Tag Archives: competition

Competition Build-Up

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I’m sure training blogs/tweets/facebook updates all over the country have updated this week with something along the lines of ‘British Championships this weekend, I’m excited/nervous!’, and here’s my addition to the pile. The 2010 EMTF British Championships are indeed on this weekend, and yours truly will be heading up with the rest of his extended TSD family to compete and savour the atmosphere.

I remember before the Europeans back toward to start of the year, I was very nervous. Firstly about seeing so many other TSD practitioners (who were bound to be better than me, right brain?), but also about competing on a Continental level. Obviously it’s not like playing in the UEFA Champions League or something, but within our art it’s a big deal, so I was rightfully anxious. This time around however, I feel much calmer than before. Is it because I’m cocky? No. Is it because I don’t care? Far from it. I think my perception of what the event is is just changing, that’s all.

Having been away and trained with some of the Senior faces in the EMTF now a few times, each time we go back it really does feel like meeting up with old friends, even though it’s still firmly within the bounds of the respect and traditions inherent in Tang Soo Do. I’m looking forward to going away to see all the familiar faces, to spend a whole day in the presence of like-minded individuals, and to watch our less-experienced members get another taste of competition. The like-minded individuals part is one of the nicest aspects of the trip for me I think. When we train with our clubs we’re part of a small group, but when we step outside and into the nearest shop, classroom of office, we’re dropped back to Earth with the realisation that the rest of the world doesn’t train. But get into a competition hall and it’s a different story, every person there is either directly or indirectly a part of Tang Soo Do and it’s a great feeling to know you’re surrounded by people with the same passion as you. If you’re reading this as someone going away to compete, and haven’t noticed it before, take a moment to take it in when you get there and stand in line, it’s deeply satisfying.

As far as my own competing goes, I’m feeling fairly laid-back about it as I write. It’ll be a different story in a few days time though, I’ve no doubt. For me there’s no more heart-fluttering a moment at a competition than hearing your name called for a category. The sudden realisation gives me a massive adrenaline shot – game time! It’s always been the same though; basketball matches, volleyball games, hell, even a game of Street Fighter against someone good, they all get it coursing through my veins. But I’m under no illusion that my forms are the best, and I certainly don’t expect to take medals. If I manage to earn one, great! For me it’s about the experience now, the couple of days away as a whole. That said, I’ll be damned if I don’t go away and give as good an account of my school and my instructors as possible.

The only two events I’m aiming to win this weekend happen the evening after the competition: Most Chinese food eaten at the meal, and Most Awesome Dancing at the club after ;)

Neither Here Nor There

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Right about now I should be sat in a car on my way to the midlands with a bag full of equipment, starting to get nervous about taking part in the British Tang Soo Do championships. Instead I’m sat at a desk clock-watching and waiting for the weekend.

I knew from the start of the week that I wasn’t going to be able to go, thanks to a mix-up at work with annual leave, and in a way that’s almost a blessing in disguise. I didn’t break my finger until Monday night and at the time I didn’t know it was broken, but if I was still going at that point and found out that I wouldn’t be able to compete I’d have been absolutely gutted. As it stands I’m more annoyed than gutted. I’m envious that I’m not going up with the folks from our clubs, and I know envy isn’t an attractive quality in anyone, but it’s tough. I’ll be going along to training tonight to show some support for the few left down here in the normal class, but I won’t be able to do very much myself.

I spent my lunchtime up at the hospital in the fracture clinic. I had an appointment at 11:45 and when I got there I couldn’t believe how busy it was and how many people were waiting to be seen. In the end I waited just over an hour for my appointment, an appointment which took approximately ninety seconds. By that point it was more despair than anger at having to wait so long to be told almost nothing. According the specialist I saw it will take about a month for the bone to set properly, and if I catch it wrong before then I’m going to know all about it. He didn’t say I definitely couldn’t train, which is good news, but told me I should wait until I can stub that finger on a table without it being agony before I try anything much. I’ve tried it since. It’s still agony.

As I won’t be able to train at BJJ tomorrow, I’m already trying to come up with ways to occupy myself so I’m not left thinking that I should be somewhere else training or competing. Luckily dog agility has moved to Saturday mornings now that it’s too dark in the evenings, so that’s the morning taken care of. I intend to do a lot of cooking I think; I enjoy it, it keeps me occupied and I get to eat the results :) . We’re all getting together on Saturday night for a few drinks and some films to try to cheer up one of my good friends who’s had an exceptionally rough time of it lately.

Time to actually choose some music for the drive home. I grabbed a random one without looking from the pile of CDs in my car this morning, and the scandinavian girl singing at me was a real blast from the past and instantly took me back to earlier in the year. Spooky. Spooky and really distracting when driving!

Booked Up

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October is starting to look like it’s going to be a busy (and expensive) month. I’m booked up for the first couple of weekends already, and I know there are birthdays and suchlike in there too.

