Hey guys,

So, late last year I started doing stick fighting, and just got my yellow belt last week. This past Saturday I fought in my first tournament. I walked away with the 3rd place trophy.

Sounds pretty good until I tell you that there was only one other guy in my division (underbelt).

This tournament was in part organized by my stickfighting instructor. I think he had been expecting a bigger turnout, but when I got there, it was just myself and one of the other yellow belts from my school. Out of shape as I am, I'd still feel pretty comfortable taking anyone else close to my rank except this other YB- he's in way better shape than I am, and has a significant reach advantage. But whatever, for every strike I took, I landed one in return. It was fun, but he won the fight.

After we fought, two guys from Jersey fought in the black belt division, and there were no more competitors, so my instructor made an announcement on the PA that any non-stickfighters who wanted to try it out should head over to our ring. One guy showed up. He had no experience, and got waxed pretty good by the other guy from my school. I was not given the opportunity to fight him. They gave him the second place trophy and me the third. They then let a large number of people from other MA's fight in unranked stickfighting matches in our ring.

All the ranking belts from my school and even my instructor came by after the trophies were handed out and said I would have creamed the guy if they had let me fight him. The yellow belt who I had fought remarked that they really should have let the two of us fight for 2nd place. But they didn't.

So, my question is, did I get ripped off here, or is that just the way tournament seeding goes and I'm being a whiny bitch? Because I can tell you, if I lose, I lose, and I can deal with that, but I wasn't even allowed to fight. This guy literally could have laid down in the middle of the ring and not moved, and he still would have been ranked above me. That just doesn't seem right to me, but I dunno, maybe that's the way it goes sometimes. Opinions?

I think you really should ask yourself what you learned from competing, rather than worrying what place of three you should have gotten out of a three person tournament bracket.

Fair enough. I learned a lot hanging out with some of the eskrima guys who were there (there were quite a few, but almost no one fought. Don't get it myself) and am definitely glad I went.

Ehhh it was a dumb decision but hey **** it, trophies don't mean ****, atleast you competed and learned something.

If you didn't have to pay or spend stupid amounts of time doing it then sparring is never a bad thing, how do you feel you got ripped off?

If you didn't have to pay or spend stupid amounts of time doing it then sparring is never a bad thing, how do you feel you got ripped off?

I did have to pay to enter the tournament, but that's not the issue. It's just kind of annoying to be stood up in front of everyone and be told "Hey, we say this guy who's never fought before is better than you, and we won't even give you the chance to prove otherwise." But as Squerlli said, trophies don't mean ****, it's about the fight.

Having been to a lot of tournament's, that's just the way it goes. It happened to me back when I used to compete a lot; single elimination, only three guys in our bracket. Guy 1 and myself fight, Guy 2 get's a bye I guess since he doesn't fight. If I lost, Guy 2 would fight Guy 1, and usually lose. Guy 2 gets a shiny 2nd place trophy, I get a dull 3rd. It's a bitch.

That's the benefit of larger tournaments, in that everyone get's screwed instead of just you.

Edit: I need to refresh more often. When I first loaded this page, there was only one reply.

Dude, are you for real???

In the "tournament" you fought exactly 1 other guy, you lost that fight fair and square and now you are complaining about the 3 place trophy and the ranking???

Ok, I hate to be the one to tell you this but if you didn't defeat at least 3 or 4 guys, much less if you didn't defeat anybody, you should seriously have the decency to throw that trophy in the trash where it belongs. That way when you finally do win something in a real tournament (and you will if you keep practicing) you going to feel a sense of real accomplishment and you have not "cheapened" your trophy case.
Also, wanting to fight a non-stick fighter is just as pointless, with the eventual outcome not changing the fact that you really LOST in any way shape or form.

That said, yes the rules of the tournament were really stupid, when you have such a low turnaround you should probably at least fight best out of three and round robin (everybody fights everybody) or you have just wasted your gas to come to the tournament. With RR and best out of three you at lest get some fighting experience even if the trophy again doesn't mean anything since you really have to fight and win against DIFFERENT opponents.

Thanks for listening,
Edin

Ps. Also please consider joining your friendly local Judo dojo if you want to get involved in some (usually) better organized tournaments and to complement your stick-fighting.
(I never thought I would hear myself saying the last part, lol :) )

Don't complain about the trophy, complain about the tournament.

You could have gotten more action by going to a local park with two sets of equipment and asking passers-by, "Hey, wanna play stickfighting with me?"

You must suck pretty bad if you got 3rd place in a two man tournament.

You must suck pretty bad if you got 3rd place in a two man tournament.

Yeah, right? Nothing like coming in 3rd of 2. I am in **** shape though, and that won't be the case next time.


You could have gotten more action by going to a local park with two sets of equipment and asking passers-by, "Hey, wanna play stickfighting with me?"

Yeah, I know.


Ok, I hate to be the one to tell you this but if you didn't defeat at least 3 or 4 guys, much less if you didn't defeat anybody, you should seriously have the decency to throw that trophy in the trash where it belongs. That way when you finally do win something in a real tournament (and you will if you keep practicing) you going to feel a sense of real accomplishment and you have not "cheapened" your trophy case.
Also, wanting to fight a non-stick fighter is just as pointless, with the eventual outcome not changing the fact that you really LOST in any way shape or form.

No, actually, I didn't defeat anyone. I fought one guy and lost. And I get that the trophy doesn't mean ****, that's why it's sitting in a corner behind the bird cage. Yeah, shoulda been round robin, but I agree that fighting someone with no training doesn't mean I really won anything. I just don't like being told I LOST to someone with no training when I didn't get the chance to fight.

Anyway, votes are in and the verdict is I'm a whiny bitch. Reality check taken. Thanks for your candor.

You must suck pretty bad if you got 3rd place in a two man tournament.

Owww.... **** even I felt that...

. I just don't like being told I LOST to someone with no training when I didn't get the chance to fight.

Anyway, votes are in and the verdict is I'm a whiny bitch. Reality check taken. Thanks for your candor.[/quote]

Hey man, don't be to hard on yourself, you can't lose what you didn't fight and like the previous poster said, be angry with such stupid tournament wasting you time and not with the outcome.

I just don't like being told I LOST to someone with no training when I didn't get the chance to fight.

Anyway, votes are in and the verdict is I'm a whiny bitch. Reality check taken. Thanks for your candor.


You don't get it, do you?

TWO PEOPLE showed up to fight and the promoter - your INSTRUCTOR - does something trying to get others interested for not only this tournament but for the next one. Still, you're whining about 3rd place. Amazing.

The verdict isn't that you're a whiny bitch. The real verdict is you're acting like the type who, 5 years from now, will be padding your MA resume with a "Bronze Medal".

You were robbed man. Or maybe not, I don't know.

You don't get it, do you?

TWO PEOPLE showed up to fight and the promoter - your INSTRUCTOR - does something trying to get others interested for not only this tournament but for the next one. Still, you're whining about 3rd place. Amazing.

The verdict isn't that you're a whiny bitch. The real verdict is you're acting like the type who, 5 years from now, will be padding your MA resume with a "Bronze Medal".

Yeah, I get that. And given that this is purely recreational for me I had no business complaining, but I have a bad habit of taking my **** WAY too seriously. Considering what you just pointed out, I was being pretty selfish and should have checked my ego at the door.