My son's success!

This past weekend, my son participated in the Nashville Open Karate Tournament. Here's the scoop:

The Good:
My son placed 1st in Forms and 2nd in Sparring in his group (5 & under, beginner belts). As always, he was well-behaved and he really enjoyed the entire event.

He did well, despite the fact that he is a Tae Kwon Do competitor, and this was a karate tournament. Yes, there is a difference in the point system on forms, and an especially big difference in the scoring system used in the sparring.

Also, some of the competitors in the Black Belt divisions that did well were practicing traditional styles. It is good to see the judges give the nod to the traditional stylists instead of always favoring the more modern, flashy (and somewhat useless for real defense) techniques.

The tournament had very good group distinctions to make things fair for all competitors. It was rare that an individual dominated a group.

There were some really excellent displays of martial arts skill among the competitors I had the luxury of watching when my son was not competing.

The price was reasonable. It was $50 for my son to compete in two divisions. This is not bad at all. Most tournaments are 50% more. Some are twice that. The spectator fees were reasonable at $8 per ticket for those over the age of 5.

The Bad:
The tournament was generally well-organized, but had some suspect scheduling. Most tournaments have the smaller children compete first so as to avoid making the young ones wait long times. This weekend, they spaced the forms and the sparring segments out several hours apart. Many children were frustrated by the wait times.

The Ugly:
10 minutes prior to sparring competition, there was an announcement made over the PA system that sparring competitors must have solid plastic face shields to compete.

This item was not listed among the mandatory protective equipment online or in fliers. The local merchandisers only had limited quantities in stock (10 shields - there were over 100 competitors), and they were marked up outrageously.

A quick talk with one of the organizers yielded a loaner for my son. However, dozens of other competitors left, unable to afford or find the right equipment. Some of the organizers tried sticking them with the "no refunds" policy. We will see how well that holds up with the credit card purchases - where charges can be disputed.

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That, folks, is why I purchase most things with a credit card. If a merchant sells you a lemon, or does not provide the service promised, the credit card company can charge them back, and refund your money - even if the merchant won't. Merchants who have many charge-backs will lose their ability to process credit cards - and this is a sign to avoid purchasing from this company!


Post-edit 2:
In the days since this tournament, I learned that the karate school that hosted this tournament put an erroneous charge on my card. I attempted to call the school, but my messages were never returned. I had to dispute the false charge.

Wowza.