The Basingstoke Novice Tournament
The Basingstoke Novice Tournament was the first one I’d actually looked forward to. All the fun of watching people batter away at one another, with no chance of being injured myself! I think I was alone in my excitement, though. The couch journey there was one of quiet reflection and meditation. We arrived - ooh - only about an hour early, and amused ourselves with racist comments towards Colin - all in the name of fun, you understand.
Eventually the tournament began. The first section was devoted entirely to Poomsae, and amidst awful renditions of numerous patterns and even hand techniques (yes, you heard me correctly; hand techniques at a patterns competition) our very own Whitney stepped up to the mat. Whitney showed the audience the meaning of focus and technique, and quite literally cained her opponent in a non-violent way to win Portsmouth Uni our first gold of the day. Go Whitney!
In short order, sparring began. But it was about a three hour wait until our first fight. Time was spent wisely, dining on McDonalds (by myself and Lew anyway) and some run-of-the-mill tom-foolery.
Then without our knowledge, Whitney’s fight was pushed forward three or more rounds, and we were greeted with the announcement “you will be disqualified if you are not on the mat in thirty seconds!” Harsh, to say the least, as Whitney didn’t even have her body armour on yet. But in a costume change only Superman could beat, she made it to the mat in good time. I had been elected cameraman, as I was not competing (regrettably), and so was ringside for the performance. What ensued was an even match. Whitney fought really well, her technique especially was commendable, and this one really went down to the wire as (and correct me if I’m wrong) it was 6-6 at the end of time. In the words of Anne Robinson; “let’s play…Sudden Death!” Or Golden Kick, which naturally only lasts a matter of seconds, and unfortunately for Whitney it was her opponent who landed to killing blow. Bad luck to her, but hey, a gold and a silver medal isn’t bad. And apologies from Colin who has corrupted the video of your fight and has lost it forever!
A bit more of a wait for the girls to finish, and then it was the blokes turn to flex their muscles and strut their stuff. Enter Colin and Luke, unfortunately drawn against one-another as there was no one else in their category. Luke’s had around twelve years of experience in Karate tournaments, but this was his first Taekwondo appearance. On the other hand Colin had numerous bouts under his belt and had the upper hand experience-wise, but who was going to claim their first gold medal in a TKD fight? Answer - Luke. Colin’s collection of consolation medals grows, but it was a decided improvement this time. For starters, Colin did not attempt to pummel the opposition into mush with his firsts (until the end) and both fighters exhibited good technique and fighting finesse. A close contest, and one that did our Uni proud.
We had another debut, that of Reuben, who informed us he’d only been training for seven weeks, or something like that. I remember what was going through my head before my first fight, and I sympathise with him. But then again he didn’t have to endure two head-shots and a split lip. But nevertheless. All I want to say about this fight is, if I didn’t know him, I wouldn’t have thought this was Reuben’s first fight. After only seven weeks of training the ability and technique he showed was astonishing, and although he lost to his opponent, his silver medal was well deserved. A bright future ahead, me thinks. Well done, Reuben.
Next came Chris (if my chronological memory serves me), and the first of two fights for him, the lucky bugger. It was a shame there were no headshots, as we all know how flexible Chris is, but even so he proved he was just as deadly on the midsection. The fight began evenly, and at halftime it was 5-3 in his opponent’s favour. Chris fought on bravely, but his opponent’s counter-attacks were just too much finished 9-3, but another silver medal well-deserved.
Following Chris came another tall, leggy brute of a man, Ed (or Mr. Echo as we’ve affectionately named him), and funnily enough had to fight the same opponent. Ed began the fight in much the same way as he has done in previous fights, and soon found himself behind. But instead of falling even further into oblivion, Ed carried out a brief rain dance (watch the video and you’ll understand what I mean - even though the sound is from Scott and Rob’s fight, another of Colin’s errors), and some divinity intervened and blessed Ed with God-like powers. Like a man possessed Ed roared and stared down his opponent, forcing him to make mistakes and forget those deadly counter-attacks. Ed proceeded to score point after point and got the match to 5-3 before his opponent ‘injured’ his foot and pulled out. We all know he was just too scared! But a round of applause to Ed. He managed to turn the fight around and come back from behind to smash the living daylights out of his opponent, and get revenge for Chris. If Ed keeps it up, he’ll be one to watch in the future. Good man.
