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Mods: the suck here is fairly minor. Was not sure if this should go here, or in Community Off Topic. Please move if indicated.
I've just gotten home from a TKD tournament held here in my local area. It is an international tournament (we had competitors from Korea, Canada, Puerto Rico, and all across the US).
Overall the tournament was actually massive cool. The vast majority of the participants and spectators were nice and played by the rules. The demonstration team from a major South Korean university was nothing short of awesome (I got a signed T shirt!).
Many of the sparring matches were exciting and fun to watch. The school demo team competition was particularly good (our team took first place
).
Most of the suck was fairly minor, and mostly amusing. A few samples.
Weighing In on the matter
I worked both days as a volunteer. The first day (a non-competition day) was registration and weigh ins. Most of the competitors had been pretty accurate about the heights and weights they put on their registration forms. This matters, especially for sparring. You don't want heavy weights sparring with light weights except at the grand champion level.
But it is amazing how many competitors (or more often, the parents) will try to skirt these rules. Usually they want into a lighter weight classification, so they/their kid is the heavy one. They think it gives them a competitive advantage.
When we did weigh ins, if the weight was off by a pound or two we didn't worry about it. Since I'm not a judge, I didn't have the authority to pass them, but had to send them to the person who could. One dad wasn't paying attention when I tried to tell him this and immediately insisted we re-weigh his son.
Me: Sure, I can do that. *note: I really didn't have a problem with this. In spite of the sheer number of competitors, they came spread out enough so we never really got super busy.
Dad: Where's the bathroom?
Me: Over there.
Dad started to take son in that direction, and said he'd be back.
Sure, buddy. Whatever. Not that it matters, but I don't think your son has 16 ounces of urine in his bladder, and unless his underwear is really dirty (eww!), that doesn't weigh 16 oz either.
Interestingly, I did hear of another parent who wanted a naked weight of his kid. He didn't get it.
------
You have to listen for your call
Martial arts tournaments are very noisy places. You have to keep a copy of the schedule handy, keep track of the time, and LISTEN for the grand master to call your event to the holding area. We even put names of missing competitors over the loud speakers 3 times, with the phrase, "Last call for . . . . "
People still missed their events. One mother got indignant with one of our volunteers, and wanted her kid to 1) compete alone (we had a lot of that actually, if there is no one else in your category for belt, gender, age, and weight, you compete alone and automatically win 1st place), and 2) to get at least a 3rd place medal (all competitors got at least a 3rd place medal; there were no losers at this tournament.)
One of the females in my category for forms and board breaking didn't show up for our event. Of course, we didn't compete until after 9pm. It had been a really long day and we were running about 3 hours behind. Guess she gave up
------
Lest Ye be (Mis)Judged
A common problem was scoring errors. First of all, you have to understand: while the judges are all experienced, they are volunteers. They actually do an excellent job and make very few mistakes.
The scorekeepers, however, (of which I was one) are another story. We do our best, but most of us had never done it before. The computer system for time keeping and scoring sparring was a little quirky.
Scoring for forms and board breaking was pretty simple: typical 10 point Olympic scale. 3 judges. Tally up their individual scores. Highest is 1st place, and so on.
We had calculators to crunch the numbers. Mine didn't work. I have a learning disability in math.
Result? Several oopsies. The judges were good about it. The parents didn't catch on, thank goodness.
After an event, the judges line up the competitors and announce, "First place! Second Place! Third Place!"
One of the sparring events was an exhibition match. No medals. However, there was still a clear winner, of course. So the judges announced it.
The coach had a fit. "Everyone first place!" His boy lost of course.
By the end, I was so tired and punchy, I was making a lot of mistakes on sparring scoring. I was scoring warnings that didn't happen, and missing extra points; forgetting to even start the computer timer when the competitors were already fighting. Oops.
But it was still a good tournament, and I had a good time. As a volunteer, they fed us lunch (we had a choice between pizza or authentic Korean food. I had the latter, and it was quite good).
Volunteers could take their breaks in one of the VIP rooms. This was box seating and gave us an excellent view of the tournament floor. It was quite nice.
As a volunteer, I had free run of the place. This included access to a bathroom the rest of the tournament was barred from because it was in the holding area. It was cleaner as a result, and no lines. I also could take short cuts across the floor instead of forcing my way through the masses.
I competed in two events: forms and board breaking. I took 2nd place in the former, and 1st place in the latter. Board breaking was esp cool because my head master was one of the judges in that ring, and ended up being my holder, so he got to see first hand how I did. The judges accidentally switched my name with the other competitor, so I almost didn't get my first place, but the scorekeeper picked up on the error right away (actually so did both my competitor and I) and corrected it.
The kick I did was jumping front snap kick. I do a short run, hike one knee high into the air as I jump and snap out a kick with my other leg. My foot hits the board from the underside (yes, I break the board with the TOP of my foot!).
Next time I compete, I'll be eligible to spar.
I had planned to bring my video camera and get video clips, but alas I forgot it in the heat of getting everything else ready this morning
I'm hoping to find some other sources.
