CLF in semi-contact

[Galadriel]

Hey guys,

There is a Kung Fu Chamionship in the UK in September that I will go to and I'm gonna try to fight. Guys can choose between full contact and semi, but women can only do semi.
Now, I study CLF which imo is more of a full contact art than semi, but I dont really have a choice in the matter ;-)
So, my question is, how do you fight CLF in semi contact??
I tried yesterday with a friend, but it didn't really seem to work out very well...

Any of you UK guys going?? (22.09.02, EuroWirral, Liverpool)

Galadriel

[Tao-Yin-Lee]

I saw your people fight last year. I approached your Chinese Si-Fu and congratulated him on such a good team.
One of the very few styles to fight and 'look' like your art.
I hope to go again this year and look forward to your group doing well again.

Tao
www.tibetankungfu.com

[Galadriel]

Hi Tao,

Thx for that, hope to see you there this year.

I couldn't go last year, but I saw the video of it, and it was pretty good!!

Did you see any women do semi contact while you were there??

Galadriel

[Tao-Yin-Lee]

Galadriel,

Sorry no, I didn't see that. PM or e-mail me before the tournament.

Tao.

[SETANSI]

CLF IN SEMI- CONTACT
NOT SURE ABOUT THE UK BUT HERE IN THE LAND OF THE LAW SUITE (CALIFORNIA)MOST OF MY FAV CLF TECHIQ R NOT ALLOWED
NO BEEN CHOI OR SOW CHOI ALLOWED AND GUA CHOI ALLOWED
ONLY AS A DEFENSIVE BLOCK.
AT THE LAST TURNIMENT I ATTENDED MY CLF BROTHER WAS
DISQUALIFIED AFTER ABOUT 30 SEC . IT WAS LIKE SOW STRIKE ONE BEEN STRIKE TWO JUMPING 360 CRESENT KICK TO THE HEAD WHICH HE LANDED WAS STRIKE THREE AND HE WAS OUT OF TTHERE. BUT MY SIFU AND THE CROWD WERE REALY ENTERTAINED AND WE ALL KNOW WHO WOULD HAVE WON IN A FIGHT.

ANY WAY STICK TO A LOT A CHOP CHOI AND GOOD LUCK

PS KILL THE WING TSUN *******S!!!:D

[Fu-Pow]

Yes, unfortunately what SETANSI said is true. CLF is at a bit of a disadvantage in semi contact tournaments. Our techniques like kup, gwa and sao chui are often considered "wild" technique in these types of matches where as in something like san sou (full contact) they are allowed. CLF works good on the street but you gotta adjust to the ring.

Email me privately and I might be able to give you some pointers handed down to me from my Sifu. I'd rather not put this stuff out on the net. BTW, my Sifu is your Sifu's older class mate.

Jo Tau

[Galadriel]

Hey guys,

Tao
I'll do that and hope to see you there.

Setansi
The UK is a bit better at that, as far as I can remember from reading the rules, for full contact, I think only a back fist is disallowed, can't remember much about the full contact rules though. Semi-contact rules seem to be easier, your not allowed to do anything or hit anything apart from punch the air in front of your opponenent ;-) It should be fun!!

Fu-Pow
I know what you are saying, but dont have a choice in the matter, I can only do semi and I am not aware of any other full contact events in the region. Ireland has no Kung Fu competitions cause there is just not enough around of it. There are a few open tournaments, but they are mostly semi and you'd be fighting loads of TKD people. Not sure bout the UK, but dont think its a lot different overe there.
I know that your Sifu was a classmate of my Sifu, I think its kinda cool how you can connect all the clf people together like that!!

I talked to my Sifu yesterday aswell, and he gave me good pointers, I am also in the process of convincing one of the other girls to fight in Liverpool, so while all the lads bash their heads in at training, the two of us for a change, will just pretend to bash our heads in.
I also started training with a CLF friend who has done semi contact before (he managed to get disqualified cause his opponenent ended up sprawled over the judges table), so I think I am slowly getting there!!

I also played with the thought of just fighting "normal" and getting disqualified, would sound kinda cool
"yeah, I got disqualified for being too aggressive!!"
but that wouldnt be fair on the other person, so I scrapped that idea.


