Anyone going to the Orlando MA tourny this weekend?

[woliveri]

Same as title..

http://www.kungfuchampionship.com/

[TaiChiBob]

Greetings..

There will be some old faces there, Bill.. i'll be judging the internal divisions.. hope to see you..

Be well..

[woliveri]

yeah, it's a little pricy for a spectator but I'll bite and come..

See you there Bob.

[18elders]

crap, didn't even know about it. Maybe can make it Sunday, have to help my mom move on Saturday.
Isn't it usually in July?
Wanted to enter my son in the tournament.

[Oso]

yea, pricey...and what's with the 'application' for an invitation? is it not and 'open' tournament?

wasn't going to be able to make the event in July due to another event (my brother's wedding) in the same month but definitely can't do it now.

[woliveri]

Did you see the "Video Pass" ($40.00). So if Mom and Pop bring their kid and the kid competes, then add to that food, gas, lodging if needed etc., that's a hell of a bite on the wallet.

I'm sure it costs to put this thing on so I can understand the ticket fee but sorry, not the video fee, at least for general events.

[yu shan]

The video pass was Chan Pui`s brain child. Back at tournament 2000 there were people stationed in the stands to stop folks from shooting video. This is ridiculous if you ask me, with all the other costs involved plus travel to get to Orlando!

I see one of my old teachers is doing a seminar, Shifu Sean Cochran. Wish him all the best, and he still moves great. www.junlikungfu.com

18, your kid is a hell of a fighter, take him down there and see what he can do.

I should pay attention to this tournament, it would have been nice to see all the action and to see one of my teachers again.

[woliveri]

well, I attended this event... here are my thoughts.

Venue:

The good. It was a beautiful facility.
The bad. They charge 12.00 to park each and every time you park. So, if you want to leave the hotel for food, drink, or what ever. You're screwed into another 12.00 fee to park the car. No all day pass. No timed ticket.

I refused to pay it and parked down the road a bit at a Walgreens parking lot. Then took a 10 min walk back to the hotel. I walked much more than that in China so the hike was not a problem.

The event:

It wasn't worth 30.00 as a spectator. It would not be something I would pay that amount for again.

In fact, it became rather boring and I left the event early.

They also didn't provide anything for the 30.00 fee such as an event program, etc. Everyone had to go to the announcer's table to find out when an event or competition was scheduled. As you can imagine it caused quite a stir at the announcer's table.


I remember in the past there used to be such an event at the Orlando Marriott world center. I think this is a better location from what I could remember. At least the parking was free and the facility just as nice.

[yu shan]

So $12 to park and $30 to walk in and watch! Someone needs to enlighten Scrima on our economy. I guess he thinks we are all rolling in money. I can only imagine the prices at the concessions. :rolleyes:

[Three Harmonies]

That is called ripping off the competitors fans and family who came to support:mad:
Boo on Scrima! That is BS!! How much was it to compete?? Should have just payed that so they could feel they got their moneys worth!

How many competitors? Turnout? Results?

Cheers
Jake

[Oso]

yea, too much money. we have been talking about going to this for a couple of years and it just hasn't worked out financially...though it is the next closest place for us to get some san shou fighting besides Cleveland/Akron and it's still 10 hours away by car...and that's how 4 broke ass martial artists get where they can on the cheap...

i had an email exchange with someone last month about the whole money thing with charging full contact competitors and it sorta changed the way I'm thinking about it. Basically, if you are willing to risk your body and brain to draw spectators for a promotor then you shouldn't have to pay.

I mean, Cung Le and other pro and semi-pro (like those guys who fight in that MMA thing that they show on MAV TV...someplace out west??? Jake?) get paid to fight. I'm certainly not saying that those of us that might get out once or twice a year to fight should get paid...but at least don't charge them more than a small ($5-10) admin fee...at most.

but, I don't see a sweeping boycott happening.

At least the CACMA group is on the right page with this topic, my 2 fighters didn't have to pay to fight and got at least a small award for winning.

I understand that venues cost money and insurance costs money but, at least at the events that are both full contact and forms/light contact; let the copious number of form *****s and 'too deadly' dreamers pay the way ;)

[yu shan]

Oso, more than likely, this expensive tournament is attended by Florida schools. It is what I have seen in the past. But still, start adding up the cost and this is unbelievable! Just not worth it, we`ll stay at home at just train, no need to prove ourselves.

[Oso]

not trying to prove myself...but the younger generation needs to do the same...just not at the cost of an arm and a leg....

[TaiChiBob]

Greetings..

Well.. considering i was confined to judging Yang, Wu, WCC Chen's 60 mov't, restricted step pushing and moving pushing.. i had no time to see anything else.. There were a handful of decent Taiji competitors in the rings i dealt with, a couple of standouts, but.. largely dismal demonstrations of Taiji.. The Yang division was pretty much unrecognizable as "Yang".. Wu was fair.. 60 mov't best representation.. but, remember, that was all i could pay attention to.. my students say there was some pretty good stuff in other rings..

