So today was interesting. I went to a karate tournament in Springfield Ill (my school - or dojo if you want to say the Japanese way - has two "sister" schools in the area. One is another school in St. Louis (but down in So. county) and another in Springfield Ill). Anyway. Some people went from my Dojo and so i went too. It was alright. First all the little kids had to go. They are cute, but sometimes I get a little annoyed by some of them. I got so bored though. There was a game room, but i didn't feel like spending all my money. So I watched some guys from my dojo play pool and some videogame stuff. Then I would wander back into this room where you could watch people compete. The girl my age that is my friend (Caitlin or Kayti) is a black belt and so she had to help judge or score etc.... So she was out on the floor almost the entire time. So I had no one to talk to. I could have talked to the boys but I dunno, I am shy, and most of the boys are like 13 or 14 and kinda annoying at times. The little kids took forever because there are a million of them and there was only enough room for two rings (so 2 competitions can be going at a time). So first they go through kata (a set series of moves all smashed together - it looks kinda like a dance. They are relatively short). The judging doesnt take long. they call up one kid, the kid does their kata. 4 (or 3 like in my case) judges (black belts) watch and give them a score usually as 6 as the low and 8 as the high (i think) - but they throw out the highest score. So anyway about 5 or 6 kids would do a kata, they would give out awards, 5 or 6 more would do kata etc etc etc. Then comes the long part. Then most of the kids break out the sparring gear (head-helmet thing, mouthguard, gloves, and usually leg pads) and they begin to spar. But, they use a bracket (kinda like the ones used for the NCAA tournaments or whatever). But it just takes forever!! Groups of kids fight (oh, its 2 at a time) Then the winners fight and the losers fight. And they do this over and over until they get to the end of the bracket. So its all complicated and kinda boring to watch if you only know 1 or 2 kids. So that took from 11:00 - 4:00!! I was about to die!!!! then all the black belts had to compete. That only lasted an hour and they aren't as boring because they actually look kinda cool. So then its finally my turn. Sorta. So they take all the kids 12-17. Seperate them by age, sex, and then by rank. They then mix those close in age or rank etc... For example, I was the only 17 year old. So they put a 15 year old and a 16 year old (later a 21 year old lady comes because there were no adult women to spar with her, but she did her kata with the adult men). Its kinda dumb because they don't really need to seperate the sexes becuase in practice I fight the guys all the time. They do because on the national lkarate evel they are starting to seperate sexes for everything. ANYWAY. So first the black belts had to finish sparring, then they start at the bottom of the 12-17 group and work their way up. We were 2nd to last (adults went before us). So the kata part went pretty fast because there were only 6 groups that had to compete. I got first in kata (which is pretty good - yay!! first gold medal, but then i have to mention that there were 3 of us. But hey, i blew them outta the water!! the other girls had a score of 15.8 and 15.9 and i had a 16.1) Then came the sparring. So after the kata they tell us all to get our gear and warm up. But see, I had to wait over a 1/2 an hour till it was our turn. So by them time i was supposed to sparr, i was tired and not warmed up anymore. So, I get out there and i am in the first match with a brown belt (the one before black - and she was 15). She beats the crap outta me. She had some amazing kicks that went up to my head - she hit me in the head almost every time - usually not very hard but you aren't supposed to touch at all). Once - i am ashamed to say- she made me cry. She kicked me just under the jaw and it kinda popped my jaw a little. that hurt but of course i cried. It didn't hurt soon after but i always cry when i get hit - no matter how hard i try not too. it sucks. So anyway, kicks to the head are 3 points each. She got 2 warnings (4 and you are disqualified) for the kicks. The final score was 12-6 (i lost). But hey- i got 6 points which is good for me, all of them were punches to the body - i like those. So then i get to rest for a match. Then i was up again - this time against a brown belt 21 year old. I was scared, but she was easier than the 15 year old! Anyway - she had some good kicks to the body (2 points) and she beat me, i dunno by how much. I got in a kick to the body and about 3 punches i think. So i had around 6 points again probably. I think she had like 8 or 10. Oh, and we sparr for 1 minute and 30 seconds. It may not seem like a lot, but you stop and start a lot so that they can reward points and give penalties etc.... because each time they see a good point or penalty they stop it. So you go for like 5-10 seconds at a time. When you are fighting - 1:30 can seem like FOREVER! So i lost that match and i didn't have to fight again. I got 4th in sparring then. I didn't have to fight the winner (yay). So yeah, then i changed and that was it. The whole thing was over. So then we went and got dinner (yeah mcd's) and drove home. Woo hoo. Fun (actually boring and tiring) day.
Oh let me explain something about the scoring/penalties for sparring. Ok, there are 4 areas where you can hit (Head, Body, Legs, Back). Punches to the head are 2 points, kicks to the head are 3 (as long as both don't touch - they can tap but not whack a person - if it is too hard they get a penalty). Punches to the body are 1 point. Kicks to the body are 2. Anything to the legs is a penalty unless it is a sweep (sweeps take a person down to the ground. Usually done by sweeping your leg across theirs (near the ankle) really quickly. It has to be followed by a punch while they are down or you get a penalty for recklessness - if the person on the ground scores while down - such as a kick or something they get points cause that is good). Kicks to the back are two and punches to the back are two. There are penalties for stepping out of bounds, kicking too hard, being reckless, not defending yourself (having your hands down etc), taunting the person or judges, starting before they say or not stopping when they say, etc etc....
So yeah, its complicated but a lot of the stuff is common sense anyway. I usually don't get penalties.

So that was probably boring but it is fun to say all of it and get it all outta my system and you wouldn't really understand without me explainin now would ya? ;)
So i am pretty sore and tired. I think i am going to relax on the couch - or maybe in this computer chair for a while. Cya'll later.
Katie