and make your own decision.
Another factor is cost. Tournament curcuit competition weither it be open or traditional can be very expensive.

Your comments about AAU are interesting. I am planning to take some students down to Grants Pass Oregon for the District Championships in mid March. I'm also considering having asking some students if they want to compete in the USA-NKF tournament in Portland on Feb. 24th.

The thing I find fascinating is that there is only ONE school in the Portland-Salem Area affiliated with USA-NKF and none at present affiliated with AAU.

What I'm interested in is the fact that both Elisa Au and George Kotaka came out of the AAU program and ended up WKF world champions.

There was reportedly a LOT of corruption happening in USA-NKF, but my understanding is that there was a purging of the former regime and the new folks are working at making it squeaky clean.

My only experience with USA-NKF came about8 years ago when I attended a tournament with a friend who was attending another school as a brown belt. There were 4 contestants in brown belt sparring two each from two schools. The promoters of the tournament set up the matches so that the first match pitted people from the same school against each other guaranteeing that in the final match for First and Second place, there would be someone from each school, mandating that the lowest a school would get was a Silver medal.

It also meant that someone went home without having sparred with someone from another school, having paid a pricy entrance fee to fight a guy he spars with all the time.

Needless to say, I was not impressed. Hopefully this type of behavior will no longer be allowed.