How should I Prep for my upcoming tourney?

Yes, my point was not to be a "jerk". Like that guy, DeSilva beat recently.

I know a lot of people who are in the Security world and that doesn't mean standing around at banks or stores. They are some of the nicest people you will meet, but they wouldn't have any problem doing whatever when called on to do so as part of that duty. The things they do might be "nice" remotely.

Your sport requires that you hit people. You're not purposely trying to break their neck or their leg but don't shy away from knocking them on their butt. If the rules state to not hit full force, well them's the rules.

Natalie Portman. Could be Anna Paquin or Kiera Knightley as well. So long as they are probably vegetarian, it'll work for me. Not really my choice but sort of some karmic lean that I figure is based on extremes.

Joshua Naterman said:

I think Blair's just trying to talk about basic manliness lol You don't owe anyone apologies for any of your opinions, no matter how outlandish they may be. They're yours, and they're opinions, and people don't have to like them. Doesn't mean you need to, or that you should, shove them down anyone's throat. If you don't like someone, nothing wrong with admitting that. You shouldn't feel bad about not liking someone, that's your right. Doesn't mean you need to bring it up unprovoked, or go off on it when someone asks for your opinion

Just be who you are, with no apologies, and if there are parts of yourself you want to improve or change then go for it, but don't let that make you feel like or act like less of a man just because there are pieces of you that you feel like changing! That's life. We're all doing it every day. If anything, it is good to take pride in being able to see where you need work and taking more pride in actually doing something about it.

That's the main difference between "nice guys" and "badasses".

There are plenty of people who are as "bad" as anyone can be, but are not jerks in the process. They just don't soften things up unnecessarily, and they don't think twice about what anyone thinks of their opinions no matter how hot they might be. They are them, pure and simple.

Jerks impose themselves on others and are inconsiderate of the feelings of others. Certainly not a required part of being a "badass."

That's pretty much all there is to say, I think.

Well said!

Hi Frits. Thanks for the reminder. Video footage is extremely useful. My brother forgot the camera at home so I didn't get any footage of this tourney but I will make sure I get plenty next time.

I didn't ask my opponents what they thought I could do better or anything like that because, to be perfectly honest, they weren't good enough. Not to say I can't learn from someone worse than me, but in general, I talk to my instructors (who watch the fights) about what I can improve on. I don't feel that the fighters I fought at this tourney were better than me since in the first fight I was able to hit my opponent quite a lot more than he was able to hit me and the second fight was so easy.

Thanks!

Blairbob, agreed. Don't misunderstand, though, I like fighting hard. I have no problem with getting hit hard and hitting hard in sparring. I think the main reason why I didn't hit too hard in this tourney was because I was afraid of getting DQ'd for excessive contact. I took a hook kick in the face during the first fight and it wasn't illegal so I don't think I'll be too worried about that next time

sounds like a pain in the ass. have to hit hard enough yet pull punches and kick. crap.

and have to guage how much the judges are ok with and not. heck it probably varies meet to meet

Blairbob said:

sounds like a pain in the ass. have to hit hard enough yet pull punches and kick. crap.

and have to guage how much the judges are ok with and not. heck it probably varies meet to meet

It's not too bad. 8)

There are distinct rules of what is and isn't acceptable. If it draws blood or incapacitates a fighter it is excessive. Otherwise, it's fine 90% of the time.

Hmm, I was thinking of Judo or Amateur Football or Rec Hockey or Kendo as something to pick up but I may have to consider something like this. Nice having evenings and possibly having a life. Olympic Lifting was a thought but hell, it can be a time drain as I was planning on it unless I just commit a rec commitment to it.

MMA was a thought but I'd like to stay pretty.

Just something on the side to possibly give me an excuse to hit someone, legally. Recently, a lot of life stuff is making me lean towards this way.

Blairbob said:

Hmm, I was thinking of Judo or Amateur Football or Rec Hockey or Kendo as something to pick up but I may have to consider something like this. Nice having evenings and possibly having a life. Olympic Lifting was a thought but hell, it can be a time drain as I was planning on it unless I just commit a rec commitment to it.

MMA was a thought but I'd like to stay pretty.

Just something on the side to possibly give me an excuse to hit someone, legally. Recently, a lot of life stuff is making me lean towards this way.

I bet you'd really like it. If you could find a good gym/dojo/school of something like Karate, Tae Kwon Do, or Tang Soo Do and a good state/national tournament circuit you'd be all set. A GOOD place to train will allow you to fight hard enough to satisfy all fighting desires you have.

Judo is awesome and so is kendo but the first tends to be pretty hard on the body and the second just doesn't feel as satisfying as fighting hand to hand, albeit as close as anything else I've done.

I will film my fights and the other black belt fights at the next tournament and show the footage in this thread so you can see how we do it.

Okinawan Karate, BTDT. Not really my cup of tea anymore as I train in something else but might be ok so long as I get to hit people. They had something similar to Shotokan at UCBerkeley and it was fun for a day but meh.

Korean stuff, somewhat interesting but again not my cup of tea.

Kendo...is fun and I hear there are lots of babes in Kendo. This is from my friend who always goes to Kendo Worlds. Not really a top competitor unless we are talking about wooing the gals.

Did judo as a tiny munchkin and my dad is an old judoka. One of the allures to it. I'm sure dad would be happy as all get out if I did.

Need to see what is around here and go dojo searching.

Sounds like you have girls on your mind more than I do

I didn't know that about Kendo, tho. I will remember that. LOL

Hit your middle 30's (not quite yet but approaching) and still be single. Kinda sucks especially when most of your friends by that time are not.

It's either online dating or an attempt to get out. I would prefer the latter to the former. Seriously. Especially if you hit two birds with one stone.

I might be able to stomach some karate or TKD as long as I got to spar a bit. We'll see.

Can't wait till tomorrow. I think I'm coming down with a cold but I think I have a good shot at fighting and performing at a higher level than last time. Learned a few things about sports psychology in the last few weeks, even if I haven't had much opportunity to spar...

Unfortunately, did get any videos of sparring this time... my brother forgot to film. No big deal, though, because for some reason there was nobody in my division so I got default 1st place and then I only got to fight once in the grand championship bracket. I definitely have a cold and was off kilter the entire day. Couldn't seem to warm up or stay focused. Gotta try to eat more next time and stay hydrated.

Kata went well. Everyone I talked to said my kata looked really good and I would have placed 1st or 2nd in my group but I made a mistake in the form pattern and accidentally let it show on my face afterwards which dropped my score down a ton. So tragic but it's okay. The kata went great outside of that error. People still gave me a fairly high score, much higher than I would have given myself, but I think it was just because my mechanics were so good.

Looking forward to the next tourney. I have a lot of things I really want to work on. It never ceases to amaze me how much motivation and growth I gain from competition. I learn something new every tourney.