Went to Diamond Nationals yesterday.

Things went pretty well as I expected them to.  I was a 38-year-old first degree black belt pitched in with 30 -39-year-olds, most of who were third degree or higher.

Weapons forms:  I did Bo Do, the first Chinese Broadsword form.  My sword caught on the sleeve of my jacket, and caused a small hesitation.  Also, when I came out of my backward roll, I came up off balance, and had to adjust my feet.  Other than that, I did very well.

The first two finishers were far and away the finest of all of us.  I have no question that they deserved their places, and Sue even said that she thought there was clearly no contest between the two of the first place finisher was clearly miles superior to the second place finisher.

Sue and SiFu kindly told me that I was better than the lady who took third, but I understand why she did.  She was a superb Karate practitioner…solid, strong, great yelling, and she created a form that stuck to what she did well, and she performed it solidly.

It is common knowledge that a Kung Fu practitioner is at a disadvantage in a Karate tournament, as the judges have little experience with the techniques, and don’t understand the emphasis of the forms.  I had trouble with Karate bias when I started Kung Fu as well.  Kung Fu forms looked sloppy to me and indistinct as I was used to the sharp, “stuck” movements of the more external styles.  I knew that going in and accepted it.

I was there to do my best and represent my school and style.  I did that, and all is well.  I did not place in weapons form.

Open hand form:  Same as Weapons.  Same two first and second place finishers.  The girl that took third was the one who usually dominated the brown belt competitions last year, and walked away with first place every time.  She’s a fantastic competitor and I have no problem with any of the judges’ decisions in that contest either.

What I DO have a problem with was the judges’ behavior during the scoring and the awards.  While they were scoring me, the center judge said something, and they all burst out laughing.  As they were all clearly friends who knew each other, I did not think they were laughing at me…but that’s how it looked, and it bothered me that others observing might get that impression.  I think it’s very unprofessional for judges to be talking to one another and laughing as they score a participant. 

Also, when the awards were handed, out, a few of the judges smiled and waved at the two women who had won.  The center judge called us to attention, and after we bowed, he turned in the direction of the two winners, grinned, at them, nodded and winked.  As they were awarded their prizes, other judges bounced up and down excitedly, clapped and hugged the winners…making it clear that they knew and favored the winners.

Now, I have no problem with the judges’ decisions.  It was clear to anyone watching who the winners should be.  They were great.  But the judges should respect their friends enough to not make their valid win look like a cronyism-laden travesty.  Further, they should respect all the participants enough to act properly.

Sparring:  As last year, I took third place even though I lost my one and only fight.  Here’s how it works.

There were six participants in the division.  Three of them were “seeded” fighters…that is, they have national rankings.  One was a fourth degree black belt, and two were third degree black belts.  That left us three non-ranked, single degree blackbelts with a little problem…and an interesting advantage.  As they needed to give out two “buys” to ensure that the numbers came down to two people for the final fight.  I won the coin toss, along with some other lady I’ve never met.

My new friend, Barrie, lost the coin toss and came up against her very first nationally ranked competitor.  I felt so badly for her, but she had already given herself away before she entered the ring.  I think she should have done better than she did, but she’d already lost in her mind…you could see it in the way she carried herself into the ring.  She was completely outclassed…mostly because she had already decided so.

The second fight was between two of the seeded fighters, and one of them eliminated the other.

The third fight was between me and one of the seeded fighters.  I made her go all two minutes to beat me…I lost 4-0.  I got three kicks and one punch in on her that were not called.  Two of the kicks were solid enough to stop her in her tracks.  She got a couple punches in on me that were not called, and one kick-punch combination that was called as a punch though the kick landed first (if one judge sees a kick, and the other judges see a punch, the lower point score is awarded.  Kicks are worth two points and punches are worth one.)

I don’t know who would have won had all the points been seen and totaled…because the fights go two minutes or first to five.  I got five points that weren’t called.  She got four that were called, and should have gotten a couple more had the judges scored perfectly (which almost never happens).

But that’s not what’s important.  What’s important to me is that I went up against someone with three more stripes on their belt.  Someone who is nationally ranked, and I was not outclassed.  I didn’t let her “point me out”.  I made her go a full round with me and I hit her good a few times and I held my own.

She went on to fight the remaining seeded fighter, and win.

Once again, it was the judges that I had a problem with, not the outcome.  First off, we only had three corner judges instead of the traditional four, as one of our judges took off early to watch another fight as a spectator.

But let’s talk about the center ref a little.  Twice during these matches, the center ref got in the way of the competitors.  As in, she was physically bumped into by the people fighting the match.  When that happened, both times, the competitor that she interfered with was distracted by the impact, and was hit or kicked.  Both times, the center ref went on to award points to the person who scored on a competitor that the ref herself had distracted.

Further, she was not able to keep up with the fights.  My fight was not the only one where the outcome was seriously impacted by her inability to keep on top of the movement.  In any fight, there are going to be missed points.  Anyone can end up getting in the way of the competitors from time to time.  That happens…but in my opinion, it happened way too much with this lady.  She was not fit to be a center judge, and her behavior as a ring judge in the forms competitions was the most unprofessional of all of them.

All of my fellow competitors were proper martial artists.  They had tremendous skills, and flawless sportsmanship, and wonderful winning attitudes.  We all went there to do our best and represent our schools and do honor to the art.  I found it quite disappointing, that the judges couldn’t bring themselves to act the same way.