Martial arts tournaments are divided into several divisions. One of my favorite divisions is the self-defense event. Tournaments are a great place to test your knowledge and performance of choreographed defense techniques. Today I want to share some tips to help you win at your next event.

The first tip is to use techniques that you enjoy performing. Some techniques are simply more fun than others, and this will come through in your performance. Picking techniques, you like will help you be more energetic and make the performance more enjoyable to watch. Techniques you are not confident in will leave you feeling unsure of your performance.

Keep in mind that some tournaments will want you to break down the technique and explain it. I personally do this every time, and it generally scores some extra points. Make sure you can go through the technique explaining it step by step, and then follow it up with a full speed demonstration. I have seen students lose in tournament that would have gotten 1st place had the only taken the time to explain the technique.

Your oogy’s performance is just as important, if not more important, than your own. A dummy can make or break your score in a tournament. Remember this is a performance, not a fight. Looking sloppy and uncoordinated will cost you points. You want your opponent to act as realistic as they can while moving in a way that compliments your technique. You will want to make sure your dummy knows what techniques are coming, how to react, which direction to fall, and even where to yell to emphasize pain. If you dummy is just silent the entire time, you are not going to score as high as you would if they played along as if the techniques were actually happening to them.

To help your dummy along, you will want to make good use of your own Kiai. Being loud scores points, being quiet makes your performance boring and easy to ignore. Usually when you Kiai, it is also a good time for your partner to pretend to scream in agony. For example, if you are demonstrating an arm break, yelling will really help define the technique as a power move meant to do massive damage. It is also a technique that would cause your opponent a lot of pain, and you will want your partner to demonstrate that.