Tournament Day Preparation
This section is dedicated to helping you prepare for competition on the day of your event. It is assumed you have already taken the time to prepare yourself physically during the months and weeks prior to the competition (Click here for the competition training & preparation article). This page covers the basics of getting yourself ready on the actual competition day and some practices to help you achieve the best mental and physical state of being for competing.
However, it is important to begin your preparation prior to the day of competition in order to be at your best.
Have a pre-tournament routine that starts one to two weeks before the event:
- Watch your eating
- Watch your bed time
- Watch your fluid intake
- Build up positive imagination
- Watch proper recovery time after your workouts – active recovery could be light swimming, some stretching, very light cycling, etc.
The day of the Tournament
It’s important to start your day early enough to have a light breakfast (you should give yourself at least 2 hours to digest). Know how to get to the event and calculate for traffic and detours. Be at the event at least 2 hours before you start in order to get climated, registered, and to warmed-up.
Warming Up:
Many times we neglect to warm-up properly. This not only hinders our body’s ability to perform technically, but can also slow down our reaction times and significantly increase the risk of injury. Therefore, a good warm-up for competition will include 3 things:
1) Stretching
Take the time for a good stretching session. Focusing attention on all your muscles will help to prevent any injuries. Start with your legs and go up to the upper body. Once you have done your needed static stretches go over into a series of dynamic stretches. Begin at least 60 minutes before your event. For more detailed information on stretching techniques and routines see Medical & Health, Stretching, and Relaxing. From there continue on with the cardio warm-up.
2) Cardio warm-up
The next thing is a good cardio warm-up. Make your self sweat. An elevated heart rate helps you to be mentally and physical prepared and the warm muscles and cardio activity will let your body know to get ready for action. After 5 minutes of pure cardio, concentrate on your mental alertness, reaction and aggression.
3) Mental warm-up (Aggression and Alertness)
Proper mental preparation is too often neglected, especially by less experienced competitors. It is very important that you are mentally ready and aggressive BEFORE you step in the ring. This is especially important for kumite and even more so for Shobbu Ippon competitions. After all, if you fight for one point only, a match can be over within seconds. It is absolutely essential to be 100% awake, alert, and ready to win.
To prepare yourself mentally you need to be thinking of competition. This is not the same as warming up for a regular workout at the dojo. Focus on your competitive situation and your intent to win as you go through the rest of your warm-up.
As you near the end of your cardio session you should be feeling fairly hyped up. Kumite drills can be used to focus on fighting and channel your aggression. Allowing your body to build up adrenaline will naturally make you more alert.
Have a warm-up suit or sweater handy so you keep your muscles warm to prevent getting stiff and cold again!
Nutrition:
Proper eating the week before the tournament is important. It is common to not feel hungry on the day of the tournament, so I recommend light snacks such as bananas, granola bars, raisins, musubi (japanese seasoned rice balls). Even if you are not hungry be sure to eat!
You also want to be well hydrated for competition. I recommend drinking plenty of water and some kind of electrolyte drink (Gatorade, etc.). Smaller bottles will help you keep track of how much you are drinking and the drinks stay fresh. If you have a hard time remembering to drink enough fluids consider pre-counting the bottles and packing exactly what you should drink over the course of the day. Pre-packing your fluids will keep you from having to think much about it on the day of your event.
I don’t recommend juices because they can give your stomach problems and you may not want to take any risks. I also do not recommend caffeinated drinks or drinks high in sugar. Although they boost your energy initially for a certain period of time, you will crash later, which could be detrimental. Too much caffeine can also make you jittery and may cause you to lack control when you fight.
Have a Routine:
When it comes to competition, it is important to work with any tools available that can help you win. Therefore, I suggest that you have a special tournament routine. This routine should always be the same:
- Use the same bag
- Use the same gi
- Use the same equipment
- Eat the same food
- Wear the same clothes
- Do the same stretching
- Do the same cardio warm-up
- Do the same mental warm-up
- Since I have a rather traditional background, I usually oppose karate with music. BUT, I think listening to music that you are familiar with can take away some of your anxiety, and at the same time, hype you up for the competition.
If you follow these points it will feel more like a “regular” day – atleast as much as possible under the given circumstances.
If you compete internationally, I also recommend to consider the following points:
- Do you have a passport
- Do you need a visa
- Do you need any vaccinations/immunizations for the country you are traveling to
- What is the time difference from your location to the other country
- Do you need to exchange currency
- Make sure you have a credit card that works in the country you travel to and have at least $200 in cash with you
- Buy a little dictionary so you are able to order the food and drinks you need
- Check the internet for any laws that you need to be aware of (for example in Utah, you can get a ticket crossing the street if you don’t use a red flag stored at the traffic lights/cross walks – guess how I know).
For spectators I recommend a pillow (those benches are hard) and maybe even a blanket – the AC is blowing! Bring some food and patience – its going to be a looooooong day!