Tournament

The Hwa Rang Do tournament yesterday was scheduled to have kids competing in the morning, adults starting about 1, finishing about 6 and party starting at 7. Yeah, right. Adults didn't start too terribly late - maybe 2? But the competition went until about 11:30. I got there at 1, went home about 5 for an hour or so, and finally left at 10.

HRD devotees are very proud of the variety their particular martial arts style includes. And this tournament certainly showcased a wide variety. Jason competed in pretty much every category.

Weapons form. Jason did a terrific form and placed second out of about 14.

This is from his open-had form. The only event in which he did not place (but then, he will tell you forms are not his strong suit).

Sparring. He took second in a really close championship match.

Grappling. It was amusing because both of them were smiling. This was the championship bout, and it was a rematch from last year. Brett won last year, Jason took it this year. With the same ankle lock.

This is fighting with (bamboo) swords - wearing gear reminiscent of samurai. Jason took second. I believe he's on the right, but it's kind of hard to tell.

This is the multiple sword event. Jason (on the right) has 2 short swords while his opponent has one short and one long. He won this match. I left after that, but I understand he took 3rd place in this, and in the event that followed, where he fought with the same type of staff that he used in the weapons form.

I have to end with one of the medal photos since Jason made quite a few trips to this stand. And by the way, he and Russ built the stand for tournament last year.

Tomorrow I'm taking the day off for no apparent reason, except that I have to use up some vacation time before the end of the year.