Kuoshu Leitai Matches In SF Bay Area?

[cerebus]

Hey everyone! Does anybody out there know if there will be any Kuoshu Leitai style tourneys in the SF Bay area this year? If so, who will be sponsoring them, and who should I contact if I would like to compete?

I've trained for, and fought in, San Da/ San Shou before (long ago) and I enjoyed it, but I would really like to try the Leitai Kuoshu matches. I'm currently a Hsing-I & Bagua practitioner and have experience in full contact Hsing-I matches through the association I belong to, but our closed-door fighting event is only once a year and I'm looking for more chances to use my training.

Thanks in advance for any assistance. ;)

[Oso]

I could be wrong here but I think that you might not find any Lei Tai that far west.

I think most of the lei tai that goes on in the states is sponsered by the US Koushou group that is based out of Maryland.

good luck but the headgear suxors so if you find a tourney be sure to practice with the headgear for a while.

[SaekSan]

So far there's only been a couple of Kuoshu style tournaments on the West Coast (last one was in 2003) and they were sponsored by Richard Lee and his East-West School and the last one was co-sponsored by Lily Lau and her Eagle Claw organization.

Oso is correct in the fact that the east coast has the concentration of Kuoshu events although we're sponsoring one in the midwest on 5/21 in Madison, WI (shameless plug :D ) this will be the first of an annual event, if you would like more info go to our site www.zykfa.org and click on the "Kuoshu Tournament Info" link, we also have a Kuoshu discussion board on our message board area.

About the helmet, I can see Oso's point but I would not say that it suxors. It can be hard to adapt to the helmet at first but I have found it to be a great tool in keeping beginner fighters from busting their noses, so it encourages participation for those that would like to understand their art from a contact perspective. Oso's observation of training with a kuoshu helmet on to get used to it is very true.

Good luck!

:)

[Oso]

Seaksan, have you seen the new Pro Force w/ the Lexan face instead of the bars?

We just got a couple of them for the school and they offer better visibility and I whacked em with a staff pretty hard and didn't crack em. I'm wondering if they might get approved for lei tai.

I totally agree that the helmet is great for letting people try out harder contact. The bars aren't even my biggest complaint. I hate the loss of peripheral vision the most.

[SaekSan]

Oso,

Yes, I have seen them and they look SWEET! Yeah, it would be nice if they would allow them at the events, it would definetely be an advancement in the Kuoshu format to have something like that. So, they can take a pretty good hit huh? That's good to know, I'll look into them, thanks for the heads up! :)

[SaekSan]

Oso,

I was on your webpage (very nice btw), went to the video section and watched the Lai Tai match. Where was that held? I recognized a couple of the judges from the USCKF events but I didn't know about that event.

[Oso]

ugh, I need take that piece of crap off the website...I was waaaay out of shape.

anyway....

that was held in Mar 04 near Charlotte NC

There was another one just last weekend.

It is sponsered by a group call Carolinas Association of Chinese Martial Arts.

Good group of guys trying to find a home for CMA in the south. They go to the Aug/Sept event in Maryland every year.

Sifu Doug Moffet from VA reffed my match.

It's not promoted that much because in NC we can't do a tourney. Only single exhibition matches...meaning that no fighter can fight more than one fight in a day.

so, they try and get people matched up close in size prior to the event and then showcase the Lei Tai 'demos' throughout the day during a regular CMA type tourney.

The next event down here will be in November I think.

[SaekSan]

I've met Sifu Moffet on several occasions at the USCKF event and I've heard of the CACMA and their promotion of CMA, good to hear they're making it annual! I'll have to talk to Sifu Moffet about the event.

"It's not promoted that much because in NC we can't do a tourney. Only single exhibition matches...meaning that no fighter can fight more than one fight in a day."

Is this a law in NC? That really sux! At least the CACMA is trying to make some venue for you guys, kudos to them!

:)

[Oso]

It's the gloves.

It falls under the auspices of the NC Boxing Commission. In NC to have a full contact tournament, you must wear at least 14oz (or maybe 16) gloves. I've not read the law but that's what the CACMA guys said. Must be something that came about after the UFC event in Charlotte in the 90's.

So, you could have a San Shou tourney but not a lei tai tourney.

Yea, and considering none of us down here are running a full contact training program, one fight a day is fine. :D

[SaekSan]

Ahhh... the gloves, I wish they would take into cosideration that a full helmet is worn as well as the gloves.

Have you ever gone to the Kuoshu event in Maryland? If not you should give it a shot, lots of fun and if you're interested in fighting in a tournament but in a smaller venue you should check our event out.

:)

[Oso]

That helmet is really only good face protection. It really doesn't provide a lot of concussion protection, IMO. Not like a regulation boxing helmet. The cage spreads the front of face contact around pretty good but a shot to the side of the head is going to have pretty near 100% power transfer to the skull. Again, just my opinion. The gloves in lei tai also are pretty much just protecting the hands. So, on the one hand, I can understand the boxing commissions point. But, on the other hand, I also believe in 'caveat emptor' and if you're gonna fight lei tai then you accept the helmet and the gloves. So, I wish we could do it.


I'm not sure I'm gonna fight full contact again. I aggravated a shoulder situation in that match you saw and need to decide whether to try and get it repaired with surgery or not.

besides, I'm 37, I barely beat that guy and he was 10 years younger and as out of shape as I was. I'd hate to fight a guy that was really in shape and younger to boot.

Do they have a seniors division in Maryland? I'd maybe go against another old **** like me. :D

I'm slowly getting used to the idea of just being a teacher and a coach. :(

right now I've got one student who wants to give it a try. She's just a 5 month student but fought some 4-5 year students in light contact this past weekend and beat them.

So, I'm going to get her ready to fight advanced light contact in November and then try to get her a lei tai match next may...then maybe we'll come up to Maryland in '06.

[SaekSan]

True, we even have a disclaimer for people who've had concussions in the past not to participate in the Kuoshu stuff.

Sorry to hear about the shoulder good luck with it.

Sorry no seniors division, I know a few guys that are in their 40's still fighting Lei Tai though... ;)

"I'm slowly getting used to the idea of just being a teacher and a coach."

It's a little bit of a bummer at first but the rewards are great. :)

Good to hear you have a protégé, tell me if you guys go and we'll get together!

:)

[Oso]

I'd like to keep doing it, we'll see.

I just hate the fact that the teacher I had when I was in my 20's didn't encourage us to go to tournaments.

I'll let you know when we travel.

later,

Matt