On Saturday, September 7th, 2019, Golden Eagle Martial Arts is hosting the Golden Eagle Challenge. It will be held at the Galway Jr/Sr High School in Galway, New York. The doors open at 8:30 AM and the competition starts at 9:30 AM.

What is the Golden Eagle Challenge? The best place to learn more is at the the Challenge website. 

In summary, the challenge is a katas/forms competition. What makes it different from other events is its format. Each competitor will perform a minimum of two different katas/forms. Non blackbelts and those with less than four years experience will perform up to three different katas/forms. Black belts and those with more than four years of experience will perform as many as five different katas. Competitors will be grouped by age and experience in groups of four. Competitors in each group will be paired, similar to sparring. Each competitor will perform the kata they select, and after both have performed the judges will select the best performance of the two. There will be a medal round and a championship round. The gold medalist from each group will compete in a championship round of similar groups. Black belt champions will compete in a grand championship.

Rather than give a score or a place, like other events, each competitor is judged on their performance within each pairing. One is designated red and the other blue. After each pairing has performed the judges will raise a red flag or a blue flag for the martial artist they feel performed better. The one with the most flags wins that pairing.

The challenge is that the martial artist has to have multiple katas/forms prepared for competition plus they have to select the order in which they perform their katas/forms. They also can't repeat a kata in a round. Are you up to the challenge?