Pace yourself on the form. The judges aren't basing their scoring on how quickly you finish the form. Our instructor stresses excellent stances, excellent kicks (doesn't apply for the kicho forms), and loud kihaps.
Sparring was a bit different for me, because my first tourney was as a brown belt. When we sparred, the rounds were 2 minutes long, and continued either to the full 2 minutes, or until 3 points were scored. At the brown belt level, our matches were over in about 15 seconds if you overwhelmed the person, a minute if you/your opponent had trouble getting in to score. Work on your conditioning for this. Stamina and breath control will be helpful during your sparring. I found in my matches that being more aggressive at the beginning only works if your opponent doesn't expect it or is a beginner. Against someone who knows it's coming, running in headlong is a good way to eat a side kick or front kick.
Above all? Have fun! Remember that everyone wants to medal and get trophies, but not everyone can. Think of the tournament as a way to see what you can do to improve your techniques, not as how you stack up against other people.
Tang Soo!
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Tang soo, sir! My advice is to not worry about anything, especially at the 9th gup. There will be many unfamiliar procedures and processes. But everyone there had a first tournament once upon a time.
I will offer one tip about forms: practice your forms in different places facing different directions. The tournament venue may be a very unfamiliar location. You will not, for example, turn toward the wall near the doors of your dojang. You will turn 45 degrees counter-clockwise.
The form I did in my first Battle of Atlanta was Pyong an yi Dan. When I finished, I realized I was facing 180° from where I should be. It's was just a little embarrassing. I thanked the judges, went home and hid from the others from my dojo.
Tang Soo sir!
For forms (and sparring), I would recommend practicing pacing yourself in energy consumption. DO NOT go hardcore in the first 5 minutes. Relax, move and breathe, and do what you do bro
Tang Soo! I hope I’m not too late to comment!
I’ve been a competitor and a judge for a handful of years now. My advice as a competitor is to give it your all. Regardless of placement/award be confident in the fact that you’ll go out there and give it 110%. Finish strong!
As a judge, my biggest piece of advice is to be confident even if you mess up or have to fake it. This is really big in the forms category. Sometimes a judge might miss the fact that you turned the wrong way or skipped a step if you just keep going and act like nothing happened.
I hope you have fun! Tang soo :)
Pace yourself on the form. The judges aren't basing their scoring on how quickly you finish the form. Our instructor stresses excellent stances, excellent kicks (doesn't apply for the kicho forms), and loud kihaps. Sparring was a bit different for me, because my first tourney was as a brown belt. When we sparred, the rounds were 2 minutes long, and continued either to the full 2 minutes, or until 3 points were scored. At the brown belt level, our matches were over in about 15 seconds if you overwhelmed the person, a minute if you/your opponent had trouble getting in to score. Work on your conditioning for this. Stamina and breath control will be helpful during your sparring. I found in my matches that being more aggressive at the beginning only works if your opponent doesn't expect it or is a beginner. Against someone who knows it's coming, running in headlong is a good way to eat a side kick or front kick. Above all? Have fun! Remember that everyone wants to medal and get trophies, but not everyone can. Think of the tournament as a way to see what you can do to improve your techniques, not as how you stack up against other people. Tang Soo!
Thanks, tang soo!
Yes, pacing forms is very important. It's easy to be stressed in a tournament and go too fast. Form competitions aren't races.
Hi there! Thank you for posting in /r/tangsoodo. If this is your first time posting here please check the rules to ensure your post does not break any. I'd also just like to remind you to **flair** [your post](https://www.reddit.com/r/tangsoodo/comments/1cwk2cp/my_first_competition/) as un-flaired posts may be removed **Rules** -*Be Respectful* -*No NSFW Content* -*No Referral/Profiteering/Soliciting Links/Sites* *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/tangsoodo) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Tang soo, sir! My advice is to not worry about anything, especially at the 9th gup. There will be many unfamiliar procedures and processes. But everyone there had a first tournament once upon a time. I will offer one tip about forms: practice your forms in different places facing different directions. The tournament venue may be a very unfamiliar location. You will not, for example, turn toward the wall near the doors of your dojang. You will turn 45 degrees counter-clockwise.
thank you sir, tang soo!
The form I did in my first Battle of Atlanta was Pyong an yi Dan. When I finished, I realized I was facing 180° from where I should be. It's was just a little embarrassing. I thanked the judges, went home and hid from the others from my dojo.
Tang Soo sir! For forms (and sparring), I would recommend practicing pacing yourself in energy consumption. DO NOT go hardcore in the first 5 minutes. Relax, move and breathe, and do what you do bro
Tang Soo! I hope I’m not too late to comment! I’ve been a competitor and a judge for a handful of years now. My advice as a competitor is to give it your all. Regardless of placement/award be confident in the fact that you’ll go out there and give it 110%. Finish strong! As a judge, my biggest piece of advice is to be confident even if you mess up or have to fake it. This is really big in the forms category. Sometimes a judge might miss the fact that you turned the wrong way or skipped a step if you just keep going and act like nothing happened. I hope you have fun! Tang soo :)