Our students had a wonderful experience today at the first-ever Sah Doh Kuk Sul Open Tournament in Peoria at Concordia Lutheran School.
One of the draws for our students to this was that this event was more local than other events we typically attend in Springfield, Decatur, and even Bloomington.
How Our Competition Team Placed
- Ella: 3rd in Forms
- Broen: 2nd in Sparring
- Sensei Adam: 1st in Forms, 1st in Weapons, 1st in Sparring
Our students, Ella and Broen, had their first tournament experience together. Neither had competed before today.
Ella competed in a green belt forms division with Pinan Sandan, and Broen competed in a brown belt sparring division.
Both are excited to compete again in the future.
Watch Sensei Adam Compete In Forms, Weapons, and Sparring
Forms: Matsumura Hakutsuru Dai
This is one of our signature white crane forms that our students learn at black belt level.
Weapons: Bo 1 and Bo 2
I picked up on a comment made by our style head, Mr. Matt Molineux, when I visited him in 2024, in which he said he used to run our first two bo forms as a single form in competition.
I tried that here, and I liked it!
Sparring
Some More Thoughts On This Event
The judges put the competitors first. Sometimes, judges can let ego or ignorance get in the way of being good judges. I didn’t see that at this tournament. In my experience, everybody was there to make sure the competitors got the most out of their day. I had a few students in my ring get a little banged up from clashing legs and some strike I didn’t even see, but nobody left bleeding or seriously injured that I know of.
This event is small, and that’s a good thing for competitors and spectators. That means it’s not as crowded as some other tournaments, and the spotlight gets to stay on the athletes.
Today was a day of “first time in a long time” for me. I haven’t competed in point sparring in a tournament in more than a decade (2013 in Davenport, Iowa, to be exact). It was nice to do that again. I also got to be the center judge for a ring—I believe the last time I was a center judge was for a tournament in Galesburg in 2015. I tried to make sure students had fun, were safe, and parents could get good photo ops with their kids.
Mr. Mitchell announced at the conclusion of this event that he plans to hold another tournament on the last Saturday of April going forward.
Mark your calendars!
