Ugh...well, the DVC was NOT our school's best showing by far. First off, the only people from Lake Placid who showed up were myself and Dr. Z. It WAS a 3.5 hour drive each way, but STILL. It's one of only two annual tournaments anywhere near the area.
Anyway, not only did only two of us compete, neither one of us did well at all. First off was kata. I forgot Chinto part of the way through. I tried to fake it, but I fooled no one, earning fourth place (i.e. last) from all of the judges.
That then set me up to be all frazzled and psyched out for sparring, which was immediately after. I not only didn't win any fights, I didn't get A SINGLE POINT. There was a long wait for weapons after that, and I considered not competing in that event at all considering what kind of day I was having, but Dr. Z talked me back into it.
I watched the other two competitors first, and realized I had a pretty damn good chance of taking first. I went up, and gave a pretty good performance (although I had a couple slight missteps) and got second place all around from the judges. So yay, my first silver in martial arts! (And several people actually thought I should have gotten first.)
Dr. Z had an even tougher day. After judging all morning (as black belts are required to do), his first event was weapons, which is usually his best. Although he did his bo kata as usual and it looked awesome as usual, he took last place, beat out by two people with flashier but much last practical kata. I personally think it had to do a LOT with the school the judges on that particular panel were from.
This psyched him out enough that he then went and FORGOT CHINTO AS WELL. Unbelievable. Both of us forgot it. He fudged it well enough to beat out one guy and take third place out of four.
His final event was sparring. Unfortunately his first round was with a former professional fighter who hit him so hard so many times his head was spinning at the end. This left him unable to beat a guy that he usually would have creamed in the second round.
So, not the greatest day for either of us, but there's plenty of time to practice and prepare for the Northeast Open next summer. In the meantime, I have to admit that I'm VERY happy to have a break from competing (in THREE sports) until canoe racing starts up again in April.
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