I signed up for two different types of sparring for this tournament - continuous and point - because I wanted to get experience and see which category would be better for me. In continuous sparring, you continuously spar for 30 seconds and points are tabulated as you go. In point sparring, as soon as a point is scored, the fight is stopped, competitors return to their starting spots, then you start again until the next point is scored. You have to be the first one to make contact with your strike, or you're out of luck. I suspected that I would be better at continuous; that is what more of my training has been, and I think I have a slow initial reaction time but can come in and score some points after someone has tagged me. Unfortunately, no one else signed up for my division (18+ beginning and intermediate continuous sparring for feather weight women), so I still don't know!
Adults were awarded swords at this tournament instead of trophies. The top one on the display stand is the 1st place sword I got for being the only woman brave enough to sign up for continuous sparring. :) I asked some other women about it later (women that DID compete in point sparring), and they said the idea of continuous sparring intimidates them. I just want to get some practice at it before I'm up in the advanced/black belt division, because I've watched that and am a little intimidated, myself.
(I competed at the "intermediate" level since that is my current rank at Alpha Martial Arts, where I started over because the style is slightly different. I have not been training enough since earning my black belt to feel like I am at a black belt level, and since this was my first competition, I thought it better to ease into it.)
When it came time for point sparring, there were actually 4 of us signed up for my division. They drew names and paired me with Becky from Five Knuckle Bullet for the first match. Their school focuses on fighting, so I was a bit intimidated going into it. I also didn't know what to expect from a point sparring match and didn't completely understand what the rules were. I hung back and figured things out for the first bit. You can see in the video where I finally figured it out and started to get the hang of things. (Points are visible on the table in the background - I was white in this match.) Just as I started to improve, time was called. I didn't even know there was a time limit in point sparring. I thought it was first one to 10 points. Oh, well. The entire reason I did this tournament was for experience, and I definitely learned a lot.
link to video here:
Since I lost the first match, I was not eligible for first or second place. I fought the loser of the other match to determine 3rd and 4th places. I think her name was Luellen. I had a slight height and leg length advantage. I did get in one kick to her head towards the end, which I was excited about, because that scores 2 points instead of 1. Once again, scores can be seen on the table in the back. This round I'm red.
Since I won the second match 9-1, I earned 3rd place in point sparring. That's what one of the smaller swords is for. The other small sword is for my 3rd place in forms competition (out of 17 competitors - I'm proud of that one!)
Overall, this was a fun day and a great learning experience. My school took home lots of awards and gained quite a bit of recognition. We were the new kids on the block and represented ourselves well. I am proud of Alpha Martial Arts and looking forward to my next tournament!
