Reading between the lines of the Dec. 1st  Sparring contest

1. Wow, not  too many 1st place Team One wins.

2. A second or third place may 'look' good (to me, it's first or nothing), but keep in mind, there could have only been two or three people in that ring depending on age, height, rank.

3. Doherty's students were divided by location, not by instructor. Four groups of students instead of one can really dilute the wins.  Maybe he let Shawn divide up his students because he feels sorry for him. He's really branched out. Now Shawn. He's still weird. Both of them actually.

4. Mr. Hodo couldn't win? He's been there forever. Even with my allergies--the smell!!!!   Poor Brad. We may have the makings of a future Huggy on our hand. One poor girl probably had a hard time because of anxiety. She has to be home schooled and I wouldn't have risked another breakdown. I wonder how long before she quits. Again.  I should do a post on the wacky characters. No, 'wacky' carries too many positive connotations. There are a lot of dysfunctional people there. Gee, I wonder why.

5. The years' standings. Right. This was really the only tournament of the year. The other one, way back in the spring, was really the championship from the previous year. I know it's confusing, I only report it. They let people who had not qualified for the championship enter the tournament and spar just for the heck of it because they needed the money.

6. The point sparring that Shawn does is worthless. Slip a light tap through and you win. At these tournaments, you are absolutely not allowed to hit to the head. I spent four years living by those rules and now I am conditioned to pay no attention to protecting my head. It's a really hard habit to break. Sure they wear headgear (again, Shawn needed the money so he came up with that rule and sold a lot of headgear. Very temporary fix; real business people would know that. Duh) but that's only only in case of an accident. Dance around, tap each other and try to sneak something in. Fun, but horrible for self-defense.

7. Even if you win at this tournament, it's just a group of misfit schools that get together; it's not put on by an official group that can confer a prestigious title. This is in no way an open tournament. Islanders, for example, could not compete there. Neither can any other top-notch local school. The tournaments are run by weirdos and it shows. The parents are so far away that they can't see or even tell what is happening. At some tournaments, judges are calling anything as a point. It's obvious that they are trying to get out in a short amount of time in order to save money. Crazy.