In our daily TKD lives we come to class, we learn and practice new and familiar techniques, we interact with our classmates and go home. This level of experience is enriching to the participant in proportion to what they put in it—in other words, You get our what you put in. If the same individual decides to put themselves on the line by participating in a tournament, they will feel a greater sense of urgency to:
(1.) Know their form as well as they possibly can and
(2.) Be comfortable with a varied set of tools and circumstances in the sparring arena.
In short, one will need to step up their game to prepare for a tournament. In so doing , they will enhance their knowledge (mental), spend more time interacting with their fellow martial artists (emotional) and develop a greater skill level (physical); all with the tools which are currently available to them which weren’t fully utilized before. One may ask, “Couldn’t someone experience this without committing to a tournament?” and, yes, that may be the case, however, one will be far more successful in having a meaningful TKD experience if they incorporate a tangible goal—like medaling or participating in a tournament.
Then come the benefits of the actual tournament participation. Aside from the obvious attainment of a medal or trophy, one will surely be rewarded with the self confidence that comes from preparing for a challenge and meeting it head on. There is also a great social side effect of becoming familiar with a grander picture of martial artists all across our state, country and world who, for the most part, do what we do at MTC, train to be the best possible martial artist and person they each can possibly be.
So, decide, train, participate and grow.
