Woods, 7, places in Neosho tournament

Woods

NEOSHO, Mo. -- Seven-year-old Kaydra Woods of Bronson placed in both forms and fighting Saturday at the 20th Annual Four State Open Karate Tournament held at Crowder College. Master Jim Riggs was the host. The tournament consisted of open-hand forms, weapons forms, musical forms, sparring/fighting, and team synchronized forms. Trophies were presented to the top three competitors in each class and division.

Woods, a blue belt in taekwondo, took second in open hand forms in the 7-to-9 year-old intermediate division and placed third in sparring. A sparring match is over when a fighter reaches 5 points or is leading in points at the end of two minutes. Woods lost her first match by one point to the competitor who won their division.

Woods has placed in four tournaments this year and she has a great chance of receiving a special award of being one of the top point winners in her category. The Four States Open is one of the 9 tournaments on the Southwest Association of Tournaments circuit. The SWAT Karate Ratings Circuit was founded in 1991 and is the premiere circuit involving open martial art tournament competitors in the four state area of Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. To become rated one must place in the top four in any rated division. The top 5 in each division are recognized with awards and are "rated" for the next competition year. Being "rated" means one should be given preference for byes as they become available at rated tournaments and may be allowed to go last during forms competitions.

To be eligible for rating, a competitor must place in that division in at least two tournaments. They must also have accumulated in excess of 10 points. Currently Woods has acquired 26 total points in sparring and a total of 34 points in forms.

Woods is taught by Walt Kimler of Fort Scott Tae Kwon Do.