Printable View
That's like the dude at the high school dance who thinks he's scaring off all the babes. Traditionalists are scaring off the youth. They just aren't attracting them. Or at least, the young traditional practitioners aren't coming out to play. As of this post, there are only 3 entrants for the Young Adult section. That guarantees that they will all win a trophy if we don't get any more sign ups by day's end tomorrow.Quote:
Originally Posted by YinOrYan
Here were my top picks:Quote:
Originally Posted by GeneChing
Ellie Luong, Songshan Shaolin, Eagle (I know a similar form so I know that was well done. I'm going to add some wing flapping like that!)
Kaylee Wibowo, Modern Wushu, Contemporary Sword Form (Controlled that whippy sword well. She should try a Ming sword).
Alexander He, Traditional Kung Fu, Southern Fist (Had better breath-control than the others. He should try it with his teeth clamped-down).
Well the Young Adult section seems to have demographics against it, at least in the U.S. When the kids go to college I think they are no longer forced to train by their parents. I don't know how U.C. Berkely gets enough kids participating in their tournaments. The University here has much more students but I could not even pay the kids to be interested. When I first started college they had several different martial arts classes, and now there's none...Quote:
Originally Posted by GeneChing
I have no problem at all with kids/young people doing acrobatic/wushu-type forms. What I have a problem with is when they enter the traditional divisions, and the judges score their form higher than well-done traditional forms because they incorporated a backflip, or a tornado kick into a split, or called their wushu form traditional, etc. Those actually happened at kung fu tournaments I attended, admittedly a long time ago (late ‘90s).
TBH, kung fu isn’t popular with young people at all. Nowadays, even karate, Kenpo, TKD, and kung fu, if they’re practiced at all, seems to be all kids forced to train by their parents to give them another activity a couple times a week. Most will have quit by their teens. The only MA actually sought out by teens and young adults are BJJ/MT/MMA (or at least they were pre-Covid; only time will tell how many MA schools, BJJ academies, and MMA gyms have had to close permanently). But that’s all OK. MA will survive somehow, some way. There will always be SOME serious practitioners who will be motivated and carry it on, even if in small numbers.
I hear ya on Wushu competitors scoring over Traditional, Jimbo. I remember losing to wushu drunken style and changquan in a traditional ring back when I competed, and that was like 30 years ago. It's still an issue. I go blue in the face at our Judges' meetings trying to get them to agree to proper separation.
The fundamental problem is that traditional is not designed for competition while Wushu is. Teachers of Wushu train to win. Traditional practitioners perpetuate their tradition, whether it works in competition or not. Wushu coaches also know how to play the game - they stack their judges (all CMA tournaments rely heavily on volunteer judges) and rally their schools. Traditionalists expect fair play, and tournament promoters do their best to provide that. Wushu players play to win and capitalize on every advantage. As a former NCAA athlete, I admire that. That's how you play the game. But there's the rub. To a traditionalist, it's more than a game.
Now, Modern Wushu coaches are several generations deep. They play to win. They still enter traditional because some young coaches don't even know the difference. It's a constant challenge to beat them back. They play the game. The traditionalists abandon the game when they can't win by tradition, so the Wushu players win by default. And they're fine with that.
Okay, end of rant. Back to our regularly scheduled programming.
The YOUNG ADULTS is our smallest pool and it goes live tomorrow. There are less than half as many entries as there are trophies, so it's like a participation trophy, but none of them knew that going into this and kudos to them for representing.
The ADULTS (25-30) Tiger Claw Elite ONLINE Championship Submission Deadline is Next Wednesday (DEC 9). ENTER HERE NOW
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EoagubiV...pg&name=medium
The YOUNG ADULTS (18-24) Tiger Claw Elite ONLINE Championship Premieres Friday (DEC 4) at 6PM PST on our YouTube channel!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EoaeSmIU...pg&name=medium
The ADULTS (25-30) Tiger Claw Elite ONLINE Championship Submission Deadline is This Wednesday (DEC 9). ENTER HERE NOW
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EoqH4q2U...pg&name=medium
The YOUNG ADULTS (18-24) Champions are declared!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eovwu7cU...jpg&name=small
The ADULTS (25-30) division Submission Deadline for the Tiger Claw Elite ONLINE Championships is TOMORROW (DEC 9)! ENTER HERE NOW
The ADULTS Premiere this Friday (DEC 11) our YouTube channel!
I liked the Modern Wushu, in the reverse order awarded. I could tell Megha Gaonkar's dance experience served her well, without ever seeing her dance. Rachel Ho's performance would have been even better with the soundtrack, even though I never heard it, and I understand how Ning Fengfei whips got the judges excited! Now, can anyone tell me if Modern Wushu places any value in forms starting and ending in the same spot?Quote:
Originally Posted by GeneChing
Fair question. We make no stipulations within our rules on this. It seemed like a random penalty because some folk traditional forms don't do this. It's important not to mistake a competition bound by rules with standard practice. That being said, Modern Wushu is a sport, although very few tournaments fully adhere to the rules of the sport because it's too expensive (it requires several certified judges and other official standards which are costly).Quote:
Originally Posted by YinOrYan
Yeah, I've read their rules for "certified judges" before and find it absurd that they have an upper age limit! What young judges are going to know many weapon and animal forms???Quote:
Originally Posted by GeneChing
Are you talking about the IWuF rules? Where does it say that exactly?
It was one of the big Wushu organizations that was in your magazine in the last year or two. Will try to track it down. Don't recall what the cutoff age was, but I do remember I was more than a decade past the limit, even though I'm now better than I ever was at that age...Quote:
Originally Posted by GeneChing
There aren't that many big Wushu orgs. Do you mean a wushu-oriented tournament? The official IWuF tournaments are a sanctioned affair. Most tournaments, like ours, are actually privately organized. Although we all run Wushu rings, we have our own distinct rule systems. Perhaps that's what you were thinking? Did you actually see this in print in our mag? Or did you see the coverage in our mag and look up the rules?
Excuse my curiosity but I don't remember this and it seems like something I would remember, but my memory has been scattered lately so maybe I'm just blanking. Watch it be some article that I wrote myself. :o
Yes. I've gone through a year of back-issues already, looking at each of their websites. I don't mind the trip down memory-lane. Thinking it may have been the one CalWushu is part of, but maybe they changed it after some feedback. Wish I knew about this forum back then. I would think one of your connections would have heard of it, so perhaps its my judgement that is getting too old, ha ha ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by GeneChing