It was epically auspicious that the 2024 Tiger Claw Elite KungFuMagazine.com Championships would land on the dates that they did – May the Fourth and Cinco de Mayo. Anyone who knows me knows what a nerd I can be. Heck, I cover Comic-cons for KungFuMagazine.com and freelance write for Den of Geek as a side gig. May the Fourth? Saturday is Star Wars Day!

And on top of that, I had been circling Terra Prime Light Armory, the lightsaber fencing group that’s been working with U.S. Fencing. I had recently accepted an offer to be a Board Member there, so the opportunity to stage a lightsaber competition was something I just couldn’t pass up. I suggested it to Jonny Oh, president of Tiger Claw and he was all in. Thus, the First May the Fourth LED Saber Championship was born. This was something we were doing for fun, in no way recognized or endorsed by LucasFilm Ltd, or any of its affiliated companies, which is why we opted for LED Saber instead of ‘lightsaber’ just to be safe.

And then, on top of that, Sunday was Cinco de Mayo. Here in California, that’s a festive day. Honestly, that had little impact upon us. I didn’t expect that it would. I was a little worried that our afterparty would cross over into Cinco de Mayo, obligating me to drink tequila. Those who know me know that tequila is my kryptonite. Bad things happen when I get into the te-kill-ya, bad things like karaoke. So I figured I’d have to keep my guard up because last year’s afterparty went until 1:30 AM, and this year, I didn’t have that luxury. Sunday was about my lineage. Sunday was about Shaolin.

We were staging the first National Shaolin Kung Fu Games on Sunday. Gigi Oh, Publisher Emeritus for Kung Fu Tai Chi magazine was elected as the Secretary General of the Shaolin North American Association so our Songshan Shaolin Division, something we launched back in 2011, evolved into a Shaolin Temple ordained event. As one of the primary architects of the Songshan Shaolin Championship, this was so gratifying.

With such a promising weekend, I felt the Force was with me for TCEC 2024.

Friday Load-in

Just like every year, I met Tiger Claw President Jonny Oh at the South Hall of the San Jose McEnery Convention Center, bright and early on Friday morning. We’re always the first to get our boots on the ground. This year, some of the chairs had been set up already, along with the main stage, but the majority of that 80,000 square foot expanse of concrete was empty just waiting for us to fill it up. Miguel Carrasco had come up with his wife Crystal to support us again. Miguel is a champ when it comes to working a forklift, driving the truck, and dealing with all the random obstacles we inevitably encounter with load in and break down. Crystal is a master ring coordinator (she only stopped by fleetingly to say ‘hi,’ pacing herself accordingly knowing full well that she would be working like crazy over the next two days). Ervic Aquino also returned as our master sound man, wiring South Hall with multiple microphones to support all the announcements to come. Once again, Ervic brought his electric unicycle to cruise around South Hall more easily. In addition, he brought a drone bot that followed him about, recording his work for his own personal social media videos. It struck me as very Star Wars at the time.

Last year, we had some help with the load in from the Shaolin monks. This year, my ever fearful, ever sure Dragon Crew stepped up with more Friday support. My 2024 Dragon Crew was Emilio Alpanseque, Chad Eisner, Jordan Chew, Stephen Chew, Wendy Chew, Greg Chow, Jeff Ferreira, Jeff Hung, Jonathan Hung, John Larsen, Shawnie Ledbetter, Greg Lynch Jr, Brian O’Shea, Hoel Rainier, Toch Rainier, Mark Rodriguez, Manh-Tong Tran, Hieu Tran, Keith White. From that group, Emilio, Chad, Hoel, Toch, and Mark all came in on Friday to help, more than I’d ever had before. Together we assembled mats, set up posters and signage, as well as erected the pipe-and-drape, stocked tables and fulfilled so many other miscellaneous tasks.

In addition to that, Greg Lynch Jr. returned, bringing his ever vigilant Bad Ass Bunny Productions to cover our video. He was absent last year because he was away on a trip to Ireland. Greg and I fenced together Salle DeCesare back in high school. Greg brought another friend and classmate from that Salle D’armes to help him out with the video, Greg Chow. Greg (Chow) is now the head coach there since Maestro John DeCesare passed in 2017. Always eager to get the lay of the land, Greg (Lynch) dropped by Friday to watch the spectacle of loading in and laying out the official Wushu carpet. He was slightly disappointed as we’ve got wushu carpet down to a science now. It’s not nearly as laborious as it was when we first started.

This year, we had three carpets – one regulation wushu carpet and two smaller carpets generously loaned to us from Kung Fu Dragon USA. We laid out three more puzzle mats and those six rings comprised the KungFuMagazine.com side – two less rings than last year.  We reduced the rings because we moved the Shaolin Kung Fu Games (or the division formerly known as Songshan Shaolin) from Saturday to Sunday. That opened some space up.

There were an additional eight rings on the Tiger Claw Elite Taekwondo Championship. In years past, we’d breakdown the TKD side on Saturday, but this year, we keep some of those rings for the Tai Chi and other internal arts competition whilst using the Traditional Kung Fu and Modern Wushu rings for the Shaolin Kung Fu Games. That was the plan, at least.

Overlooking a few odd mishaps, the load-in went like clockwork. We even had time to freshen up a bit before leaving San Jose for the Welcoming Banquet in Fremont, held once again at World Gourmet. That never happens. Usually, I’m scrambling to get to the banquet because the commute between San Jose to Fremont is hellacious on a Friday just prior to dinner time. I remember changing from my dirty work clothes into a sports jacket behind the pipe-and-drape of the main stage in years past.

Gigi tasked me to chauffer four guests – a challenge because my ride only seats four and one of those is my driver’s seat (a fifth person could squeeze in between the two passengers in the back seat, but it would be cramped and uncomfortable, unbefitting for the VIP guests I was to chauffer.)

I always escort my dear friend, Master Grace Wu-Monnat, to the Welcoming Banquet. This year, we had designated her as the recipient of the lifetime achievement award. She’s been a devout supporter of our events for years. She’s always wonderful company and it’s an honor and a delight to serve her.

In addition, I was chauffeuring my special guest, Chad Eisner. Beyond being a new member of our Dragon Crew, Chad is the President and Founder of Terra Prime Light Armory, who provided the engraved LED Saber as the prize for our May the Fourth Championship. We have had many Zoom conversations, but this was the first time we were meeting in person.

In addition, Gigi asked me to find rides for Masters Pan Shuming and Chen Sing-May. I managed to get a ride for Master Pan with Dragon Crew members John and Emilio, so I could fit Master Chen as my fourth rider. But upon confirming with her, she asked if she could bring her friend. Fortunately, John had two free seats so that was solved efficiently. Master Chen arrived with her friend, who was wearing a mask. I texted Master Pan to let her know we were waiting for her in the lobby. Master Pan texted back that she was in the lobby. