Quote:
Originally Posted by 47MartialMan  Yeah. The flyer that reads "Open to All Styles", really means open to all with money to participate. |
True enough. We used to joke that SOME flyers ought to have fine print at the bottom saying something like this,
"All styles are invited to spend as much money on entry fees as possible. All styles are welcome, though all kung fu practioners will have at least a 1 point deduction to thier scores before competing. It is entirely likely that kung fu practioners will be judged by people with no idea of what kung fu is supposed to look like then given advice by those same people on how to enhance the performance. It is also likely that your weapon forms and sparring will be judged by people with no weapon experience of any kind. Sparring will be light to medium contact unless you are wearing a kung fu uniform, then competitors are allowed to hit you as hard as possible. Thank you for your money and have a good time."
Not all open tourneys were like this obviously, but too many were. It was nice to go into a biased "open" tourney and sweep everything we entered. Used to make some of the karate people red faced
It also taught our beginning people to be satisfied with doing your best in a competition and not to worry about if you win or not. Helped to keep many of them from becoming nervous before competing and just go out and do what they do.