First Tournament

I'm sore all over....well, sore in one foot and a little in the nose really. I entered my first karate tournament in the weekend, and (unsurprisingly) lost. Highlights included:

• Having my nose broken (just the cartilage, not the bone) by the New Zealand Karate team captain.
• Knocking down an opponent so hard when he 'came round' his first words were "what happened?" (he was only out for about two seconds - so I'm not so much of a bully as all that!)
• Losing a fight due to penalties
• Having two fights stopped early due to excessive bleeding (on my part - and these were fights I was definitely losing anyway)

I scored only a few 'real' points but I was pretty happy all up for a first attempt.

The exercise really showed up a few things for me too.

Key Learnings:

1. It's really really hard to score with the legs.
2. You need to be fast.
3. It's all about gyaku tzsuke.
4. No, faster than that.
5. Club drills need to be faster/harder/meaner.
6. Much faster.
7. I'm not made of glass.
8. Sideline parents are far scarier than the competitors.
9. Stay lower - if you have to go high, move up, don't start high.

Generally a great experience, moderately painful, not great for the ego, but it should be a must for all club regulars.