HOW COMPETITION DOJO WAS BORN
Our co-founder and my father, Bret Kramer, loves to compete. Some that know him would list this as a major understatement. Throughout his life, Bret would compete at anything that was available. How fast can you run, how high can you jump, how high can you throw a water balloon and still catch it without bursting, etc. It really didn't matter, anything could become a game and every game is more fun if you are competing to win.
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Bret attended Purdue University and was introduced to the amazing world of college intramurals. As his fraternities athletic chairman for 4 different semesters he played everything. Horseshoes, flag football, badminton, softball, etc. but there was one event that was above all others. Purdue held a once a year tournament called the Multitathalon.
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Picture a giant tournament bracket with 100's of participants. Each round of the tournament competitors would be paired against each other and compete in 3 separate events. Whichever person won 2 out of 3 of the events would continue on to the next round and compete in 3 completely different events.
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The best part is the events were all over the map. Air hockey to rifle shooting, archery to golf, and so on. Some events required strength, others speed or agility and others were probably mostly luck.
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Now, Bret was never the best baseball player on his team and he could barely beat anyone in basketball or throw a football, but he was half descent at everything and had a knack for an interesting set of games/events which some might label "wussy events". This terms is way too derogatory but hopefully you get the idea. These are events where no one is getting signed to huge advertising contracts or pulling down huge player contracts.
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In Bret's senior year he won the full Multitathalon tournament, taking first place out of over 400 other competitors. That win was the greatest athletic achievement of Bret's life. Sadly, peaking at the age of 21 leaves quite a bit of holes in the competitive drive. Bret still participated in sports and events wherever he could. Local softball, flag football, and volleyball leagues filled the gaps for a bit and then as his children grew up he could live vicariously throw them or compete with them in various activities.
The Ninja Warrior craze helped fuel the need for a bit, but local competitions were as far as he could get and even those had a danger factor that was likely not the smartest for a middle age man.
In a burst of inspiration, Bret realized that technology had finally brought a way to recreate some of the joy and excitement from the multitathalon. The key is fun, variety and competition with people like him. People with the bodies of your average joe, but the sole of a competitive athlete. That is the inspiration for the creation of Competition Dojo.
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We want to bring the joy of competition to everyone!
