Is Shaolin-Do for real?

[Shaolin Wookie]

Here for your viewing pleasure, or displeasure, is the wookie. Vids from my performances at the Battle of Atlanta.

Bai Yuan Tou Tao-White Monkey Steals the Peach

I start around the minute mark. I asked the first dude what he did, he said "Pai Long" which I figured was some kind of generic Chinese Kempo thing---at least that's what it looked like.

I took 2nd place with this form, even though I kept running out of floor space, which slowed the pace of the form down to a slow shuffle at the ends of the lines...LOL. As you can see in my comments on the vid, I took out one of the roundhouses in the third line. I practice the form with the two kicks, but it did look better with one, in my opinion, and this was a forms competition. Bad angle on the vid, I know.....

I thought my hands were pretty crisp for the most part, but I got nervous and ended up rushing through the form.....same with the daggers. I should have posed more for the judges.

The dude who beat me out did a mismash of Eagle Claw, Longfist, and just some generic acrobatics, which he somehow managed to push through the "traditional soft style" division, even though he told me he made it up. Can't hate on him--it was really cool, but he should have been in the "Creative Forms" Division. But he only threw one punch.

One judge and two spectators afterwards told me I should have won as it was. Would have been cool. Never been to a tournament before, and the other guys were seasoned tournament dudes--most modern wushu. Seemed to hold my own pretty well.

Shaolin Suang Pi Sou Ti Ie Lu

I tied for 3rd with this form with a dude who had a pudao form. The guy who won had a double chain whip form, which was just friggin' sweet, and the 2nd place guy had a kickass wushu broadsword form. When I saw the dude walk out with two chain whips, I turned to the broadsword guy and said: "You do realize we just lost this one, don't you?" LOL.....

Despite the fact I practiced with more posing, though I ended up rushing through the form, I did like my pace. Should have jumped higher, though, on my kicks/jumps.

20 X 20 floorspaces for competitions suck for ST forms. Hell, as I'm sure you guys know, sometimes it's hard to practice solo in schools with ample floorspace...LOL.

[yeti]

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Nice work man! I am very impressed, thank you for sharing!

[Judge Pen]

Excellent. I really liked your form and really nice to see you put your stuff out there for the peanut gallery to comment. incidently, I don't know either of those forms myself (although I've seen them performed several times). I learned a non-SD version of white ape steals the peach a while ago, and I thought yours was very nice and clean.

[kwaichang]

2nd and 3rd at the Battle of Atlanta an open tourney. Great the forms looked great very smooth with good transition. Congrads now they will have to shut up about SD not being in open tournaments. Thanks for posting KC

[Shaolin Wookie]

Excellent. I really liked your form and really nice to see you put your stuff out there for the peanut gallery to comment. incidently, I don't know either of those forms myself (although I've seen them performed several times). I learned a non-SD version of white ape steals the peach a while ago, and I thought yours was very nice and clean.

Yeah. I learned them in seminar format, but kept them in pretty good shape. Meant there wasn't a whole lot of instruction on them alone, which left them up to my interpretation, etc.

The mantis, however, has gotten much better with further instruction in Cha Chui, Tang Lang, Yin Yang, etc....two of which are seminars as well. But then, most of 7* mantis is really just a repitition of previous sets in a different order.

[Shaolin Wookie]

I'll tell you this much, tournaments are about as boring an activity as ever invented. I don't quite get the appeal.

Oh my god, I was almost bored to tears most of the day. Only, I can't actually produce tears, since I don't have a heart.

[qauntum2]

Shaolin Wookie.... Very impressive!! Timing in the form was pretty good, moves were crisp. You are an excellent representative for SD.
quantum59

[kwaichang]

I like Shaolin Bei Yen Tang Lang Chien, White Monkey Preying Mantis fist, It has been one of my favorites since 1992 KC

[Judge Pen]

It's funny--all these people talking bad about SD, but as soon as Wookie (sometimes a lightning rod himself) posts pics of him doing SD forms, it is tumbleweeds on this thread. I'm not saying that the clear evidence of Wookie's martial skill has silenced all the controversy, but it is like many people here subscribe to the maxim "if you can't say nothing bad, don't say nothing at all."

[Old Noob]

It's funny--all these people talking bad about SD, but as soon as Wookie (sometimes a lightning rod himself) posts pics of him doing SD forms, it is tumbleweeds on this thread. I'm not saying that the clear evidence of Wookie's martial skill has silenced all the controversy, but it is like many people here subscribe to the maxim "if you can't say nothing bad, don't say nothing at all."

Oh, the critics are not all silent. LKFMDC, Goju, et al. are in a current war of words with KC and Wook had the misfortune of making a lucid comment, which set him up for negative feedback on his vids. I don't think there will ever be a shortage of folks who have to tear others down in order to lift themselves in their own esteem. Sad...

[Shaolin Wookie]

LOL....LKFMDC and GOJU say something negative? Say it ain't so.

When you post a vid on the internet, or bring it here, you can pretty much expect the negativity to pop out. Fortunately for me, I'm not sensitive in the least and I enjoy my art.

LOL...if they want to rip on the tournament venue, that's fine. I found it boring, and probably won't go to another tournament. I practice for MA, to keep in shape, for a challenge, and for meditative purposes. I also go to a Chan Monastery here in Atlanta, to flesh out my practices. I've never met people so kind as the monks and nuns, LOL. So what's a troll to me?

