Kfo Sders!

[Shaolin-Do]

How was the tournament?
How did you place? others from your school? How was the masters sparring? Did you enjoy meeting members of KFO or were some of them wierdos?

[Radhnoti]

SD, I just made the evening event.
Senior Master Leonard was promoted to 8th degree...and 8 fellows were promoted to 5th (assoc. master).
The Master's division wrapped up with Master Joe Schaffer sparring Master Frank Mingione. To be honest, I was slightly disappointed with this division. I was under the impression that it would be continuous sparring...as it WAS for brown belts and blacks below master. Instead they decided on a point-sparring format. Master Mingione is a tall dude, he sat back and made Master Joe come to him. I believe that Master Joe was only able to score once. It might have been MUCH more interesting with a continuous sparring format...
Much more interesting was the black belt continuous sparring and the brown. The tournament champion and black belt division champion was also one of the fellows promoted to Assoc. Master that night, Eric Bullock. Quite a night for him. I was pretty impressed with his fighting, form and intensity.

Also, quite a night for BentMonk. I first spotted him in a San Njie breaking demo. Not long after his instructor presented him with a "shaolin spirit" award for his dedication and hard work...saying that no one around him failed to be inspired by his remarkable courage and willingness to learn. It was obviously a very emotional presentation, and I'm fairly certain Master Price struggled a bit to contain his emotions. Finally, BM got a standing ovation from...I dunno...about 2000 + or - folks? I didn't get a chance to say "hi" to him after that...tough to get through all the well-wishers.

On my way out I saw Judge Pen...he said that everyone who was supposed to show up, except me, had met and got a pic with GM Sin. He then pointed out Evad and themeecer to me and I was able to run up and say "hi" to them as well.

Everyone was exceptionally nice that I was able to meet. What did you expect? Sd'ers are just good people.

[CaptinPickAxe]

...another tear jerking shaolin-do moment...

congrats to everyone who preformed. How did the San Antonio School do?

[Shaolin-Do]

Awesome, thx rad.
Big ups to bentmonk as well. Congratulations to all those who participated in fact.

[themeecer]

Yeah it was a great tournament. I'll hopefully have some pics to post in a few days. The seminar was even better. That Mulan fan form was soooooooooooooooo long. But man was it ever beautiful. I'll write more when I am coherant .. I am going to go watch a little of my video and hit the sack.

[Serpent]

Senior Master Leonard was promoted to 8th degree...and 8 fellows were promoted to 5th (assoc. master).

How does the whole promotion thing work in SD? Is there a central body, led by Sin The? What sort of divisions do you have for the higher grades/instructors/etc.?

No troll or anything, I'm just intrigued by the comment I quoted and wondered how it all worked in such a big organisation.

[shaolinarab]

hey all,

6:45am...just got back to new orleans from lexington about an hour ago. non-stop driving through the night, but the rain was tenaciously crazy.

anyway, the tournament was awesome. met alot of good people and learned alot more about the art, the forms, and the different nuances people from various schools give to the forms. all the KFO-SD people were great. it was kind of funny, too b/c some of my classmates were wondering how the hell a first-timer like me was walking around pretending to know everyone. i told them, "i found 'em in KFO (like the yellow pages)"!

i also learned that i need to practice more on hard wood floors since i've only been practicing on mats and rugs, so i inevitably was slipping up in my 2 forms when landing in the high school gym

i also point-sparred. in the second round, i had to fight my own classmate! at first we threw a whole bunch of kicks in the air short of one another, and the main judge told us that we had nice kicks but we had to make contact. i retorted that we didn't want to hurt each other after they pitted us against one another, and he said, 'well, you gotta." anyway, lost in the third round, and then fought for third and lost again. very good fights, and i learned alot about my technique.
a girl form my school placed in empty hand forms and weapons forms. i know alot of TX folks placed but not sure which ones were from San Antonio.
after seeing the amazing acrobatic feats and low stances in the forms competitions and demos, i am motivated to practice my stances more often at home (hopefully i'll carry that desire out!).

SERPENT,

i will wait for one of the KFO-SD 'elders' to answer your question, but i'll just say that while there are general requirements for each level, from my understanding after about 5th degree if GM Sin is aware of your accomplishments and time in the system, he can promote you by himself. Master Leonard has been with him since the beginning (~36yrs), and is the first 8th, while there are several 7th's.
as for the divisions, the ten different degrees as well as the different belt levels, of course, are modern characteristics. however, the traditional divisions still apply as well. under black is considered 'student,' 1st degree and above is 'disciple,' 5th degree and above is 'master,' and 9th and 10th are grandmasters(10th being THE GM). hope that answers your ?.

[Judge Pen]

I think that Yazen summed it up nicely. My understanding is that once you obtain the rank of Master then you don't test the same way that all of us "pleabians" do. When a Master is close to promotion, then Master Sin he starts to quiz you on your material, but it isn't a set time/date type of test. He may ask you to show him this or tell him about that. If he is satisfied with your knowledge and understanding then he will promote you to the next level. I know that Master Mullins was promoted to 7th after a trip to China where he performed several forms during a demonstration and answered several questions about the internal aspect from the teachers in China.

