I think it is time to say a big thank you to our Senseis for the great
teaching, and at the same time to everyone from the UCSC and JKASV dojos
for the great workout we are enjoying together. It is a pleasure to train
with all of you.

To everyone who has not been to these tournaments - I would like to
encourage you all to go and compete.

First, these tournaments are a very unique opportunity to look and compete
outside the circle of known faces within one's own dojo - I am always
very stiff nervous when I have to, e.g., show a kata before an unknown
audience (and screw up accordingly) and I think the only way to overcome
one's fears is facing them on a regular base. Also Kumite can hardly get
any closer to a real-life situation, because one does not know the
opponent and what he/she will do.

Second, one can do this in a safe and pleasant way at this series of
tournaments. Both the way of judging and the selection of competitors
create a fair and very friendly atmosphere. The best days I had this
year, owing to the friendliest and most polite and pleasant people
around, were the Hoitsugan seminars and the De Anza and South San
Francisco tournaments.

I do not remember any injuries during the whole tournament - let me put
it this way: as far as I am aware, the worst thing was that one woman got
a slight hit on her cheek, followed by the second most unfortunate event
of the day, which was that Sensei Jon Willson forgot his coffee mug
inside my car (it is well taken care of).

Most people I talked to stated they were there to learn, not to win. Many
of the advanced/black belt Kata and Kumite were spectacular, at least by
my standards.

The next tournament will be at West Valley College in October, as far as I
know.

Congratulations to all who competed, and thanks to the judges and of
course to Jason for CNN'ing everything. As always, he gave an
impressive demonstration of Gaijin-Nikon Sho, a secret kata that
symbolizes carrying, setting up and simultaneously operating five
professional cameras.

Osu! Kai


On Mon, 29 Aug 2005, Jon Keeling wrote:

> Just a quick note about today's tournament in South San Francisco.
>
> There were actually a fair # of competitors in the brown belt
> men's kata and kumite.
>
> I am happy to announce that Kai took first in kumite, Lance took
> first in kata and Ekapol got 3rd in kumite and second in kata.
>
> Great job by all.
>
> And to think that Lance hadn't been planning to compete in kata!
>
> Unfortunately, there were no team events. Apparently, they all
> heard that these 3 were going to have a team and everyone else
> backed out because they knew they didn't have a chance. At
> least that is what I'm telling people... ;-)
>
> Hope to see you all at the dojo soon.
>
> Remember that this week is our last Monday class.
> -Jon
>
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