The no mercy rule
So I’m heading to kitchener this weekend for another tournament. The beauty about this tournament is that I’m the only one from my dojo who is going, so there will be no hard feelings over fighting a friend.
Another perk is that there is no weight class, so I don’t need to worry about cutting weight… and last but not least, it’s kumite karate which is strictly punch kick… no take downs!
As you may or may not know, I’m best on my feet so this is all good news to me. Now that being said, what should I focus on instead? Thinking back to my last fight, my mindset was weak… I felt no urge to persevere for I felt I’d be standing in the way of my training partner and I was on hair pills which crippled my ego (sometimes a good thing).
Now the game in this tournament is to be the first to score 5 p0ints… while reading the rules I took note of this footnote; no mercy rule. I ask the organizers what that meant and the responses was “if someone is getting creamed the fight will be stopped… so if one competitor has say 3 points and his opponent has no points, the referee may call it “no contest” or “no mercy”.
Interesting… this makes me think that my focus leading up to the event should be that mind-set “no mercy”… just cream the guy but don’t get disqualified. Play by the rules and commit to every step of the way. No mercy, not even for me. Having this mindset is the only way my spirit will come through… I’ve got to open the channel and not hesitate… hesitation kills the spirit.