Who's going to Berkeley CMAT this year?

[Siu Lum Fighter]

Gene,

Yep, I'm all set I'll be competing in traditional Northern hand forms, short weapons, and long weapons. I'll also be competing in the "other" hand forms category. If I win or get high marks in all of these events, I could win the adult traditional all-around championship. That would be a personal best for me Especially since I think I'll be up against wushu extraordinaire Kenny Perez himself.

I was wondering: is anyone going to be filming my division? If so, I'd love to get a copy. I believe my Si Hing Scott Jensen will be getting most of it. I'm just wondering if there will be some sort of other "official" video made of the whole thing.

[GeneChing]

Unfortunately we only do still photos at CMAT. Hit up Scott Jensen.

[xcakid]

Guess I'll have to wait for the next issue of KFM for the pics or can we get a preview?

[GeneChing]

I wasn't the primary photographer this year so I didn't shoot too much. Plus I left early for Strikeforce (but you knew that).

[GeneChing]

The camera went home with Jonathan "Jr. Claw". He said he'll bring it tomorrow, but he was a tad sick today, so be patient. Plus I got a ton of stuff on my desk, as always...

Of the whopping four of us that said we'd be there, I saw each of the other three. I saw SLF compete in broadsword, spear and mantis. SLF your spear form is almost exactly with the BSL form I used to do. I think I caught a decent shot of that. I also shot your broadsword form but I don't think I got any good shots out of it. My timing was off. I saw NS judging and was trying to get to chat with him but either he was busy or I was busy. Such is the case for us working fools at CMAT. LHK caught me just before I was about to leave so we had a short chat. I was pretty tired by then and getting ready to shift gears form silky flowery wushu to kick ass bare-chested MMA.

[NorthernShaolin]

Gene,

Yes CMAT hadme going all day. Like every year, they were short of Traditional Judges and that places triple duty on the few Traditional Judges that do show up.

Anyway, Fong Sifu (Bryant Fong) was telling me that the next chance that Wu Shu will be considered for the Olympics will not happen until 2016 and if we are luckly maybe 2020. TKD is being consider to be kick out of the Olympics to made way for Japan's Karate who have priority over China's Wu Shu. Again the problem with Wu Shu as it stands now is that no one is willing to support Wu Shu. He even told me when the subject topic of Wu Shu for the Olympics came up, the US Olympic Committee thought it was some food product that people ate.

Already, many of the young Chinese practitioners in China are giving up practicing Wu Shu in favor of studing Karate in preparation of Karate being accepted to the Olympics before Wu Shu.

[GLW]

Wushu in the Olympics is dead until the IWuF decides it is going to financially support the development of the sport outside of the PRC.

The IOC is not going to give the nod to a sport where a single country supplies almost all of the judges, does the judge certification, can almost assuredly field a team that would not only take home all of the gold but also most if not all of the other medals.

The Olympics is about international competition not about one country being able to shine in its chosen sport (OK...the US team and basketball are excluded ).

Also, the way they set things up, the appeal is not going to be there. No one outside of the sport really will get the rules. Then, no one really wants to watch hours of basically the same routines over and over.

Sanshou has a better chance of making it since it is more 'unexpected' but it has to contend with making itself be different from boxing and wrestling/judo while avoiding the negative aspects that are being put out there concerning NHB fighting.

Doubtful that the PRC is going to kick in money for this.

The IWuF had their chance...and they messed it up.

[lkfmdc]

Wushu in the Olympics is dead until the IWuF decides it is going to financially support the development of the sport outside of the PRC.

you are expecting the organization that "forgot" that women are supposed to have an equal opportunity to compete in order for a sport to be eligible for the Olympics to do that?

The IOC is not going to give the nod to a sport where a single country supplies almost all of the judges, does the judge certification,

you also forgot to mention that outside of CHina they seem to overwhelmingly certify only other ethnic Chinese!

No one outside of the sport really will get the rules.

