Knocking a guy to the floor but getting ass kicked anyway...

I picked up Taekwondo a little while ago. Did a bit of a rocket career a guess, and went up for my first competition on Sunday last week, after only two weeks of training. Of course I got my ass kicked, but it was great fun anyway! The Shorinji Kempo which I usually do back home is pretty different. Taekwondo is a full contact sport, but only a small number of specific attacks will give you score. It favors fast and high kicks and lousy guard. Kempo on the other hand is not a sport, but a martial art, and anything goes as long as you you avoid hurting your partner during training.

In the competition, I kept doing kicks that did not give me any score and I made all kinds of silly footwork that put me in ideal positions for attacks that I was not allowed to perform. It took a lot of effort not to use elbows, not to kick the groin, not to grab and throw, etc... And on one occasion I kind of accidentally knocked my opponent to the floor with a prohibited left hand jab. Unfortunately I didn't get any good pictures from my own matches but I caught some of the other competitors on camera.



Most of the club members are kids and their competition filled the major part of the day. During training sessions, I have actually tried sparring against four-year olds. Quite an experience!



There were many girls in the competition. You don't usually associate muslim headscarfs with lightning speed kicks to the head. I like it!