Tiger Claw's KungFuMagazine.com Championship III & Shark City Nationals

[GeneChing]

Once again, your donation will go to support our WildAid Tiger Claw Champion. Dale, I took the liberty of copying your previous post to the thread above.

Every competitor in this special benefit division will get a gift bag. We're still accepting donations for this gift bag as well as for prizes (all for promotional consideration, of course). Donations to WildAid are tax deductible.

[SIFU RON]

Hi Everyone

We are getting close, it is going to be great day. If any of you are going to be their, stop by and say hello to me, it will be nice to meet you.

Thank you

Ron Shewmaker

[GeneChing]

THIS YEAR, TIGER CLAW'S KUNGFUMAGAZINE.COM CHAMPIONSHIP IS PRE-REG ONLY! There is no 'at door' registration.

REGISTRATION DEADLINES:
May 10: Register early for the biggest discount.
May 20:Last chance for discounts on registration fees.
June 1: Last chance to register.

To register online, click here.

SEE OUR NEW PROMO VIDS, courtesy of Bad Ass Bunny Productions & Wushu Shaolin productions.

[GeneChing]

I just posted some photos of Berkeley CMAT on our facebook. We had a display for Tiger Claw's KungFuMagazine.com Championship III & Shark City Nationals. Here's Tony & Theresa Kattengell at the display table. Check out the grand trophies. These actually look larger in person.

[GeneChing]

THIS YEAR, TIGER CLAW'S KUNGFUMAGAZINE.COM CHAMPIONSHIP IS PRE-REG ONLY! There is no 'at door' registration.

REGISTRATION DEADLINES:
May 10: Register early for the biggest discount.
May 20:Last chance for discounts on registration fees.
June 1: Last chance to register.

To register online, click here.

I know, I know, I'm repeating myself. Gotta work it, doncha know?

[GeneChing]

24 days to go...

[GeneChing]

EXTENDED MAY 15 PRE-REG: save time and money by Pre-Registering ONLINE!!

[Lucas]

look at Gene in all his pimpin glory!

[GeneChing]

Meanwhile, back OT...

The Songshan Shaolin Champion rules and awards have just been posted.

[GeneChing]

Don’t miss 2011 Tiger Claw Kungfu Magazine Championship
May 12th, 2011 5:34 pm ET
Violet Li
Tai Chi Examiner

Last year, Tiger Claw Kungfu Magazine Championship (TCKFMC) added three extra divisions for the tournament. This year, its effort has extended further to include four new divisions (Songshan Shaolin Champion, Mulan Quan, Health Qigong, and Special Skills Qigong) in addition to last year’s standard Chinese Martial Arts divisions. With ten competition rings, this year’s tournament is probably the largest in North America. In cooperation with Tony and Theresa Kattenlgell’ Shark City Nationals, the third Annual TCKFMC will be held on June 4th at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California. It will be webcasted from the event.

The Chinese Martial Arts divisions include Tai Chi (empty hand, weapons, and Push Hands), Wing Chun (empty hand, Chi Sau, and team competition), traditional Chinese Martial Arts (empty hand, short weapons, and long weapons), and Contemporary Wushu (empty hand, short weapons, and long weapons). In each of the categories, there are divisions by age group, style, rank and gender. For Push Hands and Chi Sau, there are divisions by body weight. The TCKFMC is working hard to encourage participation of all martial artists regardless their gender, age, style preference or weapon choice. There are champions in each division. There will also be 45 grand champion titles and 27 Blackbelt Grand Champion titles. The Blackbelt Grand Champions will also receive cash awards.

With the success and reputation of the past two tournaments, this year’s VIP list is extremely impressive. So far Grandmaster Chu Chi Ling, Master He Tao, Shaolin Monk Jin Le, Grandmaster Helen Liang, Grandmaster Liang Shouyu, Grandmaster Ming Lum, Grandmaster Al Novak, Grandmaster Alexander Tao,
Grandmaster Tu Jin-Sheng, Grandmaster Wang Zhihai(Chairman of Cang County Wushu Association, Director of Cangzhou Roaring Sea Martial Arts Academy, Honorary President of World Martial Arts Research Association),
Master Grace Wu-Monnat, Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming, and many other masters will be attending this event to judge and/or to demonstrate. It will be an eye opening experience for Kungfu aficionados.

It is quite exciting to see TCKFMC adding four new divisions for this competition. The rules are stricter as the following:

Songshan Shaolin Champion: This title is open to anyone competing with a classic form currently practiced at the original Shaolin Temple in Songshan, China. This includes (but is not limited to) empty-hand forms such as Xiaohongquan, Dahongquan, Luohanquan, Qixingquan, and Taizu Changquan, as well weapon forms such as Yinshougun, Meihuadao, Tamojian, and so on. Competitors will be judged by a panel of Songshan Shaolin experts. In the event of a tie, competitors will face off with different Songshan Shaolin forms until a winner is determined. The champion will receive a special Shaolin prize including being featured in a showcase article in the next Shaolin Special issue of Kung Fu Tai Chi magazine.

Mulan Quan: Mulan Quan is traditional fusion of martial arts and dance, inspired by the legendary 5th Century heroine, Hua Mulan. Mulan Quan will be judged alongside the internal divisions.

