I won my first division at the AKA Grand Nationals in 2007 for traditional weapons, then I was in the traditional forms and weapons runoffs consistently until Diamond Nationals of 2008 when I made stage for the first time with traditional forms. If you had asked someone “Is that Jackson Rudolph kid ever going to be any good?” in 2008, the answer would have been “He has a chance, but he’ll only ever be a traditionalist.” Believe it or not, this is true. Photo Courtesy: Cathy Rudolph via Facebook The “doing what you love” part if self-explanatory, but what about keeping an open mind? You don’t necessarily have to enjoy every aspect of sport karate, but you should certainly be passionate about whatever events you are competing in. The number one thing that kept me involved in this sport for so long is that I love everything about it. I have loved this activity from the moment I went to my first tournament and competed in forms, breaking, and point fighting. I say this because it is the exact process that worked for me. My best advice to help you achieve this feat is threefold: do what you love, keep an open mind, and work hard until it happens organically. It simply means that if you want to achieve greatness you have to find that thing that sets you apart. This DOES NOT mean you can’t be inspired by Kalman if you are a sword competitor, because you should be. If you want to change the sport, the judges shouldn’t think of anybody but you when you are on stage. If your goal is to do double sword just like Kalman Csoka, every judge will think of Kalman Csoka when they watch YOUR sword form. In sport karate, particularly in forms and weapons, everything is subjective. Whereas in basketball, modeling your game after Michael Jordan and striving to play just like him will create another historically great basketball player with the right work ethic (Kobe Bryant, anyone?). The famous Be Like Mike Gatorade campaign in the 90’s does not apply to sport karate. I believe the most important distinction that will help any competitor change the game is to be inspired by legends of the past without trying to be like those all-time great competitors. Great competitors do something that changes the sport, setting them apart from all of their peers as well as making themselves unique compared to those who came before and all who will come after them. Good competitors compete for a number of years, win overall grand championships, and are respected for their accomplishments. This is what I consider to be the difference between “good” and “great” competitors. This final step, changing the game, comes after all of that. When you experience extended periods of success, or you can feel yourself on the precipice of success, it is important to remain humble to continue your progress and not become overly frustrated by the process. After you go through that development and find some success, it is time to understand your position in the sport as a leader. Then, you must find mentorship that will help you develop as a competitor. When you first start, it is important to show up and compete as often as possible. The first four articles of this series were meant to follow a timeline as one progresses through their sport karate career. If you haven’t read part four about humility, you can find it here. This is the final article of a five-part series in which I will be sharing my opinion on the five most important steps one must take on their journey to become a successful sport karate competitor.
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