Susan is a brown belt at my dojo; she and her daughter attended the same tournament I did, in Akron, Ohio on May 1. She signed up for 'continuous sparring', which was new for us. It's different from point sparring. Three rounds, 45 seconds long each, with 45 seconds in-between each round. Two rounds if both go to the same person.
Susan exhibited extreme courage, in my opinion!
First, there were no women in her category; so she had no one to spar. She was offered the opportunity to spar against the men and she accepted.
Second, the men were all advanced black belts. None of them were underbelts.
Third, one of her opponents had gotten into an actual fistfight with another competitor in one of the bouts - it took four big guys to pry them apart and one of them was ejected from the tournament, and the guy she ended up sparring second was one of them; he was very angry and shouting threats at everyone, she said. However, she still sparred him even though she was afraid of him, and he did settle down and act properly.
She got hurt in her first bout, but recovered and went on to win that bout, even though she lost the match. She did a really good job and was a trooper. Quite an inspiration!
So she did not win, but her matches were amazing. Thought I'd share the videos. See for yourself; she's awesome!
Susan exhibited extreme courage, in my opinion!
First, there were no women in her category; so she had no one to spar. She was offered the opportunity to spar against the men and she accepted.
Second, the men were all advanced black belts. None of them were underbelts.
Third, one of her opponents had gotten into an actual fistfight with another competitor in one of the bouts - it took four big guys to pry them apart and one of them was ejected from the tournament, and the guy she ended up sparring second was one of them; he was very angry and shouting threats at everyone, she said. However, she still sparred him even though she was afraid of him, and he did settle down and act properly.
She got hurt in her first bout, but recovered and went on to win that bout, even though she lost the match. She did a really good job and was a trooper. Quite an inspiration!
So she did not win, but her matches were amazing. Thought I'd share the videos. See for yourself; she's awesome!
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