In ATlanta, the BOA is just about as big as it gets. One KFM poster said I should bring my **** to the TAIJI Legacy, the real CMA tournament. LOL...on the other side of the country. I see that in my stars. Drive across the country, or fly ($) to go to another tournament that'll likely bore me to death with all the cookie cutter wushu routines. Maybe the Scrima tourney in Orlando? No thanks ($). Seen one, seen 'em all. Not exactly a priority. Hell, I left the tournament early because it was behind schedule and would have taken another 2 hours just to get to the sparring (I'd been there for 3 hours already)--and that's the reason I went in the first place. It was that exciting.

The CMA tournout wasn't as big as karate or TKD's. I'd never seen karate competition before. Awesome stances, which has inspired me to stance train like never before (Yue Fei, 1 leg squats, san he workout routines), but not a lot of movement (which makes a stance easy). Since I'd never been to a tournament, and all of the other guys had been competing since they were kids, I was supposed to be judged in a different class. He head judge said he'd see how I stacked up, then decide if I should be judged against the other guys or in my own class. I was kind of flattered he did the former. Clearly, my daggers weren't as exciting as double chain whips or wushu broadsword...LOL...but my hand form did alright.

The head judge for trad. soft style was a really nice guy. He was a Tien Shan Pai guy. He was the only one that talked that much. Said he'd studied in China. ANd I think he's a part of the Urban Dragons movement--using martial arts for inner city community outreach. If I'm not mistaken, the Black Taoist was part of that, too. Sounded like a really good guy.

[Shaolin Wookie]

As for comments, I posted in the Mantis forum. They said if I worked on my stances, more precise coordination of hands and feet, and the form's timing, I'd have a pretty clean set there.

Implied translation: Wookie, it needs work, but it's not hopeless.

I'll record it again at the end of the year with Cha Chui and see what more hard work does to it. Hopefully I'll have the legs I need for better mantis footwork by then.



Sept. 2nd---they're teaching Stomping Drunken Immortal in Seminar.

LOL...Crazy Mad Drunk, Zui Jian, Zhong Li....knocking 'em down one at a time. Jealous?

[humbleman]

http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=us...n+peasant+song

[Judge Pen]

I thought the comments in the manits forum were very constructive. Not negative in the least.

As for goju and Ross, Ross just likes pushing buttons. A lot of his arguments are strawman or ad hominem but he does them just to try to get a rise out of people. I've seen those threads and goju reminds me of the little guy with the high school bully laughing and agreeing with the bully at every turn. That's sad, because Ross would turn on him in a heartbeat if they ever started discussing martial arts.

[Shaolin Wookie]

There's always an Official CMA/Unofficial CMA tension. Atlanta is a breeding grounds, IMO, for unofficial CMA schools. I've been to quite a few schools (more than 8, at least). Even some of the unofficial schools are alright in my opinion.

I visited Shawn Liu's new school in Norcross a month ago and took a free class. Liu, who some (esp. LKFMDC) have an intense disliking for because he's not an official monk (IDK, myself, but I suspect he's not), yet introduces himself as a disciple of Su Xi--he was a quiet, humble, and respectful dude in my interactions with him. I actually enjoyed talking with him about his training, Pat Barry, and Cung Le's training, even though I know the controversies surrounding his rep. One of the students was a little presumptuous, but was impressed by my flexibility, speed, etc.---since, I suspect, it was better than his, based on what I saw. LOL....They were working hard at it over there. I can't find fault with that.

They taught me some chopped up version of the Tan Tui, at least that's what I suspect it was based on my Longfist training. Not useless. It would have made a good foundation for anyone. But I'm sure the "official CMA" guys would have ripped on the school mercilessly for its "made-up" forms. I've been to official CMA schools and not even bothered to stick around for a class, based on the "holier than thou" attitudes of teachers and students, who see 1 way of martial arts, and who ripped on my training in MMA and BJJ as well as sport oriented. Hell, even in BJJ, they ripped on my kung fu a little as fantasy based, and most of their presumptions were entirely inaccurate, as they assumed they knew what my fight theory was, as if CMA were one unified theory.

The tension between MA's is ridiculous. I had no training in BJJ, but my Shaolin groundwork gave me an advantage in leg strength, maneuverability, and cardio on the ground vs. other BJJ beginners, as well as an ability to get back on my feet. You wouldn't believe how much of the footwork for BJJ takedowns and ground maneuvers is verbatim what I was doing in Capoeira. I suspect why people tend to suck at core SD forms is that you hit the ground in 50% of them, and that's not fun to practice in a non-padded floor. I had all the tools for the wrestling--a strong bridge, good flexibility, the cardio of a monster, an ability to walk-scramble in a squatting stance, power, control, relaxation under pressure. I just had to learn a new way to apply it. I was able to pick up the basic takedowns the first second I tried. My kickboxing skills were a good starting point for teh little MMA/Thai I did. But I wasn't really into those other schools, since they were an activity you actually had to go to the school in order to do, and I spend most of my time away from the schools due to my work/grad school schedule.

Shaolin-Do, TMA, are good for the non-school operating, schedule-heavy individual. That's me. I 'm not a pit fighter. I carry my gym around in my head, and any open floor space is a training hall. As fight-ready as MMA or BJJ or any live-resistance gym? Of course not....but a handy alternative for fight principles, if you practice daily. Besides--they're a person art, and they teach discipline, and if you do practice daily, you will always be in excellent condition.

Some of the most critical persons on this forum are MA teachers, and many of them are not in great shape, which means they clearly don't practice as much as their students--who are in better shape because of their training.