Pick Your Battles

This past Saturday we took a crew of competitors to Sensei Jim Hunt and Sensei Ken Altman's Judo Tournament on the MS Gulf Coast. We did well with 6 out of 9 competitors placing first, 2 competitors placing second, and one of our newest players did not place. We won the second place team trophy as well.

 

All in all it was a very good day with one or two exceptions. The National Referee was a bit disrespectful to the United States and also to the coaches and competitors. Later in the day he overturned a center referee's call about 15 minutes after the match and ended and after my student had already won another match. I didn't dispute his decision but the timing was terrible. It should have been done much sooner.

 

Then when the two kids fought again, my student lost to a bad call. Let me take a side trip here... there were basically 2 center referees working all day by themselves, so they were doing the best that they could. I then disputed the call when my student lost, the other kid's coach agreed with me, the National Referee sent word to me that he could not overturn the center referee's decision and I lost my mind because his overturning the other match led to this.

 

This was the first time at a Judo tournament that I have ever lost it with a tournament director. He was caught in the middle and I had to apologize to him, the center referee, and the other tournament director. I still believe I was right in my assessments but I did a terrible job handling it. I didn't represent my club, the art of Judo, or my Christian faith in the way that I should have.

Now some of my other students and parents may be wondering why I have never stepped up for you or your kids before due to bad calls at tournaments. There are several reasons so let me go thru them:

1. Life isn't fair, I want my students to know this and be able to deal with it when things don't go their way.
2. If someone always comes to the students rescue, (the parents or the coaches) then they will come to expect always having someone else rush to their aid. I want my students to be more self reliant and self sufficient.
3. Almost all of the referees are volunteer. They are donating their time and money so that you and your kids can have a tournament. They are doing the best that they can and of course some do better than others. The ones that were working Saturday always do a good job but mistakes will happen.
4. Even if the referee is terrible, chances are you will have to compete in front of them again. Making them hate me, you, or our dojo is not to our benefit.
5. If you leave the decision up to the referee or the judges then don't complain about the outcome. Make the victory decisive enough that there is no question.

So even though I had an outburst at this last tournament it is not going to become a habit, and I am not going to dispute a lot of calls.