More Tournament Prep

The kid’s “Mega-Tournament” is one week away, so today we talked about and practiced how to get the judges attention.

First off, snap those techniques back!  Not only does a quickly returned fist protect against a counter strike, it looks sharp.  If judges see quality techniques coming from a student, their eyes tend to stay on that student and if a judges eyes are on that student more often than not, they are more likely to get points.

Second, speak with confidence!  The verbal “intro” before doing a form at a tournament can make or break a performance.  If a student whispers, pauses or forgets what to say many judges will pay less attention to the actual form because they’ve already built an expectation .  It’d be like starting a job interview with a limp and sweaty handshake.  No good.

Third, ki-ai!  A nice, strong battle cry during forms or sparring can draw the judges attention to a student in a positive way.  Again, grabbing the judges attention is a good thing.

We’ll see if our work pays off next Saturday.