I know what Tao said about the comp last year, our guys were actually doing their full contact and using their proper CLF stances and it looked like they were actually doing CLF. A lot of other guys seem to adjust their style while they are fighting, so to look at them, you wouldnt know what style they are.
Since I dont have the choice to do full contact, I still want to be able to do CLF while I am fighting semi contact, because whats the point in doing CLF if I cant use it to fight?? (I mean this in a semi-contact competition sense of way, not for full contact or real life)
At the end of the day, if I should get anywhere in the comp, I want to get there using CLF not some adjusted style.


Anyway, if you guys have any more pointers or the likes, click that "post reply" button and type away.

Galadriel

[Tao-Yin-Lee]

Hello Galadriel,

There are a number of contact KF events in the UK. The BCCMA arrange a few open ones, open to non BCCMA members. They use PR China San-Soo rules, so grappling etc is allowed.

Some of my people are looking to enter Multi-Style contact events starting December.

Your people did very well, I saw two knock outs with Sao-Choi against W.C. practitioners.

Look forward to meeting you and your Pai at the event.

Regards

Tao.

[Galadriel]

Hi Tao,

I think that was two years ago, that was Terry, I saw those fights on tape and I havent looked at him in the same light ever since ;-)
As far as I can remember there were no knock outs last year for us, only one guy who refused to fight on after getting a pow choy of Shane.


There are some pictures of Liverpool from 2001 and 2000 at
http://www.geocities.com/choylayfut_itc/lpoolpic.html


The BCCMA events sound interesting, I had a look at their web site, but at the moment they only seem to have semi-contact.

Galadriel

[Jimbo]

Hello, I too am a CLF practitioner and have had the chance to use it in semi-contact in a major KF tournament. It IS difficult to control for semi, but I was able to do it. I tended to shorten my strikes as I got closer, which made controlling a bit easier, but was still warned by the ref for "leopard punching at the face" (how did HE know I was leapard punching when I had gloves on??). It seemed that my classmate and I were the only ones in the division who didn't just do kickboxing, and it was a KF tournament. People don't seem to know what to do when you start using the CLF attacking combinations.

THat's one of the things I like about this art. It's better to be effective in real life and be difficult to control, than to use a method that is only set up for pure sport. It's also versatile enough to excel in fighting and still have forms that look good, too.
Jim

[anton]

kup chuis/pow chuis are probably easier to control than sow chuis... so in some cases may make a reasonable substitute.

[alecM]

Galadriel
I met your Sifu Sam Lee at the EuroWirral competition a couple of years ago I think it was the first time your school entered. From what I recall your schools two fighters ended up having to fight each other in the heavyweight division because there weren’t enough competitors, I think I’ve got the fight on tape somewhere in my collection.

[Ben Gash]

There are a few things to consider here. Firstly, you must remember that CLF is a versatile and comprehensive art. There are many techniques that will suit you just fine. Chop Choy, Cheung Choy, Jong and Ka Choy can all be used without modification. You must bear in mind that the point in semi contact is to stop the technique just after contact or to pull it away after contact. If you do a long Jeong Hung Sing or Bak Sing style Sow Choy with full waist follow through, then you will be disqualified, and rightly so. If you do a short, whipping Sow Choy, or do a mid range Sow Choy and stop it then you will be fine. It's the same with Been Choy and Gwa Choy, pull them back, don't follow through. Also, try not to Pun Kiu before backfist techniques, the referees don't tend to like it (although as it's a CMA only event you may be OK).
Stay away from Kap Choy, Pek Choy and Pao Choy. At best they won't score, at worst they'll get you disqualified.
I was thinking about competing at Wirral, but I'm off training for nearly a month with a broken finger, so maybe not this time.
It's great to see the British CMA scene well represented here these days.

[fgxpanzerz]

sounds like sexist bullsh!t to me

[nospam]

Semi-contact sparring just means greater control is required of the practitioner, especially when executing certain long-arm techniques.

To fight semi, IMNSHO, one simply needs to learn how to pull punches - at least punches to the head. I'd usually do 50/50 to the body.

