Jitsu nationals are big two day events where all of the clubs in the country come together on one mat.
So you get to see the world beyond your club.
The mornings are devoted to training sessions where groups are taught by the best instructors in the country.
Over lunch there may be demonstrations and then the competitions themselves take up the afternoons.
One the Saturday night we all take over a night-club and go wild.
Atemi competitions are essentially self defence competitions. You are attacked in a variety of ways and judged on the effectiveness and quality of your responses. This takes the form of "V"s and gauntlets with weapons for the grades. What it never involves is sparring, pre-rehearsed partner work or playing with pads.
A "V" is a chance to demonstrate your raw ability to defend yourself. Two lines of people provide a constant stream of fresh attacks which you must deal with is a swift and merciless manner.
A gauntlet is a chance to show off your skills at their best. You walk between two lines of people who attack at random. You only get one attack at a time so you can do whatever you like with it.
The square is an attack format for novices. They are like the circles we use for training but with only four attackers. This is so that the action is visible to spectators.
You stand in the middle of the square to be attacked from the front. You defend yourself and turn 90 degrees to recieve the next attack.
Because the square is for novices, the only permissabe attacks are right handed punches from grades and grabs from other novices.
These are judo-style competitions it which you have to overcome an opponent to win. Remember that judo is not Jitsu, it is a way of practising the throws, so all the "nasty" stuff is not allowed. Novices do sumo-waza and back-to-back, grades do back-to-back and randori .
Think about sumo wrestling in the ground. You begin in the centre of a circle and have to push your opponent out without rising to your feet.
This is groundwork. You must pin your opponent or force them to submit without rising to your feet. Higher grades can use strangles.
Randori is a contest of throwing ability. The rules are much the same as for judo and to win you throw, pin or force a submission.
Absolutely. The morning courses alone make it worthwhile. The competition stuff is all appropriate to each level. On Sunday afternoon you can watch the high grades do their stuff and the social side is very strong. If you only fancy doing some of the stuff then that is perfectly OK. You may even get the chance to punch a black belt.