I think that's enough for now. I am very tired, and trying to unwind before bed.
I've just gotten home from a TKD tournament held here in my local area. It is an international tournament (we had competitors from Korea, Canada, Puerto Rico, and all across the US).
Overall the tournament was actually massive cool. The vast majority of the participants and spectators were nice and played by the rules. The demonstration team from a major South Korean university was nothing short of awesome (I got a signed T shirt!).
Many of the sparring matches were exciting and fun to watch. The school demo team competition was particularly good (our team took first place
).Most of the suck was fairly minor, and mostly amusing. A few samples.
Weighing In on the matter
I worked both days as a volunteer. The first day (a non-competition day) was registration and weigh ins. Most of the competitors had been pretty accurate about the heights and weights they put on their registration forms. This matters, especially for sparring. You don't want heavy weights sparring with light weights except at the grand champion level.
But it is amazing how many competitors (or more often, the parents) will try to skirt these rules. Usually they want into a lighter weight classification, so they/their kid is the heavy one. They think it gives them a competitive advantage.
When we did weigh ins, if the weight was off by a pound or two we didn't worry about it. Since I'm not a judge, I didn't have the authority to pass them, but had to send them to the person who could. One dad wasn't paying attention when I tried to tell him this and immediately insisted we re-weigh his son.
Me: Sure, I can do that. *note: I really didn't have a problem with this. In spite of the sheer number of competitors, they came spread out enough so we never really got super busy.
Dad: Where's the bathroom?
Me: Over there.
Dad started to take son in that direction, and said he'd be back.
Sure, buddy. Whatever. Not that it matters, but I don't think your son has 16 ounces of urine in his bladder, and unless his underwear is really dirty (eww!), that doesn't weigh 16 oz either.
Interestingly, I did hear of another parent who wanted a naked weight of his kid. He didn't get it.
------
You have to listen for your call
Martial arts tournaments are very noisy places. You have to keep a copy of the schedule handy, keep track of the time, and LISTEN for the grand master to call your event to the holding area. We even put names of missing competitors over the loud speakers 3 times, with the phrase, "Last call for . . . . "
People still missed their events. One mother got indignant with one of our volunteers, and wanted her kid to 1) compete alone (we had a lot of that actually, if there is no one else in your category for belt, gender, age, and weight, you compete alone and automatically win 1st place), and 2) to get at least a 3rd place medal (all competitors got at least a 3rd place medal; there were no losers at this tournament.)
One of the females in my category for forms and board breaking didn't show up for our event. Of course, we didn't compete until after 9pm. It had been a really long day and we were running about 3 hours behind. Guess she gave up
------
Lest Ye be (Mis)Judged
A common problem was scoring errors. First of all, you have to understand: while the judges are all experienced, they are volunteers. They actually do an excellent job and make very few mistakes.
The scorekeepers, however, (of which I was one) are another story. We do our best, but most of us had never done it before. The computer system for time keeping and scoring sparring was a little quirky.
Scoring for forms and board breaking was pretty simple: typical 10 point Olympic scale. 3 judges. Tally up their individual scores. Highest is 1st place, and so on.
We had calculators to crunch the numbers. Mine didn't work. I have a learning disability in math.
Result? Several oopsies. The judges were good about it. The parents didn't catch on, thank goodness.
After an event, the judges line up the competitors and announce, "First place! Second Place! Third Place!"
One of the sparring events was an exhibition match. No medals. However, there was still a clear winner, of course. So the judges announced it.
The coach had a fit. "Everyone first place!" His boy lost of course.
By the end, I was so tired and punchy, I was making a lot of mistakes on sparring scoring. I was scoring warnings that didn't happen, and missing extra points; forgetting to even start the computer timer when the competitors were already fighting. Oops.
But it was still a good tournament, and I had a good time. As a volunteer, they fed us lunch (we had a choice between pizza or authentic Korean food. I had the latter, and it was quite good).
Volunteers could take their breaks in one of the VIP rooms. This was box seating and gave us an excellent view of the tournament floor. It was quite nice.
As a volunteer, I had free run of the place. This included access to a bathroom the rest of the tournament was barred from because it was in the holding area. It was cleaner as a result, and no lines.
I also could take short cuts across the floor instead of forcing my way through the masses.I competed in two events: forms and board breaking. I took 2nd place in the former, and 1st place in the latter. Board breaking was esp cool because my head master was one of the judges in that ring, and ended up being my holder, so he got to see first hand how I did.
The judges accidentally switched my name with the other competitor, so I almost didn't get my first place, but the scorekeeper picked up on the error right away (actually so did both my competitor and I) and corrected it.The kick I did was jumping front snap kick. I do a short run, hike one knee high into the air as I jump and snap out a kick with my other leg. My foot hits the board from the underside (yes, I break the board with the TOP of my foot!).
Next time I compete, I'll be eligible to spar.
I had planned to bring my video camera and get video clips, but alas I forgot it in the heat of getting everything else ready this morning
I'm hoping to find some other sources.I think that's enough for now. I am very tired, and trying to unwind before bed.
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