What a great tournament! The JKS open was held in Nottingham and was well attended by the JKS and other associations such as ourselves. The standard was very high and it was difficult to progress through the rounds. I was in the 19 years and over 3rd kyu to dan grade category. It wasn't easy. The guys I were against were organised, disciplined and good. A wobble on Heian Yondan cost me the kata, I think, and a very fast opponent knocked me out of the second round of the kumite. However, I felt far more comfortable then I did in Italy and I was more relaxed during the kumite.
I think being relaxed is the most important thing about competition. If you are, in anyway, tense then your performance will suffer. I feel that competition is the area of karate that will offer me the greatest challenge, particularly after I pass my Shodan. There are times when I am pushed during training but nine times out of ten I am in a comfort zone that I can only escape from with my own will and determination. In competition, so far, I have been totally out classed and this feeling I like. It reminds me of when I first restarted my training and everyone was so much better than me. In that situation, you have to try hard if you want to improve, if you want to progress past the mediocre. And so, for this reason, I will hopefully be doing more competitions in the future.
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