Kenpo Guy Loses Tournament (And Why He's Happy About It)

So this past November, I took part and competed in a very large martial arts tournament. I didn't win, but I did land that coveted prize of 9th place. And before you laugh, I actually feel great about it. And I hope you stick around for this video because this involves you too. And before I get started, I just want to ask you guys for a quick favor. We have a friend in our Kenpo community, Cynthia Graham. She is a pillar of our community. She teaches children. She runs a wonderful school, Razor's Edge Academy. And right now she's battling cancer. She's undergoing treatment, but it's very expensive treatment. And it's difficult for her to get the resources for this treatment. Because as we all know, our medical system isn't always the most affordable. So if you could find any generosity in your heart, we do have a link found below in our description. It goes to her GoFundMe page. She can use any help that you can give her. As martial artists, we strive to help and protect ourselves and each other. And sometimes defense comes in many different forms. So we love Ms. Graham. We want to see her get back on her feet and get healthy again. So if you guys have any generosity you can have in your heart, please check out that GoFundMe link and help her fight this battle. I appreciate it. And thank you so much. So if you follow the channel, you probably recall that last year, we promoted a very large martial arts tournament called the Battle of the Martial Arts, hosted by Alex Perez and Tom DeFranco. We did several lead up videos to it. It was a blast. It was such a fun experience. They brought in martial arts legends and celebrities from all over the world. And then from the movies we grew up with, there was such a high level of competition. There was a grappling division. It was such a fantastic and fun weekend. And the reason I'm making this video is, this was going to be a New Year's resolution video. And I decided to hold off on that because it's too easy to make decisions and make promises to yourself at New Year's. You know, you know, we're popping champagne. There's the, you're riding on the high. There's the promise of a new year. No, now we're far enough to the year. We're all back to the grind. You know, things are rolling. And now it's time to make the life making choices. And this is why this relates to you, because this is all about a choice that you guys can make right now that could change the way you feel. So while we're promoting the video, you know, we're talking about promotion. I stopped and like, you know what? I haven't competed in the competition in 16 years. I've been training for over 30 years, but it's been 16 years since I've done a tournament. And I'm like, this is such a historic and cool event. I want to be a part of it. And our school never really got, you know, growing up, our school was always more about self-defense. So we did continuous sparring. I did the tournament back in 1996, did okay. You know, our school didn't join tournaments. It just wasn't our focus. And in 2008, it's a long story, but after our school closed and reopened again, I wanted to join another tournament because I had that what if in my head. Nobody else wanted to compete. Nobody else was sparring. I hadn't sparred in three years. So I went and did it anyway. Went in three year cold. I got my ass kicked. Of course, I'm like, okay, done. It soured my taste for tournaments. I put it on the shelf and didn't come back to it for 16 years. But I always had the voice, this little chirping in the back of my head, you know, one day, you know, one day I want to try that again. You know, maybe one day I'll try a tournament because what if, what if I didn't, what if it just wasn't a good experience because I wasn't in shape or I wasn't, I was out of practice. So it was just a little nagging thought in the back of my head. So as we're promoting this martial arts, Battle of the Martial Arts video, I wanted to address that little chirping, but the little chirp in my head, the little voice saying, well, what if? Because I'm feeling the toll of time. My body doesn't react or feel the way it did 10 years ago. And I know I don't want to be here 10 years from now and be like, you know what? I wish I had done that event. Well, I could have done it. So I decided to just take the plunge and jump in. And I, you know, I did a little bit of warmup. I tried a couple of local tournaments, did okay. You know, I held my own. You know, I, I got second place in both two tournaments I did, lost by one point. They were against people who are half my age, half my weight, and they were very well-versed and fine-tuned and up-to-date in their tournament fighting. So I felt really good that I held my own. Fast forward into this one. I didn't do so hot. Long story short, I got pummeled because the level of fighters who showed up to this thing was amazing. Like the level of appreciation I have now for tournament fighters, like it was here. Now it's, now it's way up here because these weren't just local fighters. These were world athletes. And in my first match, I got put up against a world heavyweight champion. I didn't do well, nor should I. There's no actual reason for me to have done well against this guy. I almost hit him a couple of times, but the guy's just that good. And the same thing with continuous sparring. And that's where the knife place comes in. Just a funny story is just, you know, we had different brackets for continuous sparring based on age and size and weight and all that. Well, at the end, they're running low on time. So it kind of got grouped into one collective bracket and it went from double elimination down to single. And my first, I got put up right away against a 20-year-old TIE.0 champion. So I was like, okay. And it was continuous and I held my own, but ultimately he edged out the win. And that was single elimination. So I got a nice old knife place certificate. I had to laugh about it. I find it funny because I feel good about the experience because the day after I woke up and that chirping in the back of my head was gone. That wonder was gone. I didn't have that what if anymore. And I realized you can keep saying, well, someday, well, someday, well, don't let that someday become never because it's so surprising how fast that can happen. If you have a what if in your head and I'm sure all of you out there have something, you have a thought in your head that you're wondering about, oh, you know, maybe I should try this. I get emails all the time from people saying, you know, I'm thinking about trying this school. I'm thinking about dipping my toes in this water, but I'm not sure if I should, whatever. Stop wondering. If you have that voice, answer it, pause the video and take that first step, whether it's to go to the website and send an email, call the school, go to the school, buy that book, enter that tournament, whatever your what if is, pause the video right now and go take your first step. Because the one thing, or one of the very few things in this life that you can't control is having regrets of something you didn't try. Most things are out of our control, but you can control choosing or not choosing to try an experience. So the new mantra for today is going to be collect memories, collect experiences, not regrets. No regrets. And I also feel good because when I was there at this tournament, there was another fighter there that I had fight in one of the smaller tournaments and he was really good. And I asked him, hey, you're here to compete too? And his answer was, oh F no, not against these guys. And I'm like, oh, what did I get into? But later I'm like, I stepped on that mat, he didn't. And he was the better fighter. I still went through it. So I feel good. That chirping in the back of my head is gone. So now going forward, I'm going to compete some more. I'm going to try some tournaments, but for fun, there's no more stress. So the reason I'm making this video is find your what if and turn it into a, I did that. It's so much more satisfying. I know we all have it. So guys, what I would love for you to do right now is pause the video, write down below what your what if is, go try it and come back and report. Cause I think it'd be really cool, something for us all to share with each other. And if you want to learn more about what this tournament was, if you hadn't seen it already, it was called the Battle of the Martial Arts. We did a couple of videos on it, interviews. You can learn about it right here. There's a link in the description and click on it right here. It was such a fun event. I met so many great people. We're going to be releasing some videos and interviews from it. So I highly recommend you go check that out. And hopefully next time I'll see one of you guys on the mat and have another great experience.