About Senior Project

Erik L.-West

Topic: Karate Competitions/Tournaments

EQ: What is most important to competing as a top rated competitor in Martial Arts Tournaments?

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Third Interview Questions

1. How can a competitor best prepare their Kata to look its sharpest at a competition?

2. How much motivation should one have to try and become one of the best?

3. What are some aspects of a good competitor?

4. How often are competitors well rounded in terms of fighting?

5. What is the normal mentality of a sparring competitor?

6. What is most important for a sparring team to beat the other competing teams?

7. What matters most for a Kata to earn a high score?

8. In your opinion which Kata is more competitive, Open or Traditional form?

9. What is the difference between Open and Traditional form?

10. About how much of the majority in top rated competitors are known for being great in more than one division type?

Monday, December 5, 2011

Self Reflection


1. Q. How do you think you are doing so far in your senior project and why?  AE, P, AP, CR, or NC

A. I think my Senior Project grade is at a P so far because I’ve been up to date on every assignment related to it, I’ve been doing every little thing I’m required to do, and I’ve been earning P’s on just about every component as well.

2. Q. What one thing do you think you have done well on and why?

A. The category I think I’m doing better in is my research because I usually make sure I stay caught up with the count of every article and it helps give me some information related to my topic.  Also presentations, although I’ve only done one so far, I did learn that I actually do have a lot to talk about from my topic.

3. Q. What is one thing you would like to improve on and why?

A. The one thing I think I can improve on is just making sure my presentations are organized better because even though I got a P on my 5-minute presentation, I was a bit nervous on whether I had enough information to make the time, but it turned out I did; so for the next presentations I can try to get a better grade.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

My Black Belt Ceremony



Science Fair Proposal

1. If the center if mass in a stance is different, then the force of a kick will be affected.

2. Independent: Center of mass in stance
 Dependent: Force of the kick
 Control: My stance posture with my legs

3. My hypothesis connects to my EQ because in sparring for practice and for competition, anyone will have a different kicking force from one another due to the center of mass they have in their legs for the stance.

4. -I will practice throwing a few kicks, as if I were sparring someone towards a force plate from different types of stances.
-The force plate was suggested by Ms. Melogno, then I will record the data.
-I will then see how different the force of each kick was comparing the stances that have different Centers of mass.

5. It would be under the category of Physics. 

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

What I've Learned So Far

1. Q. What have you learned how to do since you started working on your senior project?

A. When I began Senior Project, I've learned to make more effective use of my footwork with effective kicks instead going in with punches because it helps create openings; and makes countering difficult against me.

2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZYm1nm3i-o

3. Q. What research helped you to do this and how?

A. The one research that helped me was my book "The Ultimate Kick: The Wallace Method to Winning Karate" by Bill "Superfoot" Wallace because it opened my eyes to make some small adjustments to my current techniques.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Independent Component 1 Plan Approval

1. What I plan to do for my Independent study component is my Karate training and Competitions I partake in.

2. This plan will meet my 30 hours because I train every week, each class I train in is worth an hour and it helps me stay prepared for my other half of the plan which is competition.  As for competition it may not come very often but I will go for every chance I get.

3. This independent study relates to my Essential Question because as I said before, training helps me prepare for any competition I go to and the competitions give me the feel of being a real competitor.

Monday, October 10, 2011

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.