This past weekend our team has participated in 27th Annual Colorado Karate Classic. It was a great chance for Okinawa Karate students to check their skills that they have been sharpening at the Dojo every day.
The team has demonstrated great spirit and karate techniques. Milla Khodjaev, Maria Gladkih and Anton Livits became champions in their divisions! Daniel Skhisov and Oybek Lapasov both showed a strong performance coming close to the medal round. Michael Pogrebitskiy chose to compete in a black belt division and furiously fought but missed by only a few scores to a gold medalist of his division. In the adult category our team was represented by Arturo Fuentes. Arturo was judging the first half of the event in the morning. Switching his suit and tie to his gi and gloves in the afternoon he spectacularly defeated all of his opponents and brought a gold medal for the team!
The coaching team was always there for the athletes. Denis Gladkih, Vitaly and Alex Padalka helped the competitors warm up and stay focused throughout the matches! Families and friends were there to share the emotions of victories and defeats with the participants.
Competitions are important milestones for athletes in any sport. First, they help you to set a particular goal to strive for in your everyday training. Then they give you a feeling of excitement for the big day as it gets closer which makes you want to train harder. And finally the big day arrives. All the training is in the past. You are on a field/track/tatami and now it is time to show the best of what you have learned. You do not always win. Or we should say you do not always win a medal. What you win is an experience. It is always rewarding to enjoy a celebratory piece of cake, but more important is to analyze your previous training and if anything needs to be changed about it.
Regardless of good or bad results you should not stop training. If you are good now you can forget your skill and lose a fight tomorrow and if you are not as good now you can train yourself and become the best tomorrow.
The full name of the martial art is Karate-Do where “Do” means “a way”. Never stop walking your way. It may be taking you a hard way uphill at this moment but it may lead you to a peak with a beautiful view soon.
Photo credit from the tournament goes to Denverok.com
