One tournament season ends, and a new one begins…
Have you been to an NMAA tournament yet? If not, it’s an experience that should not be missed!
Superior Martial Arts is a part of the National Martial Arts Alliance and participates regularly in tournaments all over Colorado (and we’ve had students branching into other states recently, as well) with schools from all over the nation and a few from other countries. This year, we’ve increased participation to over half of our student base! We had four black belts that qualified for the Colorado State Tournament and the 2022 World Tournament, with two competitors receiving Colorado state titles and one earning Superior’s first World Champion title in sparring! We also had numerous students that participated in their first ever tournaments, brining in more medals than ever, and representing themselves and the school with integrity, respect, and sportsmanship. It’s been a great year, and we’re excited about the things to come in this tournament season!
With a new season in full swing, we wanted to give some updates and information for those that may be considering competing this year. Mr. Nick Wolf has recently accepted a role as the Colorado State Tournament Organizer (STO) and will be fulfilling new duties in tournaments hosted within the state, as well as leading at Superior Martial Arts. He has grown up competing and judging in taekwondo tournaments, and we have an exceptional resource for tournament information through him. Mr. Andrew Wolf, who has also competed and judged at tournaments throughout his martial arts career, is one of the top NMAA tournament judges in the world. Our school owners and head instructors are a wealth of knowledge and information in the tournament realm.
To give an overview, you do not have to compete in tournaments to learn and grow in taekwondo, but it can be a way to enrich and expand your martial arts skills and experience. When you compete, you get to see how you stack up to others in your age range and ability level, and you also get to meet and make friends with students from all over the nation and world who share a passion for martial arts.
Tournaments are posted to the National Martial Arts Alliance events page as they are scheduled. From there, you can register for each tournament, in the events you would like to compete in. Each student registers for forms and sparring, and then can add other events (weapon forms, weapons sparring, inventive forms, and elevated forms) in which he or she would like to compete. Students are assigned a ring that matches them against other students of similar age and rank. Within each tournament, points can be earned by placing in the top 3 within a ring. Those points help earn spots in state and world events.
Rapidly approaching are our first Colorado tournament of the season in Golden on August 27th, at the School of Mines, as well as Nationals in Las Vegas on November 12th. We already have a few students signed up and committed to both events, so if you’re interested, talk to your instructors about connecting with other students who are competing. If you’re not sure about competing yet, but would like to go check it out and support other Superior Martial Arts students, that would be excellent, as well. Check with your instructors to get competition times.