The pushing was Shui Jao with little internal skill exhibited.. there were a couple of decent players and occasionally they got paired-up for a robust exhibition skill at a pretty intense pace.. overall, i was not impressed.. there was more decent action in warm-up pushes than in the competition..

Seminars were pretty good, i enjoyed Chris Luth's Internal grounding and Yang Fukui was impressive from several perspectives.. time spent with Chris was directly applicable to improving Taiji structure and effectiveness..

The Internal Divisions suffered from a bit of disorganization, as usual, but.. we finally got things moving pretty smoothly..

As for the cost, i understand the complaints, i had a few myself.. then, i considered that since this is a primary pursuit in my life, that to blame cost for not attending seemed a little off-point.. full-contact fighters on the other-hand, deserve a break..

Nick deserves recognition for his efforts, he's put on a good place to meet and reconnect with our kung-fu brothers and sisters.. which, for me, is one of the highlights.. there is a lot of hard work in putting on a tournament of this size, and this was his 10th.. so, at the end of the day i was okay with the whole thing.. the biggest let-down was with the quality of competition.. as few as five years ago it was very satisfying to watch very accomplished Yang comtetitors.. not so much now..

Be well..

[Three Harmonies]

Push hands is Shuai Chiao bro. Nice to see people actually applying push hands in lieu of what is usually considered "good push hands!"
Jake :cool:

[TaiChiBob]

Greetings..

Hi Jake: Agreed.. but, the rules allowed for underhooks but no reasonable defense.. no arm-bars, no holding for more than 1 second (1 hand grabs only).. "arm-bars" were liberally interpreted as any hand on the forearm and on the upper arm at the same time.. or variations thereof.. personally, i would have preferred the "unexecuted" use of ChinNa.. show the technique without applying force.. if an opponent gets into a situation where ChinNa can be demonstrated, the damage would be already done if there was execution, point awarded for demonstrating ChinNa.. but, i don't make the rules..

No one showed the skill to deal with Shui Jao except with countering force.. very little neutralizing.. the stronger, more rooted player won most rounds.. the rounds were liberally sprinkled with "man-hugs" and usually, the winner of a point had no stability after off-balancing the opponent, the first to stumble off balance lost a point without much concern for the point winners finishing in control.. no contact was permitted above the shoulders or below the waist, including hip-control..

I would like to see a tournament environment with a more robust pushing environment.. of course, that would necessitate more capable players, so.. we'll probably stay where we are..

Be well..

[Three Harmonies]

You make good points. I did not realize the scope of the rules, but they sound lame. May as well do Shuai Chiao! Or did they not have a SC division?
Thanks
Jake

[TaiChiBob]

Greetings..

Hi Jake: yes, they had Shui Jao divisions.. it seemed like the players that didn't want to play with the "big boys" came over to pushing divisions to pick up a few medals.. it was obvious they had trained for Shui Jao..

In the most humorous category... during a semi-final advanced moving push-hands, one of the Italian players had spun the opponent around at the inner circle, the opponent was bent-over trying not to step out, then the Italian used the "Freddie Mercury hip thrust" :eek: to launch the opponent out past the outer circle.. it took a few minutes for everyone to stop laughing.. the Italian had raised his arms just as he "pushed".. i wish it were on film, it was the most unusual point scored..

Be well..

[Three Harmonies]

Well my teachers have always said it is "all in the hips!" :eek::confused::o;)

[TaiChiBob]

Greetings..

Oddly, right here in Orlando, home of the Wah Lum school, there were no Wah Lum competitors at the tournament..

Be well..

[Yao Sing]

Greetings..

Oddly, right here in Orlando, home of the Wah Lum school, there were no Wah Lum competitors at the tournament..

Be well..

Wow, that's a first. So does that mean the Pong Lai group was in attendance?

[Oso]

now that's funny ;)

[yu shan]

Yao, I read this last night and laughed so much I woke up the family! Should I share the story behind this or let 18 Elders explain why no WL was there? 18 Elders story will be much more colorful, but a true story. I`m being a good boy these days so to keep the peace.

TBH, maybe next year I`ll take a group, it should be a lot of fun. There is plenty of time to plan and save our pennies. But if WL plans on attending, we will boycott the tournament! ;)

[isol8d]

wah lum hasn't been there for the last two years. I've had other stuff going on, haven't trained much this year, missed the tournament, but it sounds on par with the last 3-4 years.

[Yao Sing]

Guess I'm way out of the loop these days. I'm sure I'll hear the story from someone sooner or later.

[Oso]

Guess I'm way out of the loop these days. I'm sure I'll hear the story from someone sooner or later.


me too...oh, wait, i'm like the only semi-senior PL guy that's not ex-WL...I guess that means I'm waaay out of the loop... ;)

[yu shan]

Yea Oso... and you are not included in any of our reindeer games either! :p

[Oso]

lol...yea, but like ol' rudolph I'll guide your way ;)