Post Tournament Write Up

Post-Tournament Write-Up: I was so excited to see so many of our students participate in the tournament! Make sure to tag us in your pictures :) I was also excited to see all of you compete. We are so proud of all of you who went and competed, no matter what medals you got. It takes a lot of courage to get up in front of people who are there specifically to judge you. For an idea, we had 161 competitors between 3 schools. The schools combined have approximately 350 students who take classes from us. Less than half of the students that we have in our region went to the tournament. This is for various reasons: vacations, injuries, finances, etc. But some of the biggest reasons that I hear for not going to a tournament is “I’m not ready”, “I don’t like being in front of people”, and “I don’t think I’ll do well”. Those, in my opinion, are some of the worst excuses you can come up with. The only reason these people don’t go to the event is their own fear. Fear of failure, fear of judgment, fear of embarrassment. If you cannot control your fear enough to do something outside of your comfort zone, then you are not fully embracing your training. Our job is to ensure that you can protect yourself as needed, that you can control your emotions and your fears enough to get you out of situations that you don’t want to be in. Our job is to teach you about those tenets we say every day: Courtesy, Integrity, Perseverance, Self-Control, and Indomitable Spirit, what they mean, and how we live by them. The first step to success is controlling your mind, and capitalizing on the right choices it wants you to make. 

If you went to the tournament, but didn’t place as well as you’d like, it’s okay to be upset. But also recognize the fact that you did better than more than 50% of the people in this region, because they didn’t even go. Acknowledge the fact that doing something that is outside of your comfort zone is the real win, and the medals you get are just a bonus.