Vovinam Tournament 2009

Vovinam is a type of Vietnamese Martial Arts that I have taken for a few years. July 2009, I competed in the 9th World Championship Tournament in San Jose against LA, Oakland, San Jose, 4 people from Hayward including me and I think that's about it. I don't remember. I was competing with a Vietnamese form and a sparing match.

In the morning I went to my Uncle's house and left with his family to the tournament. We were maybe about an hour late because of traffic and the schedule said it starts at 10 o'clock but it was 9 o'clock but we didn't miss any of our performances. We only missed the first part of the partner performance where they have a mini fighting skit (one of the performance here).I like watching those skits but to bad I wasn't there in person to see it and I had to watch it on you tube. We we came it was already break time and I had some food. After, Vicky (teacher assistant) and I practice outside with some attacking combos when I compete.

Break time was over and it's was time for Vietnamese form performances. There were two performances going on at the same time, one side with the older kids and the other with the younger kids. I'm not sure how many forms there are but people were performing their third form and up. I was supposed to perform my second form but I couldn't perform it because it was yesterday. The day before the tournament is a seminar I think, and my teacher said I didn't need to go. On that day was my second form performance and I didn't know. My teacher knows the judge well and he told them if I could perform the next day and the judge was okay with it. He said that Vicky will remind them. She remembered to tell the judge if I get perform but they didn't let me and there was no re-takes.

The sparing match was about to begin. The high ranked teachers (also judges) started to weight everyone who were competing and this match is a free fight tournament. The judges announced the order of the fighters and I was last. The rules were no using knees, elbows, and no kicking below the belt line. I was observing some of the sparing matches and I did not see any people using techniques. Most were just kicking and punching continuously and jumping on each other. I know it's a free fight but they should do some techniques. Later, it was my turn and I was nervous because my opponent looked about a year or two older than me and some people said he was good and really strong. I put on my sparing gear and step into the ring. Round 1 started and I get hit within the first 5 seconds and I started punching him in the face. It looked like I pissed him off and he started to corner me while punching me. I tried to dodge some of them but it was a bad idea because I have some open spots for him to get me and when he cornered me he got me down. The ref stopped the match and brought us to the middle to start again. As he came closer I did a spinning back heel to him and pushed him a few feet back and that gave me a chance to combo him. I came up to him and did a upper cut, double punch, and a front snap kick but he dodged it. He some how cornered me again while he was walking up to me and punching. I started punching got some good hits but I fell on the crowed of people. The ref stopped it again and put us in the middle of the mat. The judges ringed the gong and I end up losing.When the tournament was over everyone lined up and sat down for medals. I heard my name for third place and I was surprised that I got a bronze. I'm not sure not how the judging goes but I think I got more points from other players. I was happy that I got a bronze and I would have probably gotten a silver medal if I done my form.