Tournament Results

[Oso]

Greetings Everyone,

Hopefully BTL will find this OT enough.

Since more than a few of you just saw or met the two ladies in Cleveland I thought I'd let you know this:

Just returned from the CACMA (Carolinas Association of Chinese Martial Arts) Regional Tourney with great results.

Becky (tall, short black hair) entered the Beginners division and fought the only other female beginner besides Sylvia. Becky was steadily connecting with front kicks and front punches while the other woman was making illegal contact to the head. (No head contact was allowed at all). Becky’s opponent disqualified herself in the first round due to this infraction. Becky was very disappointed at not being able to finish the entire match but it was a great introduction into competitive sparring.

Sylvia (not quite as tall, dark curly hair) stepped up to the Intermediate division (1.5 – 3.0 years of training in this venue) and with her not quite 5 months of training took first place in a field of four women. She had two matches and did well in both though she certainly had first fight jitters during her first match. By the second match she had found her breath and handily beat the next woman for first place.

A good strong showing for Asheville Martial Arts and Pong Lai Praying Mantis.

Video and stills were taken and will be available soon for those that want a look. Just let me know.

Regards,

Matt

[yu shan]

Congrats to Becky and Sylvia! It takes alot to step into the arena of fighting.

Is this tourney held annually? And what city in your state was it held? Was there a good group of Mantis people there? How was the forms competition?

I sent you a pm about the photos/video.

Cheers

Jim

[Oso]

This Tourney is held annually in May. It was a pretty good turnout. Wong's Kung Fu of Washington DC was there with 4 students and a school from Cincinnatti ('something' Hill's Kung Fu Center) brought a dozen or so. That school had a bunch of good fighters and they fight mostly San Shou from what one of their guys told me.

The Hall of the Peaceful Dragon from Charlotte also had 12 or more students. Their name should not give a false impression at all. Student's from my school fought some of theirs last year and again this year. Their Sifu trains some good people.

Overall I think about 70-80 competitors.

I met a student of Sifu Biggie's from SC who is teaching a small group of people. We exchanged contact info and talked about trying to visit each other's schools to exchange hands. He did a drunken set and mantis set that i forgot the name too. very nice.

The forms comps were generally very good. Wong's southern fist (hung fut maybe?) is very nice. most of the stuff was all very northern except for a bunch of wing chun.

There was a very small two-person division that my school will dominate next year :cool: :D

and, to get this a little more back On Topic. Sifu Biggie's student did the only sets with any sort of 'aliveness' to them. Everyone else just did their movements. He inspired me to do more work on making my forms tighter looking and maybe compete the next time around.

[ron evans]

Sifu Melton,
Your too kind, thank you . It was good to talk to you, hope we can get together soon. Glad your gals did good. Thank you again,
Ron

[Oso]

I wondered if you hung out here any. :)

you looked good. simply put.

I will amend a bit...Sifu Wong's folks looked tight as well.

Just too many people doing a form for the sake of competition vs. doing the form as an illustration of fighting technique.

got your email and will get in touch with you about hooking up sometime soon.

[ron evans]

I look in mostly. Wong's guys always look great. Their lion dance team is also great. Thanks again, I'll talk to you later.
Ron

[brothernumber9]

Wong's does Jow Ga of Sifu Dean Chin -> Raymond Wong lineage. A mix of Hung Ga and Choy Ga. Visually similar to Hung Fut at times but different, since most Jow Ga schools are relatively close to or in the Washington DC metro area, it has spawned a general friendship between the Hung Fut and Jow Ga schools and also a great rivalry.

[mantid1]

Dont forget about the northern influence in the Jow Ga.

[Oso]

Great! Thanks for the info. I spoke with Sifu Wong very breifly but not enough to ask what style.

[brothernumber9]

Sifu Wong hosts an annual tournament in the summer in D.C. It's a fun tournament with some strong female competitors (good for your students) having competed in the last few years. A couple years ago there was even impromptu master's demonstrations when Sifu Wong just began calling people out of their seats during introductions and cleverly but not overtly challenging them to display their skills.

It is one of the few tournaments where a slew of southern and northern and mixed traditional styles make strong presences. Jow Ga, Hung Fut, Hung Ga, Tien Shan Pai, Bak Siu Lam, Wah Lum, Wing Chun, 7 Star Mantis, on and on and on. If you liked what you saw at that last tournament, you'd love Wong's.

[Oso]

thanks, I PM'd you to keep things as On topic as possible. :D