Holiday in Dixie Martial Arts Tournament Part 1

Last November I blogged about competing in the Deep South Martial Arts Championship. This afternoon I will be competing in the Holiday in Dixie Martial Arts Tournament. I will be competing in empty-hand kata and I will be grappling. Last fall I competed in empty-hand kata and weapons kata. I got 4th place in weapons and 2nd place in empty-hand. I want to do better than that today. I want to get 1st place in at least one event. I have competed in 7 tournaments and I have never won 1st place. These tournaments are my form of Sasuke and I want to achieve kanzenseiha.

This is what I feel like today.

Picture from Rambling Rican

The kata I will be performing today is called Sunsu. In Isshinryu that is the last empty-hand kata a student learns before promoting to black belt. I'm still a brown belt. It is unusual for a brown belt to perform this kata because most students promote to black belt before they have the chance to perform this kata in a tournament. I have only recently learned it, but I feel comfortable enough with it to perform it today. One of my instructors recommended that I do Sunsu because I have been practicing it a lot lately and because it is usually considered to be a black belt kata. A brown belt performing a black belt kata may impress the judges.

I will also be competing in grappling (submission wrestling) today. I've grappled in the dojo before, but this will be my first time to grapple in a tournament. I enjoy grappling. I'm strong and very flexible, which helps a lot in grappling.

I am nervous about competing today. I'm going to be performing a kata I've only recently learned and I'll be grappling for the first time. I will do my best, though. I want to win 1st place in at least one division. I haven't done it yet, but like my hero, Shingo Yamamoto, I won't give up. I'll keep trying. I will win.