This year’s the Sunshine Coast Regional Chito-Ryu Tournament was held 21 June at Kawana Waters State College. It was a little bit smaller than previous years in terms of competitor numbers, but the standard of competition is getting much higher. I think the smaller numbers can be attributed largely to the fact that many interstate competitors that our event normally attracts are planning on coming later in the year when we host the national championships in October.
This year the ICKFA, our national association is working on redeveloping our tournament rules in order to make the experience better for everyone, competitors, spectators and officials. At our tournament we introduced a few rule adjustments to start trialing and I personally was very happy with the results and look forward to seeing the effects over the longer term.
In kata competition, we started using a new scoring system which sees each judges score performances according to a different sub-set of scoring criteria. In the past, all judges have tried to judge all aspects of the performance which is both challenging for judges and makes it difficult for competitors to stand out from one another. Under the new scoring system, each judge is looking at different aspects of the performance, and once competitors start to learn more about how the scoring system works, they will start to get more specific feedback from the judges about their performance just by looking at the scores and be encouraged to lift the standard of their performance and in turn develop a deaper understanding of the fundamentals of Chito-Ryu.
With kumite, we trialled a smaller ring size 6x6m and different positioning of the competitors. Additionally, we went back to referee, mirror judge and arbitrator (scorer). The smaller ring size is going to take a little bit of getting used to for competitors that have been around for a while, but so far the feedback has been good. Due to the smaller amount of space there was a lot more action as there was less room for fighters to sit back and relax.
There are going to be more rule changes to be introduced, but so far so good.
Now for those who were there, here are the results from the 2009 Sunshine Coast Chito-Ryu Karate Tournament.
And, here are a few photos, thanks to Helen O’Grady and everyone who borrowed her camera on the day of the tournament. You can find lots more via my profile on Facebook.
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