Competition & Demos
 While I never was one of those guys that went to every tournament I could find, I did compete in quite a few as my schedule permitted. I enjoy the comradery with others in the martial arts at the tournaments and of course, the competitive nature of the events. Tournaments can give you a great goal out there to train for and offer you a way of gauging your progress as you improve in the arts.
I don't consider them to be a litmus test for how good you are overall as a martial artist, or even how well you can defend yourself on the street... tournaments are a sport, nothing more. They can tell you how good you are at that given sport, provided you stay within the rules and guidelines of each event. In the real world, there are rarely any rules, guidelines, organizations or politics, so things will often play out different there than how they do in the street. Nonetheless, I think martial arts tournaments are a great activity and help raise awareness of the sport and martial arts in general. Below are just a few photographs from some of the tournaments I have attended in the past.
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A look at tournaments
Competition events and divisions vary quite a bit from one tournament to the next depending on the size of the event and the organization putting it on. Generally there are at least four main categories: Kata, Weapons Kata, Synchronized Kata and Kumite.
 The three kata events are choreographed training routines, much like a cross between shadow boxing and gymnastics. Standard Kata is a done solo and empty handed. Weapons kata is done solo with the weapon of your choice. Synchronized Kata can be done empty handed or with weapons, but anywhere from 2-3 competitors or more do the same routine in synchronized fashion.
 Kumite is a controlled sparring match using a point system (usually 3-5 points). It can varying levels of contact depending on the age or skill level, but usually allows only light contact. Lower belts are rarely allowed to make any contact to the head whatsoever for safety reasons. The adult male Black Belt divisions can get a little more relaxed on contact restrictions with medium contact being quite normal and an occasional "incident" of unintentional full contact.
In addition to these events, larger tournaments often offer Musical Kata, Self-Defense Routines and Breaking Demos. In any case, you are normally separated into divisions by sex, age group and belt ranking to keep the competition as fair as possible.
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Public Karate demonstrations give the dojo an opportunity to reach out to the community and offer both education and entertainment at a variety of events, while also helping to promote the school and find new students.
These demos are put on by students and instructors alike, ranging from small children to seasoned Black Belt masters. Audiences are often even given the opportunity to participate in some performances adding interactivity and a sense of authenticity to the events.
 Performances range from simply doing Katas/Forms, to Kumite and Self-Defense demonstrations, and ultimately more advanced and impressive activities that require immense concentration, conditioning and practice. Don't try these ones at home folks!
Some of the more advanced performances include board breaking, driving a nail through a board with your hand, block breaking on your chest while on a bed of nails, etc. The big finale at all of our dojo's demonstrations is when GrandMaster Annarino slices a cucumber off of the stomach of 4 volunteers, with a razor-sharp Samurai sword... while blindfolded! That one is always a crowd pleaser and has even put Sensei Annarino into the "Guinness Book of World Records" and "Ripley's Believe it or Not!"
 Again, in the immortal words of the late martial arts and film superstar, Bruce Lee... "Boards don't hit back!" This is true, however one learns a degree of focus, power, control and ability to block out fear and/or pain, which they can carry on with them into not only their other martial arts endeavors, but also all aspects of life. "Stunts" as one might call them are merely another training tool to help you develop a set of skills, much like a barbell is to a weight lifter or punching bag to a boxer.
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Competing Internationally
 In 1998 and 1999 I was fortunate enough to compete in international competition as a member of AKJU Team America. Both years I competed in the Irish Cup, which was actually held here in the United States in 1998, then in Dublin, Ireland in 1999. Since then, it has been held in a number of different countries in Europe. Click the link below to learn more on AKJU Team America and my participation in the Irish Cup events.
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