Tiger Challenge

Martial arts tournaments can be a mixed bag for an instructor. Competing in a tournament has the potential to break a student’s spirit or inspire them to new heights. The real value in the competition is found in the preparation. A pending tournament competition gives a student a sense of purpose in their training. Priorities shift to meet their goal and nothing narrows focus like a looming deadline. The possible downside to tournament competition is found in the event itself. All the preparation in the world cannot help you control the intangibles that come into play when you have different interpretations of the rules and standards while success or failure is based upon qualitative judgement as opposed to quantitative analysis.

SRKF’s intra-school Tiger Challenge tournament was a great success yesterday. Everyone had a great time and thanks to the efforts of my black belts, I believe it was a positive experience for everyone who competed. Sifus Playter, Rybak, and Vantuil were tireless leaders of their respective rings and they got all the competitors through their competitions quickly and safely. Sifu Csillag’s organizational skills made this year’s Tiger Challenge our best yet as he was prepared for everything and kept us on track. We all can also thank Sifu Langner and Mr. Repay for getting things started off the right foot with a strong lion dance - their first ever.

The big highlight for me this year was the strong sense of community that continues to prevail in our school. We all shared the day together as family and we raised almost $2000 for charity. It was a good day, a very good day.

“Without a sense of caring, there can be no sense of community.” - Anthony J. D’Angelo