This year we were lucky to have the 2014 National Championships in California. Sort of like being in our "own back yard." Fortunately it was only a 3 hour drive instead of a 3+ hour flight.
Being that it was the first Nationals my daughter and I participated in, we weren't totally sure what we were in store for. From tournaments past we have learned that this sport is highly disorganized. Although I will give props to the group from Stanford for making their tournament run a bit more efficiently. Every tournament is the same.. weigh in (for sparring) the night/day before you compete, show up the next morning and wait around for many many hours, then scramble while in holding to warm up before it's your turn. Nationals is held over an entire week so to make getting through all the events "easier" on everyone. I think in some instances it causes more stress.
The venue was the lovely San Jose Convention Center right in the heart of downtown San Jose. The city itself is pretty neat - they consider themselves the center of Silicon Valley, so lots of Tech based industries are nearby. It was really cool seeing all the different clubs from all over the county - some traveled from as far away as Hawaii and New York.
My daughter competed on the first day of the tournament (July 2). Her division, 6-7 green belt - Middle Weight had a report time of 8:30 am. I think by the time she got to her ring it was closer to 10 am. The last tournament we could tell her bravery had begun to fade a bit, and she was sparring much more cautiously. She's the type of kid who would rush in and just throw kick after kick - but also listen to her Master when he told her to hang back. I don't know who showed up at Nationals.. her whole first round was spent "stomping cockroaches" as our Master called it. That fire she's had before just couldn't get stoked this time. She ended up losing 2-1, so she was done. Single elimination. There were 5 girls in her group, and she was the second eliminated, so she ended up in 4th place with the second bronze. She told me she wants to go back to Nationals (maybe as a do over?), and we told her that she can compete next year, but we need to focus on the next tournament which will be at the end of August. Not to mention that the JKI (Jimmy Kim Invitational) is just around the corner again!
Once the pressure was off her, we were able to spend Thursday watching some of our fellow team mates compete. Poomse seemed particularly tough as far as judging was concerned. That made me a bit nervous since I had to compete the next day. This time around I actually had competition and I began to psych myself out. I kept scanning the athletes to see who might be in my competition.
Friday. Go time.
I had to report at 8:30, but by this time we had realized nothing was on time.. ever. I warmed up - worried about my knee holding up.. still haven't got that issue 100% resolved yet. I went to holding with two of my fellow Ultra team mates, and the nerves started getting the better of me. I saw the two ladies who I was to compete against, and saw they were much more in shape than me, and could kick much higher than me.. and they were probably closer to 30 than I am. Plus I was the last one to compete.. no pressure at all.
Thankfully one of our girls who is our "expert" on poomse came to give me some last minute advice. My nerves got the better of me. When I was called to enter the mat, I felt like I did everything I was supposed to.. bow to the judges, bow, bow, bow, bow (you get the drift). My biggest problem was I rushed through my poomse. It didn't feel like I was going that fast, but apparently I whizzed through it. That brought my score down. Plus it probably made some of my blocks less accurate, which would have also brought my score down. My knee still isn't 110% healed, and rushing through didn't help Oh, and did I mention, they don't like hot pink nail polish on your toes? I ended up with a 4.2 score. Not my best showing, to say the least. Third place for me. Now I have a score to settle. The Jimmy Kim Invitational will be the next tournament I compete in, and I and planning on KILLING IT there.
Nationals was a great experience for us. I see now it's a whole different level of competition that I wasn't prepared for. Next year it will be in Austin, TX, and I plan on being the National Champion.. it's possible that I will be a brown belt by then, so new poomse, new competition perhaps!
No comments:
Post a Comment