Topic: Competition Kata

[JimmyTheHoover]

Hi All - bit late into the discussion - completely missed the topic 

From your postings it seems to have been a fairly standard competition 

As has been mentioned there always seems to be an element of club/instructor bias from some judges - you really would think that senior grades would behave better - perhaps it's completely unintentional ? (NOT  )

It's virtually impossible -and unreasonable- to select a set of judges based on which clubs the competitors are from so you've just got to live and learn - although I think that there is not enough "moderation/oversight" by the Tournament Officials and Senior Judge in this area as it's often discussed.

I've only ever judged kata in the Junior Category and I was fortunate/unfortunate to be selected to judge a group which included my own two children and I accordingly went up to KT - who was running the Comp. and asked to be replaced. The response was a flat "NO" and was warned not to be too harsh on my own kids in case I overcompensated  (Kenny obviously knew me well as a Parent  )

Judges "bias" is usually self-evident as you tend to get a fairly blatantly unnatural spread of marks unless you're unfortunate enough to get all judges against you - in which case I reckon there's something wrong with your Club 

Regarding Heian Katas marked higher than "Advanced" Katas - would really have to have seen the performances to comment specifically (Staing te obvious) BUT I do know that our senior Instructors who judge up here frequently complain about grades attempting Advanced Kata before their skill level is adequet - they seem to prefer to see Heian level Kata's from Kyu Grades - don't know if this sometimes results in an apparent "penalisation" of a student - perhaps the requirements for a 7.0 mark for a kata like Jion are much more demanding than a 7.0 for heian shodan..... (Moley/MB care to comment?)

Cheers,

Jim

P.S. I'm personally more in favour of a "Fighting Kata" Performance and would always mark it higher than a "pretty" Kata - of course the ideal IMO is to be able to perform the kata at fighting-speed whilst still retaining the form AND not rushing through the slow transitions......

[Mole Bach]

Sorry about the delay in replying Jimmy, but here's the deal....

Regarding Heian Katas marked higher than "Advanced" Katas - would really have to have seen the performances to comment specifically

The concensus on this at the UKTKF comps by all judges is that we would rather see an outstanding Heian Nidan by a brown belt than a crap Unsu by a yellow belt.

The problem with belts and grades are that you may only have been graded a month before to brown belt and then you turn up to a comp and do bassai...where as you have been training regularly for the past year and a half on heian shodan, so do the kata which you know and can perform the best.

I like to watch the Dan grades do kata, because you do get some variation in the kata's from Nijushiho to Kanku sho, BUT again it depends on the time training and also picking a kata which suits that individual e.g. you know how big and unflexible Huw is (no offence Huw), so I would not advice him to perform Unsu or Enpi, rather he is more suited to something like Bassai dai, Kanku dai or Sochin.

Hope this clears it up for you Jimmy.

[Huw]

you know how big and unflexible Huw is (no offence Huw),

None taken. Hardly headline news is it!!

so I would not advice him to perform Unsu or Enpi, rather he is more suited to something like Bassai dai, Kanku dai or Sochin.

Unfortunately my 'next' kata (if I ever go for Nidan) will be Enpi. Doh. I really like the kata but the up and down bits are mureder on the knees

BTW. Are your toes better MB? That Shane guy is telling everybody how he's taken over as the new "bad boy" in Seki ... you really need to have a word with him.

[Mole Bach]

Huw,
Think about Jutte, much better on the knees.
The toes are OK, just that I've been away a lot with work this past month, something that Shane has no concept about.  Hope to be back on Thursaday if workload not too heavy (have been bringing work home with me to try and catch up).
As for the 'bad boy' of Seki.......................................be warned, giving up on the tobacco, so temper should be shorter than usual.

[JimmyTheHoover]

Thanks for the feedback M-B - that pretty much confirms the feedback I've had from our senior grades/judges here as well.

I think that oneof the problems in general is that gradings no longer seem to require you to be able to do ANY one of your previous Kata's as randomly selected. When I was a Lad  our instructors always had you perform a mock grading at which you had to perform your garding kata and also a previous kata chosen by them. This had the effect of making the gradespractice all katas.

I also appreciate the comments about picking the right kata for the person's body type/abilities and this confirms what I've heard Kawasoe Sensei say to some folk going for black belt grades regarding kata performance/choice.

[gungnir]

Huw ... why don't you do Hangetzu ? You are relatively big ... and it is a breathing Kata. So it could work ... the stance would be good for your knees but the difficult part is the breathing ... it is stange for our style to do it in this way ... so for me that is the most tricky thing of this Kata ... but with some exercise ... (and there is still one year to go to 2nd Dan ) it is possible to present it proper and to keep your knees healthy.

[JimmyTheHoover]

Only Comment is - if you don't do Enpi then you'd better do your alternative Kata BLOODY WELL !!!!!

[gungnir]

For a grading ... you should do every Kata BLOODY WELL !!!!

[JimmyTheHoover]

For a grading ... you should do every Kata BLOODY WELL !!!!

True (of course)  - my point is that IF you choose a Kata other than the "expected" grading Kata then (IMO)

more is exepected of you (see other thread about Competition Kata) 

[Huw]

Huw,
Think about Jutte, much better on the knees.

Did Jitte last night. Well cool  I'm struggling a bit with the applications of some of the techniques thought - but I guess that will come with time and discussion with the senior grades.

[Shari]

  We've being doing Jitte for a few weeks now Huw, you should stay for the third session more often, you get to do loads of cool katas.

[Huw]

you should stay for the third session more often

I'd love to but often my knees say no after two hours of pounding. 

[Moley]

you should stay for the third session more often

I'd love to but often my knees say no after two hours of pounding. 

A bit of counterbalance in the left earhole should cure that !

[Jewels]

So....  can anyone tell me please  :)when is Blackpool compo? and...the next Grading? when is that then? please? be nice to see you there too