In 2006, we a debuting a new championships event. You'll see 'official' news releases here. There's more information on the Tiger Claw site and there will be a new site specifically for this at www.tigerclawelite.com soon.
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In 2006, we a debuting a new championships event. You'll see 'official' news releases here. There's more information on the Tiger Claw site and there will be a new site specifically for this at www.tigerclawelite.com soon.
You'll find the rankings established in our first qualifier at Disneyland posted online now. You'll also find our profiles section is just starting to come together. Check it out. :cool:
There's been some discussion of the TCEC on another forum. I'm linking this here just so we don't get redundant questions, although I'd much rather take up the discussion here since I'm on this forum more (obviously).
Our next Tiger Claw Elite Championship Qualifier will be held on April 7th & 8th, 2006 at the Rocky Mountain National Challenge Open Championships. It'll be at the Ogden Eccles Conference Center, 2415 Washington Blvd. Ogden, Utah. For more information, call Carlos M. Ferrer (801) 295-9274.
Create your personal profile for free, and then register online for an upcoming Tiger Claw Elite Championships Qualifier, and you can receive a Elite Uniform from Tiger Claw. It's just special perk from the Tiger Claw Elite Championships! :cool:
not bad gene kinda what we are doing over at http://www.mma.tv/ranked
The results for the Rocky Mountain National Challenge Open Championships in Ogden, Utah on April 7th & 8th are now posted in the Past Events section of our Tiger Claw Elite site.
We hope to see all of you this weekend at the Ultimate Internationals in Santa Clara, CA, May 5-6, 2006!
As a special incentive, every 1st place finisher in any of the Tiger Claw Elite Championship Qualifying events at the Ultimate Internationals this Saturday will receive a special limited edition Tiger Claw Elite – Ultimate Internationals Warm Up Suit! This is part of a cooperative deal with Ray and Debbie Delgado, promoters of the Ultimate Internationals, and is only taking place at this qualifier. Good luck everyone!
I'll personally be at the Ultimate Internationals this weekend, so come say 'hi' if you see me. I always enjoy meeting forum members face-to-face. I'll be there Saturday for the Tiger Claw Elite qualifiers.
Man, I'm just talking to myself here so I can ttt this above the Able/Browning flame war. What an odd permuation of that thread...
This may be the only Tiger Claw Elite event I attend this year since it's the only local one. The Ultimate Internationals start today. Tomorrow is the Elite Division. Hope to see you there!
Several Tiger Claw Elite Qualifiers have passed and I've totally forgot to update this. Here are some photos:
Ultimate Internationals, Santa Clara, CA, May 5-6, 2006: photos
Western Wyoming Championship, Green River, WY, May 20, 2006: photos
San Diego Grand International, San Diego, CA, May 20-21, 2006: photos
Long Beach Karate Internationals, Long Beach, CA, July 28-30, 2006: photos
US Capitol Classics, Washington, D.C., August 11-13, 2006: photos
Ka Open / La Sheriff's Cup, Los Angeles, CA, September 9, 2006: photos coming
For all the results, click here.
This weekend is the final prequalifier: Kick/USA State Championship, Boca Raton, FL, September 15-16, 2006
Then everyone rests for a month until the Championships: Disney's Martial Arts Festival Qualifier, Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex, Orlando, FL. October 26-29, 2006
Good luck everyone!
Do a lot of people have time and money to go to events like this all the time?
Must be a lot of rich people doing these things. ???
And if you're good, you can find money. We even have a special Tiger Claw Elite Championship Fund for our leading champions - see our charitable branch at www.TigerClawFoundation.org.
So that chick gets paid for being young and cute and doing martial arts? Dang ...
"“We learn poise and presentation, and how to get over stage fright,” said Nicole, a Discovery Bay resident and sop****re at Liberty High School. At age 14, she stands 5'8" and has blossomed competitively in the last two years, even though she’s always had a flair for center stage. Modeling since age 4, she also sings, acts, water skis, plays piano and dances at Expressions Dance Company in Brentwood. "
Something isn't right about this. I mean, her parents obviously pay a lot of $ so she can do these things.
It seems like a charitable foundation should be giving stuff to underprivileged kids or something.
Okay, I need to stop complaining. Anyway, that's pretty cool ... 14 and already more accomplished than I am at over 30. LOL
Actually, we're not paying Nicole Gerry any cash. We did donate some uniforms to her for her work representing martial arts at the teen pageants. Please keep in mind the mission statement of the Tiger Claw Foundation: The Tiger Claw Foundation is a non-profit charitable organization dedicated to promoting martial artists and assisting martial artists in achieving their goals. If you know any underpriviledged martial arts kids, please let us know.
