States

This weekend was State Games. Organizing my thoughts linearly will be somewhat difficult, since the weekend itself was fairly chaotic, and it seems like my mind is growing ever-poor at retaining information.

We left Friday around 12:30 and arrived to practice by 3. The facilities were air-conditioned this year, which was a good thing—it was nearly 105 outside (105 straight, not with the heat index) when we competed.

The flooring was actually pretty nice, a faux tile that gave slightly in the X-Y plane but didn't bounce up and down at all. This contributed a great deal to my stability throughout the tournament, and I was really pleased with it. The way mats give can cause your ankles to bow when you're trying to stick a landing.

We got several comments again on the entrance to practice; we walk in single-file dressed to the nines. I heard reports of people saying, "not them again" and "that boy looks intimidating" among other things during the practice sessions. So I'd say we made an impression last year, not just this year.


Practice went well, mostly unremarkable. We closed up shop, went to the hotel, and got ready for dinner.

Like last year, dinner was a pleasant affair. The hotel hosted us well, and the service was good, as usual. The "baking captain" (or "super server," as he prefers) was our primary server this year again, and he outdid himself again.

After the food, we were treated to four events: MC first gave everyone a nickname; I forget what mine was, but it had something to do with my common phrase "Feet and lips together" (I use this on the kids prior to bowing). Then we had a sextet perform a beat boxing routine called "Bags in the Back." It's a bit much to explain in a blog entry, but it has to do with packing for our last tournament. Following was a roast and toast; I was roasted the most, but the other instructors were toasted admirably.

One of the students commented that MM was like a father to her; she doesn't really have a dad at all (he left the family), and it was a pretty emotional moment for all involved.

One of the students created a translation dictionary to explain what I mean when I use words like "fun" and "happiness." It was pretty hilarious.

The final event was a skit the kids put on for the parents to say thank you for all they've done and sacrificed for them.


This really kind of made the trip for me. The competition itself was fun and a good time, but it was a neat experience to see some tangible results for all the work we've put in. It is a good for them and for us, and the bonding experience was nice.

Competition was Saturday, and we arrived early. There was the usual downtime and significant waiting involved with the process, but the day progressed pretty quickly after the black belt / judges meeting. I met a few new people this year in the judging circuit, which was nice; all were good folks, I think.

The first group we judged went fairly well, though people complained about us rotating the center ref in the fighting. I found this pretty ludicrous, as it was designed to avoid bias, but we stopped doing that anyway. And one of the judges was asked to recuse himself because one of his students was involved in the group. I thought this was pretty ridiculous, considering that judges do this all the time and there's rarely impropriety, especially at the kids levels.

The second group we judged was accompanied by an inexperienced scorekeeper who marked down someone who won a fight as a loss. When fighting through the bracket, we lost track of him and so that was awkward. The solution we adopted was to have this fellow who fell through fight the first place finisher; if he won, he'd receive a first along with him, and if he lost, he would receive a second. It worked out that he won 3–0, so it wasn't really much of a contest.

After this I put in my contacts and headed back out. L had provided me with my cooler, but I didn't actually sample any of the goodies she made (corn on the cob, sushi rice and seaweed). I was really nervous. MC competed, and I was watching him move. He was a little tentative, which is understandable considering that he dislocates his hips when he kicks. Weapons was first, and he got a 3d. He did better in forms, though he rushed somewhat through the end of the pattern and got 2d. Both were probably deserved. Another six placements and he'll have 100.

While he was competing, they called the 20-34 black division to get ready, so I watched some of it from afar. It was 11 years since he competed last (States in '99), and it was touching in some ways to see him out there again. We are friends today, and 11 years ago we were not. The time has not been kind to his hips in a lot of ways, but it has been very good to our relationship, and I'm grateful for it. It's strange that he considers me a technical peer, though I suspect most of my opinions are about the same as his own. I do think that competing will make him more hungry. Hopefully he'll finish the hundred.


As usual, the 20-34 male black division was a tough one as regards judging. While I cannot say outright that the judges regularly fix things, the weapons division was clearly not judged well. One of our team placed who probably should not have, and one of them did not place who certainly should have. While I like to think that judging happens in a generally unbiased fashion, comparing our division with last year bears out the feeling that the judges really don't care for us very much.

That said, I did win the forms division. I think rightfully so. D told me that one of the judges shrugged at his student as though to say, "I couldn't do anything for you after that." I was last to go, and I think I did well. There was one point where I dialed back a little because I thought perhaps I didn't need the extra flourish. I'm glad I didn't push it, because a little bobble there could've cost me. I didn't leave many excuses to lose first, anyway.

S opined that our cheering section did good work at influencing the final outcome, which may also be true.


My real goal was to fight better than last year, when I lost handily to kidyork. I think I accomplished this. I still lost in the first round, but I took a few points that weren't called, and my opponent graciously conceded the same in his victory. He was certainly a better fighter than I, but I was definitely in it a lot more effectively than I had been in Disney (where they were calling for kicks against backfists—as it should be), the last fight where I did anything. I even ducked purposefully under one of his hook kicks—someone commented favorably on that after, and I wish I'd had the presence of mind to hit him when I did.

Team fighting was fun. I moved someone's sport goggles off his head, apparently without moving his head in the process. I apologized to him afterward, and he said his head was fine. D and J both told me they thought the technique was totally clean with no contact. I got the point in any case. I also stood him up with a fading round that he wasn't expecting.

He still won, though, and deservedly. Judging in D's match was not great, with the center ref consistently calling after the others, which is a major no-no. The center should always call authoritatively and immediately to avoid the appearance of bias. He also appeared to award a point to D and then changed his mind.

Sometimes the judging in fighting works such that the most senior person wins. This happened last year in S' division, where he basically dominated everyone and only took third. I suspect that some shenanigans were in play here, but team fighting is a bit different normally.

The best team won, though, and included good friend D of Brandywine, kidyork, and the guy I lost to in the singles fighting, J. I was glad they won, as the team they beat for second seemed to have lousy attitudes which makes me angry.


All in all, it was a good tournament. I would've been disappointed if I hadn't taken a placement, I think, but in the end the best part was definitely Friday's dinner-time antics. It was a great step forward from last year, when I didn't place at all (despite an adequate showing in forms), and it accomplished one of my competition goals (state champion). Remaining goals on the list include a fighting win, weapons win, international win, grand champion at forms.

We'll see whether the Lord extends my health long enough for such to happen, but if not, I think I'm pretty content.

There are lots of other things brewing at the moment that this blog entry can't contain, and I have already used whatever grace period I had on writing this. As they're available, I'll try to post video and pictures.