Semi-contact is just that. And if you are going to compete in semi (just as in full) contact tournaments, then hopefully your instructor is having the competitiors practise appropriately.

How you conduct yourself in public (especially MA tournaments) bares directly on your kwoon and your Teacher.

nospam.

[fgxpanzerz]

but that doesnt change the fact that it is sexist toward women.

[mysteri]

in my honest opinion, the only time i'd even bother in semi (light) contact sparring is if it's continuous and not point. at the jow ga school (USA) we're known for gettin disqualified, and it's not to prove that we're bad or nuttin. and honestly if ur gonna pay someone else to let u "fight" in they're competition, then u might as well get what u paid for. i've learned my lesson enough times that it jus really doesnt pay to try and play by someone else's rules and try to be true to yourself and your "style." so if u must compete to test ur mettle, then TEST UR METTLE! one classic example is a younger classmate of mine got his ribs broken with full contact gear on after bein punched repeatedly while being held in a light contact division @ raymond wong's tournament just a few weeks ago. now granted, he tried as most novices do to enter a competition and play by their rules. well lemme tell ya, not everyone is there to play by the rules. when my classmate went to know him out with the kup choy, he caught warnings for it. so what r u to do in a situation like that? had it been me, no qusetion, i woulda knocked his @$$ out cold! and that's jus ONE recent incident. so don't let all this rules b/s get to ur head worry about not gettin ur @$$ knocked out! but that's jus my 2 cents..

[Tao-Yin-Lee]

Can you please get in touch either by Pm or by e-mail from the web site: www.tibetankungfu.com

Regards,

Tao.

[Galadriel]

Hey guys,

Thanks for all your input, but at the moment its looking a bit unlikely that i will actually be able to go, after doing the maths on the cost of the whole trip, and with the conversion rate of the euro/sterling, its turning out to be quite expensive for a poor student like me ;-)
But keep your thoughts coming, I might just enter a couple of irish competitions in the future to get used to the semi-contact side of things.

AlecM
I dont know the fight you are talking about, that must have been before I joined, but I think I know one of the fighters you are talking about, big bald guy with the name of Robert Houlihan??

If you go through your collection and find that fight, I'd love to have a look at it. I've seen a tape of Rob fight from 2 years ago, it was very good, but in the end he got an uppercup in the balls and they were pushed up ;-) Even just watching was painful!!


Tao
You should have an email in your inbox.


Galadriel

[alecM]

No problem I’ll check my collection and when I find the fight I’ll send you a PM.

[Hiram]

Me personally...I hate semi-contact. I avoid it like the plague!

[Galadriel]

Well dont really have a lot of choice Hiram!!!

Thanks Alec, looking forward to that.

Galadriel

[Hiram]

What do you mean, you don't have a choice??

[Galadriel]

Well, unless I have a complete sex change, I have to fight semi contact,
but I kinda like the way I am, so that is out of the question ;-)

I suppose I can always opt not to fight at all, but I was kinda looking forward to it, and since there isn't a lot of full contact around for the Ladies, there doesnt seem to be much i can do about it???

Galadriel

[R]

Never clued in that Galadriel was a female name until I saw Lord of the Rings!!!

Duh. :o

Well it is unfair that the competitions only allow semi-contact for women. BUT as Ben and a few other satated you can get on well if you chose your techniques.

Also ringmanship is often an under-considered part of semi-contact fighting (which is one reason people might dislike semi-contact so much). Often you have to have a certain number of judges clearly see a point for it to score. So if you are positioned so your opponent can only be seen by 1-2 judges and 3 are required (I assumed you made it to the finals ;) ) then you opponent virtually can't score on you. Sounds easy (NOT) but one of those things people often don't think about. Also find out if you can score while moving out of the ring. Many people try to counter punch when they are moving back/sideways into an area that eliminates your ability to score a point. This is a game of TAG. What matters is that you understand the rules. Best of luck at the tournament.

Cheers R (Pow choy on the CLFMA forum...you didn't answer my note :'0] )

[CorjaNPM]

Out of interest, you're from Ireland, are you from the school which wear the white t-shirts (which I think was called Choy Lau Fut?).