First up is a trip to the capital I’m really looking forward to, I tend to always have a great time if I head up to Londinium. That first weekend three friends and I are heading up to take in some Queensbury Rules, that is to say we’re going to watch some boxing! In an attempt to make boxing more popular again, in the face of some seriously stiff competition from MMA franchises such as UFC, a new format of boxing evenings has been introduced and is getting more popular all the time. We’re going to the next HeavyWeight Prizefighter tournament. It follows a straight knockout tournament style, starting with eight fighters and ending the evening with one victorious finalist. The fights are 3×3 minute rounds which should ensure a) the fighters are exhausted by the time they get to potentially their third fight of the night, and b) there’ll be plenty of action. The difference between this and previous tournaments is that it’s starting to attract some pretty big names to fight. We’ll be watching the likes of Danny Williams, Audley Harrison and Michael Sprott slugging it out, and Danny WIlliams has put his British title on the line! It was originally going to be held at Bexleyheath, but thanks to it selling out instantly and the organisers wanting to add another four thousand(!) seats, it’s been moved to the ExCel arena, a place I’m no stranger to.

The second weekend sees me heading to Kimbolton, somewhere in the middle of Peterborough, Cambridge and Northampton. I’m going up for the British Tang Soo Do championships as a bit of a last minute decision, but I’m really looking forward to it now. Originally I was going to skip it in favour of the Europeans the weekend after in Poland, but it looks like that isn’t going to happen now. It’ll be nice to meet up with the various Masters and hundreds of other students, and no doubt share a beer or two with them.

We’re having a really good spot of weather at the moment, almost like a consolation for the summer that never was. It’s actually really nice driving into work when it’s like this, the sun sits really low in the sky and it all feels really fresh. I was grinning and singing away to a bit of Angels & Airwaves on the way in today and it was glorious. This weekend should see a few more celebrations too, my friend’s new wife has her birthday, and another friend who’s just come back from Korea has belated 30th celebrations due too – whether she likes it or not.

Oh, and as if by some divine miracle, the lawn I sowed a couple of weeks ago is starting to sprout like crazy. It feels all fuzzy and soft and is already looking nice and green. I think I’m going to let it grow as it is for now and then in the Spring get a rotovator in for the day, turn the whole lawn over, get rid of the rocks and debris, and re-seed it. It should give a really nice thick, healthy lawn and I’ll be able to fill in the bald patches. If only it was so easy to do the same with my head.

Ruthless Efficiency

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Old mobile contract cancelled – check!

Good tempered rant at old ISP who’ve still been taking money from me since November despite not even being with them – check!

All I’ve got left to do today is to wash all three uniforms from Sunday’s competition, teaching and training which should by now be creating a whole new life form of their own, zipped up in my training bag in the hot boot of my car. I’m another trophy better off now, but given the circumstances I’m not going to harp on about it.

Maybe I’m finally going to start getting organised in my old age. I’m thirty-two in a mere fifteen days now, and with 10 days off from the 22nd, I’m looking forward to the break.

We Apologise For The Loss Of Transmission

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Ahem, oops. I seem to have left this dormant for a good while. I’ve got a really good reason though, you see there was this bigger boy and he…. ahhh who am I kidding, I’ve just been rubbish! After having a bit of a traffic spike though after a plug, I thought I owed it to the world (or both of my readers at least!) to start updating again. So, what’s been happening this past month?

I fought at the first tournament of the year a few weeks ago. It was a hard, hot day, but one which I’m pleased to say I walked away from with two trophies, a 2nd place in the Mens Heavyweight Point Stop and 3rd in the Mens Heavyweight Continuous. I took the soundest beating of my life in the continuous, with enough kicks to the head to leave me simple, but it was great fun and I’m looking forward to doing it again.

The competition team feat. yours truly

My new job is going well, but this past month has really pushed me. Basically everything that could have had a snag or problem, had one. I’ve muddled through though, and am much more confident heading into the new month when it all happens again. I finally feel like I actually work there now though, instead of being some kind of visitor or interloper. It’s taken its toll on my brain and sleep, and I’m looking forward to settling in properly.

I suppose the other big news was that of my birthday. Yes, on the 27th I hit the ripe old age of 31 1F. Yes, I’ve decided to start expressing my age in hexadecimal instead of decimal, that way, I’m still in my teens. It was an odd birthday in many ways, but a good one at the same time. I got some wonderful presents, some of which I know I’ll treasure for a very long time indeed. I remember being quite scared of hitting 30, but once you’re there it’s actually quite comfortable. I don’t have to worry again until 35 now, when I’m closer to being f.. f… no, I can’t say it. On the weekend before the big day we hosted the annual Eurovision party and sweepstake, which is really just an excuse to get everyone together and get a little ‘merry’, and on the Monday evening we all got together again for a bite to eat and to go to the cinema (for the first time in ages). I’m a massive Indiana Jones fan, right back from being a nipper, and I was keen to see what they’d done to the series with this new film, but I was really pleased with it. It was proper, over-the-top adventure nonsense and I loved it.

