Defining the Essential Question

1. My Essential Question is: “What is most important to competing as a top rated competitor in Martial Arts Tournaments?”

2. Words to define:

• ·         Top rated competitor-A competitor who has had more successful results than average at a Martial Arts Tournament.
• ·         Martial Arts-Various methods of unarmed combat and self-defense.

3. From the research I’ve looked through up to now, a few possible answers to my essential question are: Always concentrate on your division for a tournament, learn from your losses, to know your opponents, and to always have a strategy in mind because in a fight you shouldn’t think while fighting but instead have your timings set and prepare your counters towards their counter.

4. My most important source right now are my Competitor Profiles on Kyle Gray, Raymond Daniels, Shelly Allen, and Jason Tankson from Karate Tournament Central, author for all of them is Boice Lydell; they help me learn what those top rated competitors do at tournaments, how their attitude toward other competitors are, and some of their training styles.