I'm on the youth competition tournament circuit this spring with my son, we are competing in at least eight. He is really getting into sparring and all the prep work that goes into training. He is only eight, but is getting a MA education and experience just by competing, seeing and making friends in all the different styles. The picture below is from 2/17/07 he took first place sparring and of course I am very proud of him!









The man in the picture is Sensei Hugo Armondo from Phila. PA, super nice guy that sponsored tournament.

Congrats to your son, Schanne. Tournaments can be a great way to have fun and meet other folks. And if you win, even better!

Hello Schanne:

Congradulations to your son !

<<I'm on the youth competition tournament circuit this spring with my son, we are competing in at least eight.

How does this work ~youth competition tournament~....? Eight different tournaments open or closed (ie your "umbrella" group exclusively)?



Jeff

Went on the internet and typed in "karate tournaments". Up came everything in NJ. Plus there is a MA supply store that I go to once (all the time ) in a while and they have flyers all over the wall with upcoming seminars and tournaments. My son has a great interest in competing so I told him that we would go to all the ones I found suitable for him. We have competed in three so far and have about six more until the summer. This whole competition thing is just for his expierence and self confidence. I don't want him to loose track of his normal MA training either, so far so good. "The youth competition" phrase is only a word used to describe his division, there isn't just a childrens circuit that I know of? Plus we drag all the rest of the kids from the school with me, I'm sort of like the soccerr mom....dad sort of, well you know what I mean.

http://www.karatetournaments.com/

I guess it also depends on the personality, but do tournaments really build long-term self confidence? I don't know, is why I ask.

Let you know in ten years

Congrats to your son, Schanne!

Man, that trophy is almost as big as he is.

Mike

Funny, the grand prize trophies (4 catagories) were 7' tall!! The size of them anymore is ridiculous, how do you fit one in your car?

Ed, I kept thinking about your post and personally yes I think it builds much more than confidence when you compete. Training year after year with the same handfull of guys/gals is great but you have a tendency to "hold back" when sparring with them, nothing wrong with showing respect either. But at tournaments it seems competitiors tend to let go a little further to the point that you have to defend yourself or your going to get hurt. So basically it's the "closest thing" to a real confrontation and the ability to really use your techniques and skill in somewhat of a controlled enviorment. If your doing that twice a month and feeling good about yourself, yes it's a great way to help a persons self confidense. I've been in the business a long time and have seen the normal student who does the average training without competing and also the opposite and I'm going to tell you that the people that compete are a far superior fighters vs. the average dojo trainee. Does this make them a better martial artist, absolutely not but our topic is about competition sparring and confidence. You could put a spin on this too and for the people that "never spar or compete" eeek , you need to ask yourself... how will I react in a situation when confronted by different techniques.....or worst case, in a real street situation??!!