It’s time to crack on with things now. I’m running a half-marathon in October and really need to get my backside in gear with training for it, and with that in mind I’m heading to the gym with my training and running friends tonight to put in some miles and sweat. One of my presents was a completely-unexpected ipod touch, so that can come with me so I can’t hear myself gasping for air. The question is, what do I put on my playlist for it? Suggestions welcome!

update: I noticed today that Mozilla is attempting to set a new world record for the most downloads in a day when their Firefox 3 browser is officially released in June (the beta version is available to try now if you’re keen). I’ve used Firefox for a long time now, back from the Firebird and Phoenix days, so I’m keen to support it. Plus the firefox is actually another name for my al-time favourite animal, the Red Panda. Make it happen, and have a much nicer time browsing the web than with Internet Explorer ;) .

Download Day

We Came, We Saw…

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…and then we went home again :D

Yup, five intrepid chaps from In Sung Kwan Tang Soo Do braved the roads of South England and travelled up to London (well, it turned out to be Kent strictly speaking) to take part in the S Factor World Championships on this past weekend. In fact we only got back a few hours ago, and here’s how it went!

We set out at a reasonable 9 o’clock on Saturday morning and headed up, made good progress and  the sat-nav actually took almost straight to the hotel door (and no Mrs Sat-nav, we do NOT want to go on the A3880!). That evening was spent chilling out in the hotel bar, and then with a visit to a nearby Chinese restaurant, which for the record had the nicest satay chicken ever. Once we’d outstayed our welcome we headed next door into what turned out to be the quietest pub on the planet, called “The Rabbits”. After a few drinks a plan was spawned to head over the road to the Spar-type shop and get a few drinks to take back to the hotel, but oh noes! The shop had shut! The shop owners, seeing our despair and being the absolute stars they are opened the shop for us again and we were able to fill our bags with booty. Sadly the same taxi firm who got us a mini-bus TO the Chinese, didn’t realise we’d need something with room for the same five people to come back FROM it, so being the fit young (ahem) things we are, we braved the wilds of rural Kent and walked back. Once we got back we met up with a Wado-Ryu/kickboxing club from Lancashire & Yorkshire who were very friendly, and we shared a few final drinks with them before hitting the sack in preparation for the big day ahead.

Typically on Sunday morning, the Cold which had been threatening to materialise for the last couple of days had arrived with a vengeance, and so I found myself in the rather surreal situation of being sat in the bath at 7am with the door open and the TV angled so I could watch the last 20 laps of the Formula 1 from my bubbly refuge. We loaded up on “English” goodies for breakfast (that’s a polite way of saying we stuffed ourselves on bacon and eggs) and made our way to the hastily arranged school which was to play host to the event (the Crystal Palace sports centre which was the original venue was closed down thanks to asbestos). This is when we realised what turned out to be the only real downer for the event, and that was the size of the place! The mats were packed so tightly together there was barely 12 inches between them, and while the spectators had plenty of room to sit, the competitors had no provision and had to make do with stacking bags around the sides. This also meant there was basically zero space to warm-up and stretch (or stand for that matter!), so we had to grab opportunities on spare mats and outside on the playing fields. But because we weren’t given any kind of schedule, and therefore didn’t have the faintest idea when we’d be on, it meant we stretched about 4 or 5 times. Finally the shout went out – “Mens over 5’8″, please start warming up and report to the semi-contact mat” – game time!

Through some freak occurences I had won my event in January and therefor pre-qualified for the finals, as had two more of the five fighters we took in total. The two guys who had to fight in the pre-qualifiers did themselves proud, but ultimately lost, and before I knew it my name was called to step up to the mat. The guy I faced had pre-qualified too, and therefore I had no idea about him. I didn’t know the name, and had never seen him fight so just had to react as the fight went on. It seems my reacting was neither quick nor good enough, and I went down 5-0 (with some points I’m very irritated with myself about!), but as it turns out I went out to the person who went on to be crowned World Champion, which helps take the sting out of it a little ;) One of our other pre-qualifiers also went out at this stage, after fighting someone from our local circuit who’d travelled up (Hi Russell!). Our instructor salvaged some pride though, taking out the very good Korean Kickboxer who won the qualification rounds, and went into the three-way final where sadly he came third. Still, third in a world championship, no bad thing! All that was left was the long trek back down to Cornwall, but a couple of service stations, some brain teasers and some jokes made the trip go quite quickly. I got back in to see my pup at about 1:30 this morning and grabbed a few hours kip before work this morning. Back to Earth with a bump!

Regardless of how well we did or didn’t do, there were so many positives to take away from the weekend. We now know what it’s like to compete at a national/international level, and just how much more work we have to do. We met some really friendly clubs, and established some good links for the future. We saw the most professional and efficient refereeing we could have hoped for – they took no nonsense and it was great to see disqualifications for heavy contact. It was great to see at least four clubs from Cornwall making the trip and representing the county at that level. Mostly it was a great chance for us all to bond some more. Every time we go away, we come back stronger and more of a family. I suppose if you think about it, I travelled 700 miles and spent way too much money for 90 seconds of competition where I failed to score a point, but am I annoyed or fed-up? Not at all, I’m looking forward to the next event already!

Tang Soo!