Problem with most tournaments (of any kind) is that they are for the bottom line of the promoter and not for the fighters involved. I am mostly referring to tournaments with a "stick fighting" division as opposed to a Stick fighting only tournament.
Also, due to circumstances and situations, the format seems to drift towards a preference of WEKAF type rules. No thrusting, no leg strikes, no clinching of any kind, because we know darn well that that stuff doesn't work in the real world. And yes, lots and lots of padding. Add to that the pencils-on-steroids rattan and the situation is almost laughable.
Tournaments do have a place within the evolution of a stick fighter, but when you see people actually thinking that they "won" by hitting 68 times to their opponent's 67 you realize that there is a place where this evolution has slipped backwards a bit.
I know it's easy to be negative, but I competed in my first tournament a long time ago and was at my most recent one just a few months ago. Not much has changed in that time. Dog Brothers RCSF, on the other hand, has been growing since it started and the people who participate in it have changed the game for us. We always could grapple, now we can grapple. Strikes, combinations, stick placement, grappling and footwork are all coming together to make these fighters something to contend with in any arena.