So I was thinking about this some more today, about the entire rich kids vs. underprivileged kids thing.
And basically, whatever. I guess it's hard to be ... man, my vocabulary is getting bad ... but it's hard to be (respectful, proud, whatever) of somebody like Nicole who have accomplished so much with so much obvious parental support when there are people who have so little.
I mean, I personally wanted to take MA when I was a kid, but my parents never let me because they were afraid it would convert me to Asian thinking or something.
But, anyway, it really makes no difference what I think because nobody really cares.
So, I guess, carry on ... free uniforms, whatever. There's no way any foundation has enough money to solve the inequities of the world.
Everyone needs to do more charity work. I just spent my entire weekend doing charity work for the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic, and I don't feel I do enough. And I'll go one step more, when people talk about 'real' martial arts, and just talk about things working on the street, I find that absurd. But when people talk about martial artists who do charity work - who use their skills for healing instead of fighting - then I respect them. Then, and only then, do I feel that they are 'real'. Martial arts are about helping others. If you're not helping others with your martial arts, you're not real.
But enough of my personal opinion. Now to the Tiger Claw Foundation . Our parent company, Tiger Claw has always done grassroots support of up-and-coming martial artists, but never really taken credit for it. We saw the opportunity and the need to formalize our charity work after 9/11. Of course, we get solicited by many, as does any charity group, and given that we are a martial arts company, we had to focus our efforts with our mission statement. All charity organizations do this. Take a look at our past projects: We supported Jet Li's ONE Foundation. We supported Jackie Chan's work with Self-Help for the Elderly. We supported the Blind judo team. Of course, we wish would could take care of poor underpriviledged kids, and we might be supporting some organizations that are using martial arts with at-risk youth, but your suggestion is unfocused. It's not realistic.
As for Nicole, sure, she's supported by her parents. She's only a teenager. But her parents aren't millionaires. I wouldn't say that she's a rich kid at all. Her dad is a career martial arts teacher, and you don't make that much money in the martial arts. Her only priviledge was to be born beautiful and if you envy that, you've got some weird issues. Right now, she's working to promote martial arts within beauty pageants, akin to what another TCF supported martial artist, Jayneen Lee was doing. If we can get more beautiful women doing kung fu, it would be just like the yoga economic boom. Unfortunately, too many men in the martial arts are card holders of the lonely hearts club (just look at our forum members :p )
I don't have any problem with people being born beautiful, but I don't think they should get any reward just for having good genes. To have a beauty pagent, IMHO, is a complete farce.
Anyway, for the Nicole thing, she has the support of her parents. I never had the support of my parents for any endeavors. In fact, my mom kept me down, kept me from testing for the Gifted and Talented Program (they snuck me in as long as they could), from competing in sports, from doing MA, etc., because she was a nutcase.
So why would I want to laud somebody who did something great with a lot of support who won the genetic lottery?
So what I am for is equal access. I don't think parents should be allowed to mess with their kids like mine did. I think there should be government mandated equal access to education opportunities so people can achieve their full potential.
Of course, that I guess isn't going to happen.
Anyway, whatever. Like you said, it is unfocused and unrealistic, like I put in my next post. "There's no foundation that can solve the inequities of the world." But don't expect me to laud some person because they won the genetic and parent lottery.
Anyways, kudos for your charity work. I thought long and hard about doing charity work such as teaching kids martial arts, and I searched for charity work around Seattle but found that there is actually a ton of competition for charity work and I am unqualified compared to the others.
Ironic, ain't it? I couldn't find one thing that they would let me do. Not Habitat for Humanity, not teaching classes, not MA, not PC support, not helping old people, NOTHING. LOL
What they need, is $. They want $ not bodies. They have a ton of bodies, at least around Seattle.
Anyways, I am a little person compared to people who have houses like this: http://www.seattlestreetofdreams.com...algallery3.cfm. I mean, if everybody who had a big house just bought a small house, and put the rest of the $ towards social programs, these charities would have more than enough $.
The problem is people are GREEDY. That is the problem.
This is why I think you're projecting. You don't really know a thing about Nicole's parents and the possible hardships she might have faced/be facing. She might not be a 'have' - she might be a 'have not'. Whatever the case, she's working hard to promote martial arts and we salute that.