Next up was another Portsmouth Uni showdown, this time our resident red tags Scott and Rob. Like Chris, I imagine Scott was a little annoyed about using headshots (although that didn’t stop him - we all saw that stunning back hook kick!), but to our surprise he was given several warnings about low kicks. You do the maths. It took about a minute before the scores were opened, and from that moment on Scott progressed up from 1 to 6-0, and we all felt that it was about to finish with a white-wash, but Rob scored a point back, and then another. In the mean time a couple of high kicks, including said back hook kick, from Scott dropped his tally down and it was 4-2. We all wondered if the biggest come-back in history was about to take place, but Scott snatched another point and held out until the final whistle and the match ended 5-2. I think it would be fair to say that neither competitor achieved their potential, but it was their first WTF tournament, though, so we’ll let them off. Good fight guys, and another gold for Portsmouth Uni!
After what probably felt to him like a brief respite, Chris was back in the ring. Chris soon fell two points behind, then managed to get one back before half time. Whether it was Steven’s half time coaching tips, of inspiration from Ed’s earlier performance, he managed to turn his match around. Chris managed to take the fight to his opponent and came away the victor at 4-3. Gold and a silver, can’t complain. Well done, Chris!
Up next, the penultimate fight, and the one I’d been looking forward to all day: Nathan versus Lewis, the rematch! This had been hyped up all day (mostly by me), and finally it had arrived. Coming off a 3-1 defeat from last time Lew had a lot to do, whereas Nathan had the confidence from that win, and the gold medal he eventually achieved. But what followed was not the fight most were expecting. It started off evenly, making its way up to 2-2. And then Nathan threw a few high kicks (like the dirty cheater he is) as lost a point. Lew then scored another and went off at half time with a 3-1 lead. Pity for him that wasn’t the end of it. As the fight continued Lew kept his lead up until 5-3, and then was deducted a point of his own for shoulder-barging. Then I think stamina, or lack of it, played a big part in the final thirty seconds of the fight, and Nathan managed to score a couple of points and successfully defended his title. 5-4. A lot closer than last time, resonant of a decided improvement by Lew. A well-deserved silver medal, and another gold for Portsmouth Uni.
Last fight time. Alex was up, our seventeen stone goliath. In the past Alex has struggled a bit, due to, like most of us, lack of stamina, and also because of his asthma. But he really pulled one out of the bag this time! I think this had to be the most professional performance of the day. He went a point down early on, but his opponent had it deducted for gesturing at the referee. Following this Alex used methodical and tactical kicking, not wasting his energy, only striking when there was a target, including a push kick that sent his opponent flying. The crowd loved that one! And he found himself 2-0 up at half time. He came back out in the second round and continued with the same formula. What do they say? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Alex proved how very true that is. It wasn’t long before it was 6-0 and he only needed one more point. We were shouting and screaming, but he thought we were just being weird because there was still a whole minute left. Even the referee had no idea how close he was to winning, as after Alex did score the seventh point, he left the fight go on a few more seconds. But eventually Alex’s triumph was realised, and we had our first white-wash, 7-0 to Alex. Legend. What a brilliant end to the day.
The bus journey home was enjoyed in much higher spirits than the one in the morning, and most of us went for a few drinks and then onto Pizza Hutt and really made a day of it.
What a good day for the team though. Seven gold medals, but more importantly, ten excellent performances! Everyone fought really well and did the club proud. Looking forward to Cambridge now where I’ll be joining in the fighting and hopefully we can do just as well.
MOTM: Oh my God how difficult this is! With so many great first fights and improvements. I think it’s gotta go to Reuben for such a great performance after only seven weeks training. But also a special mention to Ed for his terrorising come-back, and to Alex for totally obliterating his opponent.
DOTD: It’s gotta be Nathan for his dirty cheating. But besides that there wasn’t anything bad to comment on, except maybe Colin’s dodgy editing and stuff, and maybe my commentary.
Anyhow, that’s enough from me.
Peace.
Russ
