First up was James' video taping skillz - below, James is demonstrating the "put your finger on the lens" noob move. Just kidding James - thanks for video-taping. BTW, I probably won't be able to make extra sparring on Tuesday, with my injured arm and all ;^)
It was also the first road trip for Jordan, Jake, and Andy (just the first of many I'm sure).
Jake and Jordan did well for their first road-trip tournament and had a lot of fun. After seeing little Simon fight in his division, Jake is planning on fighting at the next tournament. Little Simon fought really well, finishing 2nd in his division, loosing a close final fight to an excellent fighter a few inches taller than him. Unfortunately, due to the timing of our events, we were not able to get more of the kids' events on video.
Andy did very well for his first road trip tournament with Pro-Style, winning his kata division with Seisan and winning four matches to win his fighting division (30+ beginner-intermediate). I'm certain he'll be going to more road trips in 2008, looking to extend his perfect record into the spring.
Matt did a very nice Empi (first time at a tournament) and got 3rd in 30+ advanced kata. He also got 2nd in 40+ weapons with Tsurunukute. Unfortunately, his first fight was against the eventual division winner and the judges missed a couple of his points.
Simon performed his new tournament kata, but it didn't appeal to the judges and he didn't place. In weapons, Simon was on his way to completing a very strong Hissatsu (with a heavy traditional bo!) when he dropped his bo during a tricky move on his made-up section. He also fought very well, winning his first two matches (including one against Michel Gagnon from Sunfuki), before loosing a close final to place 2nd. Between Simon, Matt, and myself, Michel is winless in his last 5 fights against Pro-Style competitors - Matt/Simon will have to keep the record going next spring!
I won my kata division and was fortunate the judges didn't see a slight bobble (catching my bo) to also win my weapons division. In fighting, I hurt my arm on a reverse punch (it was fully extended when my opponent blitzed in). Fortunately, the adrenaline carried me and I was able to keep going. In the final, I fought Peter McColgan from Douvris - the last time I fought him was at the 2005 Adrenaline Rush and he completely dominated me. This time, I started slow but picked it up to beat him 12-6 (I really like the 2 minutes, total points black belt fighting - well at least most of the time :)
Completely opposite of his noobness at video-taping, James fought well in the heavyweight Elite fighting, winning his first fight easily. In his second fight, he lost to Ben Stewart. Ben was fighting really well, winning the heavyweight run-off, on his way to a night show match against Fortunato Aversa. Earlier, Walter lost his 1st fight in the heavyweight run-off.
Elite fighting is really at another level and quite entertaining, with a 3 minute round and immediate 1 point penalties for exiting the ring or falling down (even if these are a result of be pushed/kicked out or fallen on). There's also a 10-count - if you get hit really hard and you're not ready to fight in 10 seconds, you are disqualified! Earlier, Walter suggested I fight in the Elite division (as did James, earlier in the week) - I thought about if for a whole nano-second (after seeing Robbie, Dom, Fortunato, Dwayne, ...) and made the right choice!
Thanks to James, Andy, and Matt for helping with the video-taping. Emily also taped a few events with Simon's camcorder and we should be seeing some clips on YouTube soon.
Preliminary Results:
- Saul - competed in kata, open kata, and weapons
- Brian - competed in kata and weapons
- Jake - competed in kata and weapons
- Jordan Dixon - competed in kata, weapons, and fighting (won 1st fight)
- Isabelle - competed in kata and fighting
- Little Simon - competed in kata and weapons, 2nd fighting
- Andy - 1st kata, 1st fighting
- Matt - 3rd kata, 2nd weapons, competed in fighting
- Simon - competed in kata, 3rd weapons, 2nd fighting
- Norm - 1st kata, 1st weapons, 1st fighting
- James - competed in heavyweight Elite fighting (won 1st fight, lost 2nd fight)
