...and the last one wasn't kukkiwon/WTF, so it was a new experience. Well, sort of; it isn't like we haven't been doing WTF sparring in class for the past two+ years.
At forty one, I was one of the oldest competitors and the oldest of the men by fifteen years. It was small: our two schools, and the first "Korean Martial Arts Unity Taekwondo Tournament."
Lots of fun was had! The conduct of all of the participants was quite good and overall, it went very smoothly. GM Kim's wife made a very nice lunch of Korean BBQ, Kimchi and rice, and the general atmosphere was, while competative, also supportive and respectful.
My son placed second in forms, I placed third in breaking and sparring. I never got to spar the second place gent; just the way it wound up, but I wish that I had: he is quite good and I would really have enjoyed it. I did spar the gent who took first and we had a very close match; 7-6. I sparred another gent for third and likewise, it was a close match, but I won that one 6-5.
But the trophies and placings were less important to me than simply getting up and showing well. I had created my own form and had selected to do breaking and I simply wanted to look decent and break without any retries.
I placed fouth in forms, which surprised me, as I thought that some of the others were better than I, but I wasn't going to argue. I managed to do the whole thing without goofing it up in front of a bunch of people.
As for breaking, I was very pleased: no retries!! My break was a spear hand through one board, a knife hand through four boards and a reverse knife hand (striking with the thumb side) with the other. I should have used more boards, as I went through them way easier than I had expected to. Then I did my bottle break; a knife hand to the bottle cap, blowing out the bottom of the bottle. Not as flashy as the other breaks; the winner was a young lady who ran up a mountain of people (of which I was one of) to break a board with a spinning roundhouse kick, and then land from about ten feet up. Very impressive!!
My shining moment, however was neither forms nor breaking nor sparring, but oddly enough, singing. Master Kim wanted someone to sing the National Anthem, and I wound up with the honors. Finally, after all these years, my choir practice and taekwondo practice intersected.
Daniel
At forty one, I was one of the oldest competitors and the oldest of the men by fifteen years. It was small: our two schools, and the first "Korean Martial Arts Unity Taekwondo Tournament."
Lots of fun was had! The conduct of all of the participants was quite good and overall, it went very smoothly. GM Kim's wife made a very nice lunch of Korean BBQ, Kimchi and rice, and the general atmosphere was, while competative, also supportive and respectful.
My son placed second in forms, I placed third in breaking and sparring. I never got to spar the second place gent; just the way it wound up, but I wish that I had: he is quite good and I would really have enjoyed it. I did spar the gent who took first and we had a very close match; 7-6. I sparred another gent for third and likewise, it was a close match, but I won that one 6-5.
But the trophies and placings were less important to me than simply getting up and showing well. I had created my own form and had selected to do breaking and I simply wanted to look decent and break without any retries.
I placed fouth in forms, which surprised me, as I thought that some of the others were better than I, but I wasn't going to argue. I managed to do the whole thing without goofing it up in front of a bunch of people.
As for breaking, I was very pleased: no retries!! My break was a spear hand through one board, a knife hand through four boards and a reverse knife hand (striking with the thumb side) with the other. I should have used more boards, as I went through them way easier than I had expected to. Then I did my bottle break; a knife hand to the bottle cap, blowing out the bottom of the bottle. Not as flashy as the other breaks; the winner was a young lady who ran up a mountain of people (of which I was one of) to break a board with a spinning roundhouse kick, and then land from about ten feet up. Very impressive!!
My shining moment, however was neither forms nor breaking nor sparring, but oddly enough, singing. Master Kim wanted someone to sing the National Anthem, and I wound up with the honors. Finally, after all these years, my choir practice and taekwondo practice intersected.
Daniel