There's always openings for charity work. There's always a need for more volunteers. If you cannot find a place to do volunteer charity work then either you aren't looking very hard at the needy or you aren't looking very hard in the mirror.
If you want government mandated equal access to education, perhaps you shouldn't be looking hungrily at the mansions of others. Perhaps you should be figuring out how to relocate to a communist country.
I'm not looking hungrily at the mansions. I actually found that link because that is one of the VOLUNTEER opportunities because those $ go to charity.
If you look at the page, http://www.seattlestreetofdreams.com...nvolvement.cfm you will see the image of the Make a Wish foundation and the Children's Home Society.
There's always needy so there's *always* charity work. Personally, my own martial arts practice didn't even begin to come together until I started doing charity work. There may be a "a ton of competition for charity work" and you maybe "unqualified compared to the others" for some strange elite charity work, but the last time I volunteered at a soup kitchen, they certainly didn't check my resume.
There seems to be a consistent tone with your posts, things like "I am a little person" and "my parents never let me" and "14 and already more accomplished than I am at over 30." That's not a proper attitude for the warrior path. Everyone starts somewhere. Volunteer work can be very fulfilling spiritually. It can focus your practice. It can find applications for your practice that you didn't see. Start building some memories. Help those in need. That's what wude is all about.
So yesterday I discovered a very nice feature of Google called maps. Satellite imaging. It used to be they only had so much of the world, but now it appears they have most of the world.
So I did a little searching around, just for curiosity, and it was interesting how little of the natural trees and foliage of the world is left.
Then I did some more searching and comparing 2nd growth to first growth and checked out the Amazon basin. Then with some concern and panic as I suddenly found that there is little, if any, first growth left anywhere in the world anymore.
How can people do this to the world? Don't they realize that destroying the plant and animal life they are only destroying themselves?
So I have a new idea for charity. Charity begins with birth control. I will only support birth control and abortion from now on.
We've posted the photos for the Ka Open / La Sheriff's Cup here. I hear Kick/USA went well. Watch the TCEC site for an exciting announcement about the Disney's Martial Arts Festival. Mark your calendars: Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex, Orlando, FL. October 26-29, 2006. Even if you can't go to Florida, keep that Saturday night free. I'll tell you why very soon. ;)
First up, there will be Cirque Du Soleil talent scouts looking for martial artists at the DMAF in Florida. I've posted info on that on our Cirque Du Soleil casting thread.
Secondly, The Tiger Claw Elite Grand Champions will be showcased on a LIVE WEBCAST. The webcast will be free access so check it out. Tell your friends. Support live martial arts on webcasts! If our viewer numbers are high enough, we can do more groundbreaking events such as this!
Quote:
This year Saturday Night Showcase will be broadcast live via Web Cast on October 28, 2006 at 7:00 p.m. EST.
The Web Cast will include live voice and video and can be accessed through both the Disney's Wide World of Sports® homepage and Disney's Martial Arts Festival event information page.
High speed internet access is necessary to view the live web cast.
You can still qualify for the Tiger Claw Elite Championships, this Friday at the Disney Martial Arts Festival. Be sure to tune in on this Saturday, October 28th, for the live webcast of the Festival Showcase! See our official website for the details!
Now I wish I was going even more. It would have been fun to hang with you in the land of Mouse.
Of course, there's nothing on it yet and there won't be until tomorrow evening. But here it is, for your reference.
Adult
Armando Anselmo- Forms & Weapons
Donald Kiolbassa- Musical
Juniors
Monique Magallanes- Forms
Justin Lam- Weapons
Zachary Miller- Musical
Youth
Venessa Loza- Forms & Weapons
Sammy Smith- Musical
I should have the sparring results later today, assuming I get it with the office Halloween party this afternoon. We'll have a full report on the TCEC site soon. Also, I'm told that Disney plans to keep the webcast available on their site for a month. The played it initially LIVE - the first time Disney has attempted a live webcast. I'm told that the are re-editing it a little and will have it available soon.
Congratulations Champions! I KNOW we'll be seeing more of these people. ;)
FI-001 Sims, Michelle
FI-002 Ortiz, Melanie ava
FI-003 Angel, Yesenia
FI-004 Simmons, Tamika
FI-005 Varma, Jessica
FI-006 Bergolla, Nikolas
FI-007 Castellon, Anthony
FI-008 Yasaki, Erik
FI-009 Waldon, Reggie
FI-010 Dean, Jim
FI-011 Cooper, Steve
FI-012 Youngblood, Sylvester
Congratulations to all the competitors! We look forward to the 2nd Tiger Claw Elite Championships in 2007! You'll find the Tiger Claw Elite Championship Qualifiers already listed in our Calendar.
