25/Sep/11
With our annual tournament schedule for October 29, the question might arise. What good are tournaments anyway? There is over-emphasis on winning, angry parents (and competitors), bad sportsmanship, and the list continues. Well, I think the good things outweigh the bad. Certainly if you place too much emphasis on winning then the vast majority of competitors will be sorely disappointed. After all only one person can win the first-place trophy in any given division. But if you go in with the attitude of doing your best and learning something positive (even if it is to block your groin next time) then you will have accomplished a lot. I try to tell that to my students and to their parents. Prepare to do your best and then actually do it. That is no guarantee that you’ll win but it is a guarantee that you can be proud of your effort both in the ring and for all those hours of practice that led up to that two minutes.
But having said that, I am not a believer in rewarding everyone equally. You know, the little soccer tournaments where they don’t even keep score and everyone gets an equal sized trophy. Life has winners and losers and you need to be equipped to face that reality. The majority of the time hard work does pay off but sometimes, just sometimes, the other guy gets in a lucky punch or kick. You have to be prepared to accept that and to keep training and not give up. Incidentally, while we aren’t going to give everyone a trophy we ARE going to give tournament patches out to the first 101 entrants.
So when you enter our tournament this year (download a flyer off the home page if you haven’t already) go in with the attitude that it is going to be fun, it is going to be a learning experience, and perhaps, you’ll have a first place trophy or even two to put on your shelf at home.