Northstar Tournament

Northstar tournament

Why you have to compete in the Northstar tournament.

I have always said and stick by the notion that competition is the tail and not the head of Northstar Ju Jitsu. With so many martial arts emphasising competition and making winning the game the essence of their message, modern martial arts stands to become no more than another sport, seriously devoid of any aspect of personal growth. I competed in many martial arts tournaments and am thankful for the experience. When you remove the need to win and just enter the competition as a way to monitor your own responses under pressure the competition becomes a valuable learning curve and an important part of your martial arts experience.

I often hear reasons like  “I am not fit enough” or “I am not experienced enough” or “I might get hurt” and these are all valid comments. But you are never really ready if the mind keeps throwing up reasons “why” you cannot do something. For most of us, our old nemesis, the thinking mind is always telling us to be careful, stay in our bubble and accept being mediocre.

For many years, I avoided the Australian Taekwondo heavy weight champion John Rhodes. He was a man mountain and fast. He had a punch that broke you into pieces. Then one day I arrived at a competition and John was scheduled to fight. If I won my first fight, I would then meet him. I was scared and I wanted to pull out but the moment that I accepted that I did not need to win and to just let go, a calm resolve came over me. I easily won my first fight and met John in the final. He hit me in the chest with a right punch that knocked me back, I fought hard and scored some clean hits but his experience was the telling factor and he won.

After the match, John invited me to come and train with him at his studio as he was impressed with my skills. I trained with John for several months and really improved.

So, you see that when you confront your fears and let go, there is no more reason to be afraid. The best part about rising to a challenge and doing something that you thought you would never do, is that it greatly enhances your confidence and ability to step outside of yourself and experience life to the fullest.

The great thing about Northstar tournaments is that you are looked after and this is not UFC. The referee, 3 judges and myself are in the ring with you monitoring very closely.  As part of your Northstar experience I highly recommend you take this opportunity to take part in the Northstar tournament. It does not matter if you win or lose the bout as the experience is priceless.

Northstar Ju Jitsu

Northstar Ju Jitsu is also taught by senior Black Belts at their own studios'.

These are independently run from the Headquarters .Andy Dickinson Sensei is the head of and founder of Northstar Ju Jitsu and oversees the teaching of his program.

All Black Belts are graded by Andy Dickinson Sensei.