Who truly benefits from cheating?

One of the most frustrating things to go through is something you worked very hard for, but was cheated in the end by a bad call.  It happens in sports all the time unfortunately.  On Saturday, my son was a victim to this as well.  The worst part was that prior to his match, these twin girls were cheated the same way.  It was at a karate tournament in Mt. Pleasant this past Saturday, February 12th.  Specifically in the rules, it states in all caps, "NO HEAD SHOTS ALLOWED!"  That was the actual quote in the rulebook.  Of the twins I mentioned earlier, one of them lost their match after getting hit in the head quite a few times.  They gave her opponent points for the head shots.  I thought the rules state "NO HEAD SHOTS ALLOWED!"  I was sitting next to the parents at the time that this happened.  We were both calling out that the judges needed to recheck their judgement.  They did not listen and continued the match.  The young girl later lost because the judges granted the opponent 2 points for 2 of the head shots.  I continued to shot from the stands, but to no avail.  The other twin then faced that opponent, having 2 more points awarded for head shots, yet the other twin girl did win the match. 

I couldn't believe what I was seeing until I noticed the opponent the twins faced was from Gojo Body Control Karate School.  All three judges also were from there as well.  I can't lie if I said I wasn't angered by this.  Next up was my son Aidan.  He was in the championship match versus a kid from Goju Body Control Karate School.  As the match started, the kid hit my son in the head.  Initially, they were going to give him the point, but I yelled "That's bullshit!" from the stands (yes kids were around, but at that time, my patience was all used up).  They then gave the kid a warning, since my response had multiple parents siding with me on the call.  As the match progressed, both my son and his opponent got enough points to where the next point won.  As the judge yelled "fight", the kid then hits Aidan in the face again.  They award his opponent the point and gave him first place.  In the rules, two warnings equal giving the opponent a point.  This would mean Aidan won, but this was not the case (I have this all on film and reviewed it a few times to make sure I wasn't seeing things).  Gojo won the title, but due to a bad call.

I was very livid and angry about the call.  How could they give a blatant head shot call a point?  They cheated two kids that day from bad calls.  What was there to gain from this dishonesty?  To say your child can win fraudulantly?  They cheated the kids who truly won in favor of their own interest.  This alone discredits any merit towards Gojo Body Control.  If it was just my kid who was victim to this, I would have just bit the bullet, but witnessing it towards other kids proved that it wasn't just me being defensive of Aidan. 

I am a very vocal person.  I found that many parents that day shared my sentiment about the whole tournament.  I was happy that my son was proud of getting 2nd place, but he truly deserved 1st place.  If my son was truly 2nd best that day, I would have kept my mouth shut.  But he deserved better.  He deserved 1st place.  The twin girls should have fought for the title as well.  They both deserved it, but were cheated so the school could make itself more credible. 

Is it worth losing credibility in order to reward those who did not deserve to win?  It builds false hope towards that child to think they are better, when in actuallity, they are not.  This kid will now think they are the best and will continue to use the mistakes they used in the tournament in other matchups.  This leads to a further let down.  Meanwhile, the kid who won will now question him/herself about the match.  They will start to question the work they have down and the way they trained.  This can either motivate the kid to work harder or demotivate them and end up quitting.  Life is not fair, but this is a consequence when you put personal gain over honesty.

The truth hurts, we all know that.  If your students do not truly deserve to win, then don't rig a contest to make yourself look favorable.  I know for a fact that my son will never participate in that tournament ever again, as will some other parents as well.  Their fabrication will cost them quality opponents and revenue as well for their actions.  If people feel that the judges rig the matches, then why compete?  I hope for the sake of the sport that these people learn from their mistakes and become better people from it.  Otherwise, there will be more victims of this atrocity. 

For those reading this, please don't be like these people.  Every action has a consequence.  Is it worth discouraging a child or person in the sake of your own benefit, when you know they truly deserve it more than yourself?  We must become more honest with each other in order to make this world a better place.