Otsuka Memorial Taikai !!!! 2008. Success!

Hi all.

Looks like I actually slacked off on the last post. It still hasnt happened.
Ill try to keep this short since its already 2.35am and I should have slept ages ago. Not to mention I got up *early* today just for the Taikai.

So yea, since today was such an awesome day, and I'm most likely to one day turn back and view this day. I've decided to record it down for my, and everyone elses convenience.

So yes, I get up at 9am today. Not especially late to alot of people out there. But heck, for a person who usually wakes up at 11-12 during this holidays, its pretty early to me. Mess around at home, and let David up to my place circe 9.20. Had breakfast, cooked both of us egg sandwiches (mine had ham added ) around 10. Was supposedly going to leave my place by 10.15. But heck, I suddenly realised I had taken my shinai apart the night before, and left it under my bed to have it retied. So yes, I haul it out from under the bed, only to findcertain parts missing.

:(
This was pretty bad shit.
Luckily I had a screwed up unuseanle shinai in my wardrobe that I keep for its parts. So I strip it apart, grab the bits I needed, had my 39' retied, and yep, we're rushing off to Kenshikan by 10.20++.

David did crazy shit, like cutting through Vic Market on a Sunday when its full =.=

Got to Kenshikan, got changed, chatted with Kin On in the changing room. Came out and got registered under :

Jeffrey Khor, UMKC, 5th Kyu

And so. I just literally stood around with the UMKC people and waited for the events to start. I was grouped with Jia Kiew ( Monash ), Jeremy ( Kenshikan ). Which wasnt too bad, considering I've indirectly met Jia Kiew at the UMKC Band Night along with other outtings or cross-UMKC-MUKC trainings.

So yea. We were the 3rd (or was it 4th team ) to compete. But since Im sleepy now, Im gonna cut the chatter and keep most of the writings simple.

1st fight was against Melissa ( Monash ). It was a pretty simple match, I didnt feel much pressure from her so I was able to do kendo in a rythm that suited me. To be frank, I actually went easy on her first, not being aggressive and all. But at a point it hit me that if I kept up with that attitude, she could just so easily score, and that would put me and the team into trouble.

So yea.... no fooling around.

Composed myself, and just do the same thing Thomas, Kevin.H, Andrew, Sensei and everyone else tells me to do : Good Kendo.

I seme in, and I just let loose a men cut. Kiai, zanshin and all.

Ippon. Sweet.

2nd cut was also a men, this one actually felt more like a winner. Though I somewhat have a suspicion that it didnt quite hit. The feeling of the fumikomi and everything was great. It felt soo good.

So yea, I win my match 2-0.
I cant remember what happens after that, but I think in the end. Both teams had 1 wins each, and 1 draw. However since I scored 2 points, while the opposing team scored a total of 1, we were onto the next round.

Success..

2nd match was against an unknown fellow (since he didnt have a zekken on). Like the first match, he wasnt too hard as well. You can tell roughly how the match will fare the moment you cross shinais. He was kind of waving it around, mentally was stronger then my first opponent, but he wasnt up to a level where I found him difficult.

Still, he was a tricky one. I couldnt get a number of cuts on him.
It wasnt until almost when the time ran out, when I made a men cut, and for some reason he opens his shinai wide open.

I see my shinais projectory and know its a sure hit. And I let my body do the rest.
Ippon!

But then again, since I spent most of the match doing shitty cuts. Time was up. I won my match, but personally I felt unsatisfied because it was a match that I could have gotten the 2-0. Not to mention that you never know when your team may be counting on you for those extra points to avoid the encho match.

The match goes well with Jia Kiew winning his respective bout, so yea, we've progressed!

*Somewhere around this point theres a lunch break. I dont each much, expect for a banana (thanks to David), and 2 slices of fruit umm bread, thanks to Sonny/Sunny (?!?), and half a sneakers bar (thanks to Kin On).

3rd match.
This was a tricky one.
I got to fight against Hiro's team. My opponent was Wilson ( Kenshikan). And yea, he was good. Not in the sense that he completely obliverated me, but he kept the pressure on me constant. I'd say in this match, he had a better advantage over me considering how he was in control of the situation for most of the time. I spend most of the match playing "pussy kendo", namely blocking and stuff, and making really bad cuts. Not to mention at this point, my bruise on my right heel starts to affect my fighting. As the match wears on, I start attempting to go for kote. My final cut was a debana kote, which I felt it might have been... so so ~~ considering I actually got his kote before his men cut struck me. Maybe it lacked zanshin, but it didnt appeal to the judges. So yea....

it was a draw.

* I would also like to comment on the fact that during the match, Wilson actually nicked a few hits. But what I just did was I ignored it and continued to move in on him, and he sorta went

"oh well...."
and dropped his zanshin. Maybe if he didnt do that, he may have scored on those cuts.

----I got lucky..------

So yes, it was a draw. Jia Kiew wins his match by 2 men cuts to nothing. And Hiro as expected trashes Jeremy. Not that Im saying Jeremy isnt good. But then again, hes only shodan. While Hiro is well.... Hiro. So yes, we go into encho, considering how we've won 1 match, lost 1, drew one, but the scores are the same as the other team. Jia Kiew wins a hard earned Men cut (though I was feeling pretty relaxed at that point because I knew he shouldnt have any problems delivering that ippon )


4th match. And yea, by this time, all other UMKC peeps have been knocked out from the tourney. So yea, looks like I actually have a good team. Its the semifinals. And a few interesting things to note are...

1. The person Im fighting isnt even a beginner. Hes actually of higher grade, but placed into the junior division due to numerical problems. ( Eric Kan of Monash if you're wondering.)

2. My team captain, is as usual fighting the opposing team captain. Who is also his girlfriend. @.@

What luck.
Anyway needless to say I get PWNED in this final round. 2 clean ippon men cuts on me. I couldnt get the chance to nail a cut. Either his pressure was too great, or he blocked it using a funny technique, which the only exposed bit to cut him using a gyaku-dou. Something I wasnt good with. So yea, EPIC LOSE!

Though I was actually laughing when he got the 2nd men cut. Since it was a really good fight (IMHO) and I felt glad that I lost to someone good. Instead of loosing to someone I could have beaten.