So yesterday was the Midwest American Kyuki-do Federation Tournament. It made for a very long day, and was the first one of these tournaments that I had been to. A little background:
Kyuki-do is a a martial art that is a combination of the strikes of TaeKwon-Do, the throwing and grappling techniques of Judo and Juijitsu, the joint locks of HapKi-Do, and the practice of kobudo (traditional weapons) into one art. I started my oldest daughter in a Park District class about 18 months ago and she has picked it up and enjoyed it. I promised her that I would do the same, and picked it up in June. While we have a long way to go yet, it is a lot of fun and is good for her particularly. It’s always nice to know that your six year old knows how to break a choke hold, and drop an opponent to their knees with a wrist lock.
As I said, yesterday was the tournament. Big crowd. An open event for the midwest, with eight rings going simultaneously. Crowded, chaotic, stressful, and competitive. Four events, breaking, free fighting, forms, and weapons. The broke each event into divisions by age group and then subgroups based on belt achievements. I had the misfortune of stepping up in belt divisions a few weeks ago, and wound up being the least experienced participant in my events. But we had a tremendous amount of fun. My daughter got to wear her pink sparring gear, even if she did get knocked out of her bracket early in the tournament.
I managed a fourth place in free fighting and was farther down in the forms competition. A bit humbling but, next time I have a better idea of what to expect. Needless to say, today the body is a bit bent. I connected with one opponent, when we kicked at each other simultaneously and I had my toes mispositioned at contact. Just like taking a puck to the toes, they were painful and then numb for a bout ten minutes. Today, the toes on my left foot are nicely purple, and yellow back to the first joint on my foot. Typical. I also banged my thumb up. Swollen and sore at the joint but no rainbow like colors.
Here’s a quick idea of the event.
There were four distinct “rings” established on each side of the gym floor.
We had a lot of fun, I hope everyone else did as well.