First Dojo post

For the first dojo post, I will talk about the West Coast Tai Kai.
First off the winners :
Ron Duponte - First place (shodan and under cutting)
Henry Kim - Third place (shodan and under cutting) Third place (shodan and under kata)
Sang Kim - First place (yondan and up cutting) Third place (yokonarabi) and Fourth place (dodan cutting)

Comments - I've been watching the videos from the Tai Kai, and I must say everyone really kept their composure and even when things didn't turn out the way we wanted, we didn't pout nor show it.

Couple of things -
Dodan cutting -
a) remember to keep your ass in. If you stick out your ass when you cut, you take out the "weight" behind the cut.
b) cut big! remember the acceleration of the cut should happen above your head not right before it hits the target
c) keep your hands down the middle and push down. My second time doing dodan, i shift my shoulders a bit to the right thus taking away some of the momentum of the cut.

Tameshigiri -
a) everyone did really well. Kept their cool and just kept going.
b) remember to pace yourself and your cuts. Sometimes it's hard to keep your pace when your heart is racing but especially on cuts like rokudangiri, spacing is of the upmost importance
c) don't switch swords at the last minute, better to go in with something you're comfortable with than something that looks shinier

Kata -
a) timing and smoothness are some of the things that the judges are most critical about
b) on nukitsuke, remember jo ha kyu!!!!
c) try not to lean forward on the draw and try to maintain a nice straight posture

For some of you, this was your first tai kai. You now have an experience on what to expect and what you're up against. We don't train for tai kai's, it's just another day of training. However, it helps you gauge where you are compared to others. None of us should be satisfied with where they are including me.

As happy as I am of the dojo's accomplishments though, I'm happier about what people said about our dojo. They all said we have a good spirit and our heart is right. We have good manners. A person can learn technique but a person cannot learn spirit or heart. Thank you for representing our dojo in a good light. Let's continue to improve and show them at these tai kais' that we might be a young dojo, but they can't push us around.