Okay, today totally sucked...or maybe I sucked...or maybe both. However you want to look at it, I did not have a good first experience at the US Open.
Traditional Forms competition:
The competitors with points in the NASKA/ISKA circuits automatically scored higher than those of us without any points. I guess it's fair since they are working on being ranked, but I would have liked a fair shot to see how I really compared to those ladies. Though, I would not have scored well against them because the judges preferred Japanese style forms over the Korean style. In my age group, they did not separate the styles except for chinese. So, I started with 2 strikes against me. But it is partially my fault that I did not place. I had one of my worse form days ever. Yes, the judges complemented me on my kicks and precision, but when I watched the video of my form, I would have scored myself low. I am really disappointed in myself.
Point-Sparing:
I got SCREWED!!!!!! I was putting my gear on about 2 feet away from the ring next to my coaches/team. I got up to go check in when I was told that I missed check-in and my division was closed. There was one other girl in my weight class, and apparently they made sure she heard the calls to go check-in, but nobody on my side of the ring did. Her coach made it clear that I was not there and so she was automatically First and would move on to Grands. I told them I did not hear the calls, and nobody near me heard the calls. Center Ref said he called 5 times. Whatever....Thankfully one of my coaches helped to contest and the only solution that made the other coach happy was to have me spar out of my weight class.
I am already 20 pounds lighter than the top of my own weight class, which I think is a ridiculously large weight class to begin with. But now I had to spar girls who outweighed me my at least 30 pounds and were at least 6 inches taller than me with a total reach advantage. All I wanted to do was spar for the experience, so this was my only option because OTHER people don't want to work for 1st place. I may have lost to that girl in my weight class, but at least it would have been fair.
My first fight did not start off so good. The side-kick I was counting on to keep my opponent away was not effective because the girl outweighed my side-kick and her arms were longer than my legs. One bloody nose and really sore face later I yelled at my husband to come coach me. Once I finally got somebody to coach me, I came back from being down by 3 points to winning by 6 points.
The second girl I fought was even bigger and meaner. There were times the center ref called stop, and she would continue pounding on my head. I was hurting. My eye was throbbing and my face was feeling even worse. My husband finally came back to coach me (he was coaching my son), but by then my face hurt and I was too scared to be more aggressive. Still, I only lost by one point.
I was disappointed that the fighting was mostly hands. I guess I expected it to be at the most 50 percent hands and 50 percent feet. But punching to the face (especially my face) seemed to be about 80-90 percent of the fights. As a Taekwondo-ist, this was not fun to do or watch.
I learned some stuff, like I should not do traditional forms and should do creative forms instead, and that I need to invest in hearing aids and a face mask. At this point I'm not sure if I will continue to compete. I'm glad I did the tournament. I can cross it off my bucket list.
At least I can say I got 3rd at the US Open. Not too shabby!
