Before I say anything else; keep up the hard work! Every match will show you things that you can improve on and the only failure is giving up and quitting. Being defeated is in your head, not on the scoreboard.

I know a lot of people disagree with me about the idea of point sparring, but I see it as a sport interpretation of karate but not actually what karate is. So to me if a person wants to train for point sparring then that is great and they should absolutely go for it. And can traditional karate training help with tournaments and matches? Yes it can but its not a direct translation. It would be more effective to train specifically for point sparring instead.

Any good karate dojo should allow for fight training at upper ranks and that experience is amazing. Learning how fights work and what your body is capable of is something that most people never go through and subsequently they lock up and/or react very poorly when those skills are called upon.

So keep up the training and get comfortable, if you aren't already, with being in a confrontation and keeping your body looser instead of tense. Tense muscles are quick to move but hard to direct and will exhaust you quickly. You should find that with experience, and comfort in fighting, comes increased perceived reaction time. You will get more and more time to see what's happening and to make decisions about how to deal with it instead of bursts of what you hope are the correct reaction.

Point sparring leans toward speed over power so perhaps simple skill drills that focus on quick movements and getting your inertia transferred. (A drill that my kids class enjoys is Hot Hands. It helps them identify an incoming "attack" and move quickly.) Another speed related technique is retraction. Instead of focusing on just the extension of a kick or punch, go slow on the attack (during this training exercise) and focus on retracting as fast as possible. Add this into an already fast attack and you should see dividends quickly.

Regardless of the actual training methods you use, the best way to get better at anything is to practice that thing. Find opportunities to spar many different people and look for patterns and repetition. Some times it's a lure but learn what a weak leg/arm looks like and press (actual) advantages when you get them. Also, at the same time try not to display those things to opponents unless you want them to see it on purpose. Everybody has different fighting styles and seeing what's out there should help you when your next match comes.

Good luck and keep working hard on that first win. When you get it, celebrate. And then remember all the the times you had to lose to get there and that it could happen again and that's okay. Because through struggle comes strength.