Regarding the tournament: Frank Minogne is an amazing fighter. I was told that he won a gold medal at one of the Pan Am games in the early 90s, but I can't confirm that without some research. He was really patient and picked his shots well. I was also impressed with Master Schafer. Maybe it was reading the trolls here on the forum, but he was a lot better than I expected. Very fluid kicks and solid body mechanics. Very quick for a man his size. I think they both represented well although I would have also liked to have seen the Masters fight non-stop.

I didn't stay for the seminar, but had a great time meeting everyone face-to-face and seeing all of the different schools and their students. I'm looking forward to our tournament in November and next years tournament in Lexington.

One more thing: BentMonk, you've earned every nice thing that was said about you. I have your fight on tape and you were great. Thank you for working so hard and teaching us all a lesson about motivation and spirit. Many respects.

[themeecer]

Originally posted by Judge Pen
Regarding the tournament: Frank Minogne is an amazing fighter. I was told that he won a gold medal at one of the Pan Am games in the early 90s, but I can't confirm that without some research. He was really patient and picked his shots well. I was also impressed with Master Schafer. Maybe it was reading the trolls here on the forum, but he was a lot better than I expected. Very fluid kicks and solid body mechanics. Very quick for a man his size.

I loved watching Master Minogne spar. It looked so effortlessly. He could have fought for hours the way he picked his shots. I like his sparring 'stance' as well. You could never see anything on his face to read at all when he sparred. He never got excited; he walked around looking like super 'cool' man. My buddy remarked that he probably had the song "I'm too sexy for my gi, too sexy for my belt..." playing in his head the whole time.

I was highly impressed with Master Schafer inside and outside the ring. He was one of the newer masters and he did very well. I had a chance to read a letter he sent out to his students prior to the tournament and was impressed with his words there. He had a very humble attitude about it all. I had a chance to talk to him for a while eariler in the day and he hit me as the type of person that would sit and talk with you for hours even if you were a lowly white belt.

[BentMonk]

The tournament was great. JP - It was great to meet you. Thank you for the kind words. I'm a lucky guy. I get to actually do something that I've loved since I was a kid, but never thought I'd really do. Master Price didn't just let me hobble around and be the neat little gimpy guy w/a gi either. He did and still does make me work my a$$ off. He refuses to teach me useless movements just for the sake of my ego. We once had another young man w/CP come into the Louisville school. He walked w/a cane. He had also been studying at another MA school, but was looking for somewhere else to train. His previous instructor immediately began teaching him to fight w/the cane. The first thing Master Price told him to do was hand him the cane and show him what he could do w/out it. Instead of seeing the real world wisdom of Master Price's approach he became offended and left. Unfortunately I arrived for class after this happened and didn't have the opportunity to talk w/him. I may never win at the life-size game of Tekken that is tournament competition, but if I had to protect myself or my family I trust what I've been taught. I was deeply touched by the honor I was given. I was totally surprised. It was a priviledge to meet JP and Yazen. Rad sorry I missed you. SD maybe next time. Me and Meecer figured out we knew each other already. I want to thank you guys, and anybody else who posts here that was in Lexington Sat night. I won't ever forget it.

[Shaolin-Do]

Good job. Thanks for the reports everyone, and as Ive said, hopefully Ill be there next year, or at least for Master Mullins open tourney.

[Radhnoti]

themeecer - "I had a chance to talk to him for a while eariler in the day and he hit me as the type of person that would sit and talk with you for hours even if you were a lowly white belt."

Funny you should say that. I had no sign of rank on, and by chance was standing next to Master Joe. Having heard good and not so good (TWS' situation) of him, I was interested in meeting him, so I said, "Hello, you're Master Joe Schaffer aren't you?"

Not knowing me from Adam, his response was a smile and firm handshake and, "Yeah, that's me. And you are?"

Shortly after our pleasantries he noticed my club shirt, and asked after my instructor. Very warm, friendly and down to earth fellow if first impressions are to be trusted.
Not 5 minutes after that he was sparring for the championship...wish I'd known, hope I didn't mess up some pre-sparring ritual he'd normally follow.

[Shaolin-Do]

I doubt it did, from what Ive met of him, hes a very friendly man, but he does have a bit of ego shining through.
Cant believe someone stole my f*ckin cell phone... d@mnit.

[joedoe]

Originally posted by Shaolin-Do
I doubt it did, from what Ive met of him, hes a very friendly man, but he does have a bit of ego shining through.
Cant believe someone stole my f*ckin cell phone... d@mnit.

People steal cell phones here all the time. Our carriers have implemented a system where they can not only track a stolen phone, but they can also render it useless. That should discourage the phone thieves.

[Shaolin-Do]

Yeah, they cut our phones off too... but thats the 3rd f*ckin phone in 2 weeks.