Martial Arts Open Tournament – No medals but a good experience!
Last Saturday I had the opportunity to attend a tournament in West Sacramento with a group of others representing our dojo. Well represented we were!
I only participated in one event, being kata. I was assigned to the same group as sensei Oliver and some other black belts from different martial arts disciplines. One other brown belt in our group was from our sister dojo (Bennati’s) so I wasn’t the only brown belt in a large group of black belts. When I realized sensei Oliver was in my group, I knew the likelihood I would place would be very low but this did not stop me from trying to do my best!
Nessa-san recorded my kata demonstration of Kusanku. I am appreciative of her capturing it as I now have some additional proof of things I need to continue to focus on improving, such as not dropping my kicks but snapping them back and my timing overall. But is that not a huge part of why we train in martial arts? That we ALWAYS no matter what belt, how many years we have trained or the number tournaments we have participated in have ample opportunity to hone our art – Kaizen no Michi (Japanese for continual and never ending improvement).
I had a good time, obtained some more experience and insights and best of all am proud to be a part of such a great group that represented Zen Martial Arts.