Nor will they appreciate some of the Stalinistic, communist undertones

Sanshou has a better chance of making it

if by better chances you mean two, slim and none

[GeneChing]

Gotta agree with lkfmdc on that one. Sanshou was already on its deathbed prior to the Olympics. It was part of the Wushu Tournament Beijing, but almost as an afterthought. It was never part of the Olympic bid. Sadly, sanshou has been steadily loosing support ever since the Olympic bid was made. All the IWuF's attention went to taolu and sanshou was left to die on the vine.

It's a shame really. I stalwartly believe that sanshou has something very unique to offer the fight game - the leitai. Being fought on a leitai instead of in ring or cage opens up a whole vocabulary of unique street-worthy strategies, as well as adds a unique level of excitement for spectators. I love watching people get tossed off the leitai, especially when the fighter with his back to the edge manages to toss his or her opponent off with a reversal. That's just awesome skill.

Here at the magazine, we've been fighting to keep sanshou in the media. It may be a losing battle, but we're going to support it as long as possible. Unfortunately, we can't even hold a sanshou at our upcoming Tiger Claw’s KungFuMagazine.com Championship because it's illegal in California.

Some recent threads started by lkfmdc about our sanshou coverage:
Gene's coverage of the CA Sanshou/San Da situation
Bravo to Gene and the magazine! BRAVO! TWO THUMBS UP
Also note that I have two sanshou articles in our present issue, May June 2009:
The Professor of Sanshou
Sanshou in the UFC: Patrick Barry Steps into the Octagon

Still haven't got the camera yet...

[lkfmdc]

Gotta agree with lkfmdc

why that is sig worthy!

[GeneChing]

Can't forget the "on that one". It implies that it's a singular occasion.

But we do see eye-2-eye on sanshou for the most part. We both love it and want to see it thrive. And we're both totally frustrated at the mess it's become both in America and internationally.

[GLW]

Notice I did NOT say what kind of a chance Sanshou had...just that it was better than Taolu for the Olympics....

But I would rather bet on a snowball's chance of survival in he11 than on either Sanshou or Taolu making it...even by 2020.

Just another example of the group of CMA folks getting together and agreeing to pi$$ on each others cornflakes until no one could benefit.

Sanshou was given short change from the very beginning...and it has gotten worse.

In the US, it didn't help that those who were chosen to promote and develop Sanshou were only REALLY interested in promoting and developing their own names and wallets.

[lkfmdc]

Sanshou was given short change from the very beginning...and it has gotten worse.

In the US, it didn't help that those who were chosen to promote and develop Sanshou were only REALLY interested in promoting and developing their own names and wallets.

and also didn't know how to train fighters, how to run fighting events or know anything about fighting at all... don't forget those little detaisl

[Lokhopkuen]

HAHA That we did! I'm kind of bummed I didn't let you know earlier that I was competing in Northern Traditional Hand Forms so I could get your assessment of it. Some of the kids I was up against were really good, but their forms didn't seem too traditional to me. I remember that being slightly controversial amongst some of the judges when they were announcing the winners. I'm hoping my Si Hing, Scott Jenson has a video of the whole thing.

Later, one of the judges I knew told me that he felt I should've taken third place, but I was just one point off (I think it was an 8.6 that killed me). It also didn't help that the guy who came in first was one of those kids from China. One judge I knew was telling me they were sort of their "farm team" of B list athletes that they send out here to show everyone up. And I believe that's what they pretty much did, placing in the top two or three spots in every event.

Oh well, I had a blast though. For me those tournaments are like being in a virtual kung fu/wushu wonderland. I actually made a lot of new friends this time too.

I taped your Spear form and scores. That form is one of my specialties but we do it a little different as does Gene's branch.

[Lokhopkuen]

I wasn't the primary photographer this year so I didn't shoot too much. Plus I left early for Strikeforce (but you knew that).

Hey did they catch that guy that was grabbing people's behinds while they were taking pictures with would-be celebrities and associate magazine publishers?
Lotta Pervs in and around the Bay Cities....