16-year old shodan- tips for tournament?

Hey guys,
My name is Taylor, and I am a (male) 16-year old first-dan black belt in Shorin Ryu. I've trained under Shihan Bill Brassette in Colorado for about five years now, and have some experience in sparring, (More so recently after I earned my black), but never actually competed. I'm wondering about what tournaments are like now-adays, what I should think about entering, and any other tips for competetion. My Sensei, (Shihan Bill), was very successful in the NASKA tournaments back in the 90's, but hasn't competed since then. So I'm wondering how its changed too.

Please post any thoughts or tips here

hi there taylor...

im 15 and am a shodan and i have competed before..its most defently worth going and entering a tourny for experiance and you never no you might even come away with a medal. Before i went for my first comp i was nervous and scared that people would laugh at me if i messed up in my kata, but none of that happend most of the cover MA's has messed up aswell...but if your really nervouse and dont fancy competing then go and watch a comp or 2.

hope i could be of some help.

I'm not too nervous to be quite honest. I'm just wondering what I can do to improve. I'm used to performing in front of audiences, I was recently promoted to Sensei and am currently a student-instructor for kids classes, (Senior black belt is 16 yrs old at our dojo), and I regularly do demonstrations in front of the classes.

I'm just wondering about sparring, and what I can do to improve on it. Most of the sparring we do at our dojo is kumite, but since I'm a senior black I can spar with other black belts whenever I want. I've been staying after class and working with more experienced blacks and they've been given me tips. Our dojo hasn't participated in any tournies in a while, but I've talked to quite a few people who have in the past, and I should some tourny action soon.

Unfortunately all the tournaments are held in the eastern part of Colorado, which is a long drive from Grand Junction. It definately seems worth it though. I appreciate the thoughts Webby .

If anybody else has any helpful tips, or links to tournaments in Colorado, I'd really appreciate it

The main piece of advide I would give you for sparring, especially at your first tournament, is to fight YOUR game. It is very easy to see everybody fighting in a certain way and feel that you yourself have to do that. This is wrong, because you will perform best sparring your way. So don't get put off by how others do things and try to make them fight your fight.

Do you know what the rules will be for the tournament. That is also very important. Is it full contact, semi contact or no contact? Is it continuous, or point-stop? Where can you hit and can you use throws and sweeps? Whatever the rules are, you should try and get as much practice as possible under those sparring rules, which will give you an insight into how you can best use your style of sparring in that environment.

Good luck!

I appreciate the thoughts, Supremor. I am just wondering though, if somebody could please give me a link to any upcoming Karate tournaments in Colorado/Utah (I live in Grand Junction, part of western Colorado, USA). I found Http://www.coloradokaratepage.com to be somewhat helpful, but if there are any tournies in Salt Lake City then that may be an option. I just want to know what to expect in a Karate tournament. These thoughts should be helpful . Any other ideas or tips or links to upcoming tournaments and rules? Once I get the rules to the upcoming tournies, then you'll be able to give me more specific feedback

http://www.karatetournaments.com/

Hey thanks, unfortunately, there aren't any tournies in colorado according to that page . But there are some in Salt Lake City