tourney time
I've got my first Taekwondo tournament tomorrow. I'm currently a yellow belt* and I am participating in all three events: forms, breaking, and sparring.
Forms are a formal sequence of moves performed on ones own (usually simultaneously with others, but each person is on their own, you're not interacting with others). Usually a particular form is associated with a particular belt rank. I'll be doing the Dan Gun form, which consists of 21 moves. It's fairly straightforward, including only strikes and blocks but no kicks. I've been training in this form for months now, so I'm fairly confident that if I keep my focus, I'll be fine.
Board breaking demonstrates that you can perform your moves with accuracy and power. As a yellow belt, I'll only be breaking one board. The score depends on many factors including difficulty, so I'm attempting one that is a bit above the norm for my belt break: a jumping front kick. Two people will hold a wooden board about 5 feet off the ground, angled down and away from me. I'll start with my right foot forward, spring off of it with my left foot up in the air, and then switch my feet in mid air, kicking the board with my right foot. The key is pulling my toes back and kicking with the ball of my foot or I will break my toes.
Sparring is where I'm weakest. I'll be matched up with other yellow belts, but it still likely won't be even footing...no pun intended. I really enjoy sparring, but the class I train at most often - at work over lunch - is mostly populated by students who do not enjoy sparring very much and are more interested in just the exercise and basic training. There are other schools, for example, where sparring is practiced every class. We have been training more in sparring over the last month or so in preparation for the tournament, and I have improved from where I was, so we'll see. I'm not pessimistic, I'm just not overly hopeful.
My family and possibly a few friends should be there, so I'll see if I can get one of them to snap some photos or even take some vids.
Wish me luck!
* The belt order is: White, Advanced White, Yellow, Advanced Yellow, Green, Advanced Green, Blue, Advanced Blue, Red, Advanced Red, Black...and then the different degrees of black belt begin.
Forms are a formal sequence of moves performed on ones own (usually simultaneously with others, but each person is on their own, you're not interacting with others). Usually a particular form is associated with a particular belt rank. I'll be doing the Dan Gun form, which consists of 21 moves. It's fairly straightforward, including only strikes and blocks but no kicks. I've been training in this form for months now, so I'm fairly confident that if I keep my focus, I'll be fine.
Board breaking demonstrates that you can perform your moves with accuracy and power. As a yellow belt, I'll only be breaking one board. The score depends on many factors including difficulty, so I'm attempting one that is a bit above the norm for my belt break: a jumping front kick. Two people will hold a wooden board about 5 feet off the ground, angled down and away from me. I'll start with my right foot forward, spring off of it with my left foot up in the air, and then switch my feet in mid air, kicking the board with my right foot. The key is pulling my toes back and kicking with the ball of my foot or I will break my toes.
Sparring is where I'm weakest. I'll be matched up with other yellow belts, but it still likely won't be even footing...no pun intended. I really enjoy sparring, but the class I train at most often - at work over lunch - is mostly populated by students who do not enjoy sparring very much and are more interested in just the exercise and basic training. There are other schools, for example, where sparring is practiced every class. We have been training more in sparring over the last month or so in preparation for the tournament, and I have improved from where I was, so we'll see. I'm not pessimistic, I'm just not overly hopeful.
My family and possibly a few friends should be there, so I'll see if I can get one of them to snap some photos or even take some vids.
Wish me luck!
* The belt order is: White, Advanced White, Yellow, Advanced Yellow, Green, Advanced Green, Blue, Advanced Blue, Red, Advanced Red, Black...and then the different degrees of black belt begin.