News 2007

INTA Open 3.-4.3.2007
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Irish National Taekwon-Do Association arranged an annual competition in Dublin. I went there with the big gun of Espoo, Matti Miinala. The main goal of the trip was to gain experience and test certain things in real situation as well as to get in the ring with world champion Ciaran Ryan. Compared to the objectives the trip was very successful for me. The soldier of misfortune, Matti, however unfortunately injured his knee already in warm-up and didn't get touch into anything else than a local hospital.

The black belt competition took place on Sunday and since we flew there already on Friday we had a chance to spare some freetime at my sister's place in Arklow. Luckily the weigh-in was arranged already on Friday and I didn't have to suffer longer than that. Ciaran made his weight at the same time and was very fair to drive us to my sister's workplace. Without his help we would probably have wondered around Dublin in different kinds of means of public transport. During the drive we had a good chance to talk about this and that and go through important political questions of the world. We spent the first night at my sister's and on Saturday we went to a local gym to get rid of the stiffness of the trip. In the evening my sister and his boyfriend Gordon drove us to our hotel at Dublin to prepare for the competition day on Sunday.

Patterns 

When the colour belt competition eventually was finished we had been hanging around at the competition place already for five hours. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, since that's what you gotta be prepared for in any competition. I think I managed quite well to "wake myself up" quite well, the warm-ups went well and the technique felt quite all right too. The purpose of this competition was once again to be a place to test pattern Juche that I've practiced the most lately. The speciality in this competition was that women and men competed in same divisions in patterns. The belt categories were in use, though. I was up right away in the first couple. My opponent forgot his pattern in the very beginning, so I got to do my own thing all alone under the eyes of the umpires and the audience, which was actually quite nice. The designated pattern was Choong Moo, which went an average way and I got to the next round. This time I faced Michelle Redmond from the Scotland female team. My Juche went according to the current level, which means that it could be better. The power in the hand techniques are in my opinion close to almost good, though. Designated pattern was Yul Gok, where the neighbour got a bit confused, did a couple of wrong movements and quit. So I went on to the next round. This time I faced a Belgian that also did Juche. He had really good leg-control. Apart from this there was some scrubbiness in the techniques. My own performance wasn't the best possible, in the first slow side kick I almost lost my balance bad and the technique almost stopped. Designated pattern was Hwarang, even though I'd wished for something more complicated. This pattern went pretty well, however. The umpires raised flags 3-2 for the Belgian and so I was left on the 3rd place. I don't feel too sorry about that, since I got what I came for, the good testing for Juche. In the final the Belgian won a Scotman. 

In sparring the league-system was in use. In the first fight I faced a Belgian that had long legs and sidekick favouring style. In the beginning I was a bit in trouble with him and didn't take the command as I should have. Once the guy hit me on the side with a sidekick so that I almost ran out of air. I managed to get over it, though, so that he or the umpires didn't notice the good hit. By the end of the fight the opponent got pretty badly tired, whereas my own condition seemed to be good enough to keep the pace up. In my opinion I managed to turn the game in the punching situations and so I took the win. In the second bout I had the fortune to get in the ring with Ciaran Ryan, the reason why I took the trip in first place. Ciaran's style is not that complicated, but rather straightforward and he does his thing very well. In long range he's like at home and very strong. I gave him too much space and initiative and though the fight was quite even the champion took the win. Ciaran won also the Belgian and so the two of us went to the semifinals from our pool. I met an Irish in my semifinal. He was shorter than me and I knew I shouldn't be in too much trouble against him. From now on the fights were 2x2 minutes, so I spared my strength for the final when the game started to go my way. Besides I had some problems with my stomach, which made me feel a bit weak. I didn't have much trouble in the semifinal bout and I fought rather passively, testing some counter techniques. Ciaran made his way to the final too, so I got a chance for a four-minute renewal with the champ. Ciaran got only a couple of minutes to recover from his semifinal fight and he got a bit tired to the end of the fight. The fight went on quite evenly. I moved to the backside of my opponent, which made it more difficult for him to engage his attacks. My own startings of attacks, however, were often half-way and uncertain, and didn't do much good. Changing of punches mostly happened after Ciaran's inititative and the first hit is usually the one that's more visible to the umpires. Both also got some kicks to mid-section. In hand situations we were quite even, Ciaran dominated with his long punches from a distance and I managed to rumble at close distance. At the end of the first round my right hook met Ciaran's chin heavily enough that he had to take a short timeout and I got a minuspoint for heavy contact. The second round went on pretty much the same as the first one, but by the end of the round Ciaran got tired pretty bad and I tried very hard to get the points needed. However, the Irish tied skillfully when I got close and the potential situations dried up. Ciaran took the victory with 3 - one vote even and I have to wait for the next possibility to make it even.

After the competition I've went through the video material and summary of the day's events has shaped inside my head. I've also recieved valuable feedback from my own coach and the national team coaches. My thought is that this competition filled is purpose at this time of the season very well. Dieting, travelling, recovering from the trip, spending the time on the day before the competition, excitement, anxiety and dealing with them, mental preparation, handling the incnoveniences in the schedule, warm-ups, concentrating, performing, nutrition of a competition day, fatigue and overcoming it, disappointments and successes... That's what competing is and the experiences in INTA Open are without a doubt benefitial in the competitions to come. I spotted from the video that there are some weird things in my patterns that I have to work on. On the other hand some old weaknesses are now stronger. In sparring the things practiced at the national team camps don't happen in competition yet, there's some uncertainty, moving tends to get forgotten totally sometimes and more speed is needed. On the other hand certain shyness that has bothered me before is overcome and the rounds sparred with the big guys has brought some toughness. There's stil a lot work to be done with the weaknesses, but I believe that it'll be better already in Viking Cup at the end of the month. Now I still heal the small injuries I got in the ring and concentrate on the competition in Sweden.