CAYDEN DEETZ, ZACH PERRY, ELIJAH MENDOZA, ALYSSA FRANCIS, ESTRELLA MENDOZA, ANNIE FRANCIS AND GABRIEL McCASKEY
TOURNAMENTS
MID CONTINENT OPEN
Saturday March 9th, 2013
Andover Central Middle School
903 90th St. Andover, KS 67002
CONTACT: 316-733-2298 aircapitaltkd@cox.net
SEIBUKAN KARATE INVITATIONAL
Saturday March 23, 2013
Holy Cross Lutheran Church
600 N. Greenwich Road Wichita, KS
CONTACT: John Goertz 316-516-4101 ksseibukan@yahoo.com
MID AMERICA KARATE TOURNAMENT
Saturday March 30th, 2013
Christ the King Church 25th and Wannamaker Topeka, KS
CONTACT: Pam Johansen 785-844-0050 pam@midamerica_karate.com
RANK ADVANCEMENT
The martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practices, which are practiced for a variety of reasons such as self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental, physical, and spiritual development. The term martial art has become heavily associated with the fighting arts of eastern Asia. The term martial arts are ultimately derived from Latin, and means "Arts of Mars," where Mars is the Roman god of war. Some martial arts are considered 'traditional' and are tied to an ethnic, cultural or religious background, while others are modern systems developed either by a founder or an association.
Various forms (kata) and sparring are commonly used during testing and tournaments. Some competitions pit practitioners of different disciplines against each other using a common set of rules. Rules for sparring vary between art and organization but can generally be divided into light-contact, medium-contact, and full-contact options, reflecting the amount of force that should be used on an opponent. The intent of competition is to serve as a pop quiz for the student as a way of testing skills or experimenting with their tools in a “controlled” environment. Testing or evaluation is important to martial art practitioners of many disciplines who wish to determine their progression or own level of skill in specific contexts. Students within individual martial art systems often undergo periodic testing and grading by their instructor in order to advance to a higher level of recognized achievement, such as a different belt color or title. In order for a student to advance he/she must set goals and reinforce learning through shake downs and competition. It is not about winning or losing in competition. It is about the experience and affirmation from testing your skills.
Thomas Williams, Chief Instructor
with excerpts from Wikipedia
GOALS
Typically, the beginning of a new year is the time for renewal and commitment, with many of us setting goals for the coming weeks and months ahead. Perhaps the bigger challenge is maintaining those goals! Recently I added two intentional thoughts that I say to myself as I consider my goals and whether I'm moving forward or not:
Something is better than nothing; and My pace is the right pace for me.
What often stops me from meeting a goal is an unrealistic expectation (which usually seemed perfectly realistic when I set the goal). Now when I work on a goal and feel like I am coming up short, I ask myself, "Is there something I could do, however small, to make progress today?" Because something is always better than nothing.
I'm also learning to be kind to myself when I look at progress. I like this advice from Jon Acuff: Don't compare your beginning to someone else's middle. There will always be someone who is faster, better, stronger, or who started the process months ago. They are working at their pace; I am working at mine.
According to Wikipedia, goal setting involves establishing specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-targeted (S.M.A.R.T ) goals. Work on the theory of goal-setting suggests that it's an effective tool for making progress by ensuring that participants in a group with a common goal are clearly aware of what is expected from them.
Within our dojo, Mr. Williams has set clear expectations for his students. It is up to each of us to bring our best level of participation to each class period in order to see growth, and ultimately meet our goals.
Wikipedia also states: Goal-setting theory was developed by Edwin A. Locke in the 1960s. His work laid the foundation for goal setting theory and established the positive relationship between clearly identified goals and performance. Additional studies have shown that specific and high goals lead to a higher level of performance than easy or general goals. As long as the individual accepts the goal, has the ability to attain it, and does not have conflicting goals, there is a positive linear relationship between goal difficulty and task performance.
There are a variety of motivational goal-setting quotations that I would offer to end this essay. Perhaps one will resonate with you and give you the motivational “nudge” that you have been needing to set new personal goals for 2013 (and beyond!).
Quotes:
You can find inspiration from others but determination is solely your Responsibility. ~Dodinsky, www.dodinsky.com
The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man's foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhat higher. ~Thomas Henry Huxley, An Address to the Students of the Faculty of Medicine in University College, London, May 18, 1870, On the Occasion of the Distribution of Prizes for the Session (Thanks, Paul)
The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me. ~Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead
Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein. ~Life's Little Instruction Book, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr
When I was a Boy Scout, we played a game when new Scouts joined the troop. We lined up chairs in a pattern, creating an obstacle course through which the new Scouts, blindfolded, were supposed to maneuver. The Scoutmaster gave them a few moments to study the pattern before our adventure began. But as soon as the victims were blindfolded, the rest of us quietly removed the chairs. I think life is like this game. Perhaps we spend our lives avoiding obstacles we have created for ourselves and in reality exist only in our minds. We're afraid to apply for that job, take violin lessons, learn a foreign language, call an old friend, write our Congressman - whatever it is that we would really like to do but don't because of personal obstacles. Don't avoid any chairs until you run smack into one. And if you do, at least you'll have a place to sit down. ~Pierce Vincent Eckhart
Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another. ~John Dewey
Jean Gaeddert, 5th Dan
"In My Opinion-Think About It"
Training: Tournaments, Street; The Difference? for February 2013
Training is essential in any sports, activity, discipline, however, call it what you want. The Martial Arts students must be aware of some of the differences in their training routine with the understanding in the dojo one trains hard to defend themselves and/or others, get in condition, learn philosophy, and practice many techniques/routines. This is all good, outstanding, and great! However, the things a student learns, and execute in tournaments will not always work on the streets. Therefore, the student must know the difference in the point-fighting techniques, have different effects on the streets. The mentality of tournament preparation, and street preparation must always be on the mind of the student, and distinguish between tournament technique applications and street execution. In the event of the student’s main goal of being in the martial arts to only prepare for tournament execution, with the thought of not ever getting involved in a street situation (is something to avoid if possible) is admirable, however, not too practical, but admirable. The ‘street’ and “tournament” applications are very different. Student’s must keep this in the fore-front of their thinking. Will you know and do the difference?
H. James Young, 5th Dan
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