Did I hear this weekend at Disney that Tiger Claw is having the Chinese divisions for one more year and ending it unless they get more people to enter those particular divisions?
Chinese stays!
This year was a huge experiment for TCEC. It was the first time. We didn't expect that high of a turnout yet. Frankly, we couldn't have handled that many more this year. People need to learn what TCEC is. We need to learn that too. It's an experiment, in progress. Integrating all the different styles and levelling the playing field is a crazy undertaking. But we learned a lot and we'll be coming at you even harder in 2007.
Actually, we're looking seriously into improving our Chinese sections. Here's a few to the changes that we're working on:
- Clearer parameters to distinguish between traditional kung fu and modern wushu
- Clearer parameters to distinguish between modern wushu and open.
- Integrating the other internal arts into our Tai Chi divisions so that becomes more of an open internatal event.
Of course, we hope that more people come out to play at TCEC, especially the Chinese divisions. I only did one - the local one here - and I was disappointed that there was such a small traditional kung fu showing. Our judges were disappointed about that too, since we had some decent traditional judges like GM Lily Lau, Sifu Bryant Fong, Sifu Art Novak. If a solid traditionalist had shown up, they could have cleaned house.
Sorry, I must have heard that in the small crowd of Kung Fu guys I was grouped with. That news is good to hear, but there was only a handful of us traditional guys in Orlando and a couple of Tai Chi people there. With such a small turnout, they must have thought that it wouldn't last much longer.
I am really happy to see a tournament like the ones that have been put out lately. I posted a question earlier on another forum asking why more traditionalist don't show up and it quickly turned political. I was hoping to see more traditional Kung Fu at this tournament especially but they were a no show. Coming down from Minnesota, I thought Orlando , along with this being the final Tiger Claw Event, would bring out the big guns from the big schools. Didn't happen. Not sure why some schools are willing to put on a night show exibition but won't compete in the tourney.
Oh well, what do you do? I will try and show up when the finances are there.
Thanks for the great CMA divisions. Hope they fill up in the future.
We're still working out the bugs in delivering a good solid TCMA division. I think everyone in the tournament circuit is challenged by this to some degree. We'd be interested in your insights on how the finals went for TCMA and how you might think we can improve. I wasn't at this one, as you know, and I've yet to see all the results, video, etc.
For one thing, I understand we're going to eliminate running a qualifier at the DMAF near Orlando. That TCEC event will just be prequalified competitors - a true finals! We tried it this year and it made things too complicated.
Thanks for your support, gentleman. Hope to see you next year!
I thought the whole tourney went well. I prequalified in California so I was expecting to compete with the other prequalified competitors but I don't think I did or not enough people showed up. I think that is the biggest issue with the TCEC is that it sounds good saying you pre qualified but if nobody else that qualified shows up what are you supposed to do. I don't really know how to make changes if the biggest problem is having enough people to fill the traditional divisions.
The one problem that I didn't care for in the traditional division was having enough room to do my form. The Wushu guys had the main stage which was a nice size, but we had to do our traditional open hand forms and weapons on two smaller areas. It was nice that they tried to make it bigger for us but please, I am 6 foot and shaolin forms take up a lot of room. That certainly was not an excuse as to how I did, I should know how to adapt but it did make it a little bit harder. I am not asking to be on the main stage just to have enough room to do a form without worrying about taking the judges out.
Again, I thought you put on a great event for CMA to advertise for itself, it is just up to us to use these events to their full potential. I will certainly be to as many as I can make it to wether or not the room is increased for us. I amazes me to read these forums hearing people talk about how great CMA is but nobody will show up at a tournament that is not sanctioned by someone to help further CMAs future. Thanks again. See you in California.
Minnesota
I think the TCMA divisions are the most challenging. We're working on making lots of improvements there. Thanks for supporting our experiment. We'll be coming at you next year with improved rules, and hopefully more competitors. Hope to see you out there.
Which CA tournament did you qualify at?
The Disney Land tourney last Febuary was the one I qualified at.
One other thing I thought of that might make the TCMT a little more exciting would be to make the championship competitions a bigger deal. This last tournament, if it hadn't been announced nobody would have known that our divisions were competing for the final winner of the season. Just for the Championship at the end of the year anyhow, maybee to have the TCMT divisions on the main stage. Just a thought, might give a little more motivation for people to enter rather than just the open events. But on the other hand it might scare some people away.
Darren