Health Qigong: This division is open to practitioners of any of the four standardized qigong regimens - Five Animal Frolics (wuqinxi), Muscle-Tendon Change Classic (yijinjing), Six Healing Sounds (liuzijue), and Eight-Section Brocade (baduanjin). Health Qigong will be judged alongside the internal divisions.

Special Skills Qigong: This is an INVITATION-ONLY exhibition event, overseen by Grandmaster Tu Jin-Sheng. Under his direction, this will be the 2nd Annual Golden Dragon Cup, and will feature such unique competitions as bending steel rods, throwing chopsticks and iron crotch.

To support the WildAid effort to protect endangered tiger, this year’s tournament will hold the 2nd Annual WildAid Tiger Claw Champion to benefit the effort.

You can click on links (link1, link 2, and link 3) here to realize the size of this event. For more information about this year’s tournament, you can visit its website or contact Tony & Theresa Kattengell at 408-313-5272. In case you can not attend in person, you can watch it online.

Once again, Violet Li was kind enough to give us some publicity.

[GeneChing]

This is an emailblast from Tony Kattengell, promoter of Shark City

NEW FLASH!! A CHANCE TO WIN FREE REGISTRATION FEE For The 8th Shark City Nationals

GO TO BASKA ONLINE Registration and REGISTER NOW!!! For the Shark City Nationals or KungFuMagazine.com and be one of 5 competitors that will be chosen to have ALL of their registration fees paid for!!

EVERYONE THAT PRE-REGISTERS ONLINE WILL RECEIVE RAFFLE TICKETS FOR OUR AWESOME SHARK CITY & KUNGFUMAGAZINE.COM RAFFLE!

Winners will be announced on June 4th at 12:00noon on the Main Stage and will Receive a FULL REFUND... if you are chosen

Don't wait!!!, hurry now and get in on this action!!!!!

Go To: www.baskaonline.com/registration

Opening Ceremonies at 9:00am Sharp!!

First Divisions to run at 9:15 am

Men's Black Belt Fighting at 10:00am SHARP! on THE MAIN STAGE

[Shaolin Rasta]

Hey Gene, do the traditional weapon divisions have the stipulation that swords must be able to hold their weight on the blade? In other words is a distinction made between the light weight foil-types and the heavier blades? I notice that most Shaolin practitioners do not use the heavy bladed swords even though they are performing traditional taolu. I am asking because I plan to do Shaolin dan dao but I have always used the foil type dao.

[GeneChing]

While many Songshan Shaolin schools use wushu type blades, classical Shaolin can easily adapt to something more sturdy and if they wish to secure their hold on being traditional, now is the time to adapt. It is my firm belief that if the form cannot be done with a traditional weapon, it's not traditional. And by traditional, I mean that the weapon is tough enough to punch through a car door. Car doors are lighter than medieval armor. Unfortunately, it's very difficult to control for modern wushu entering into traditional rings. Here in the Bay Area, it has discouraged the traditional community away from competition. Heck, when I was competing here (and this was back when mammoths still roamed the earth) I remember losing to modern wushu players in traditional divisions. Drawing that distinction is very difficult. With weapons, it's very challenging, but the current standard is this 'blade must support it's own weight' rule. It's only effective at weeding out the blatantly wushu style blades. If you have a sword with a really light hilt, it can be supported by a pretty light blade. In fact, that's what our Stainless Steel Kung Fu Broadsword is - that would pass the standards for a traditional weapon in competitions, but it couldn't punch through a car door. Ironically, our Wushu Competition Tai Chi Sword can support its own weight too, so that's the flip side of the issue.

In our class, we practice Meihua Dao, which is showcased in the current issue (Shaolin Special #12 - Shaolin Plum Blossom Broadsword By Shi Yanguang, with Zhao Xiaohu). There's a dearth of traditional weapons at our school, so we practice it with bokken. Some of us practice with suburito too, for the extra training. Note that wooden dao will meet the requirements of traditional weapons in our tournament too.

BTW, there's a discussion of traditional swords happening now on the Question for Gene , but just stop reading before hskwarrior totally derails it.

[Shaolin Rasta]

Thanks for that insight, Gene. That's about how I see it, too. Just wanted to know if that was the rule here also. I should have known. I can't wait to try that punch through the car door thing! I'm gonna start riding with my heavy blade & when some idiot takes my parking space, watch out!
I looked at the other thread on the subject, and, you're right. What is wrong with that hskwarrior?

[GeneChing]

What is wrong with that hskwarrior?

What is wrong with any of the members here? Just kidding....well, sort of. hskwarrior is my S.F. dragon brother, so I'm hoping he'll show up for our tournament. His Sifu came down last year for our welcoming banquet. If you're in town for that, you ought to join us for that.

I'm really hoping to keep our traditional rings wushu-free this year. It's more challenging than you might think. Two weeks ago, I was at Berkeley CMAT, and I was standing next to Shi Yanran, headmaster of the Shaolin Cultural Centers here in the Bay Area. One of his pupils competed with jinggang, and did a great version of it. He was beaten by some new wushu competitor, FOB, who opened his form with a series of backflips. Yanran was put off as it was a traditional ring - AND HE WAS RIGHT - but I couldn't help but be amused as when some of the early Shaolin disciples first came out here, they were beating everyone using borderline wushu in the traditional rings too.