Returning to the Mat at the BUTL

Competition Report

So I'm going write about my experience because it's my blog and I like to look back on these point-in-time snapshot of my thoughts when I need to remind myself why I am doing something. I have never competed in an ITF Patterns competition. Up until a month ago, I didn't think I would ever seriously perform an ITF pattern again. Well, I changed my mind. When I was told by the university students that this particular competition was open to alumni participants. I knew that with one month to prepare, I had absolutely zero chance of winning (this was also reinforced when I was drawn first round to the current reigning UK ITF National Champion and eventual competition winner). My goal was to get myself back into training more seriously and at least make it through a couple of forms start to finish. Whilst I made a mistake in our team form and threw our group timing off, I achieved my goal in indivual forms. Yes, the picture above is a low-res flattering screenshot from a video; but I completed the form with the correct movements, my kicks felt good, and the overall rhythm was at least 'similar' to the true elite competitors. My next goal is to re-learn ALL of my ITF patterns so that I can legitimately compete. Even if I made it into a medal winning match, I was lucky that I was asked to perform two out of the possible three forms I currently remember. Otherwise I'd just have to take the L and perform something I know with pride. For context, my last ITF class would have been in 2008 when preparing for my 2nd degree black belt grading. After I passed my 2nd Dan, I have exclusively trained WT Taekwondo.

Forms competition

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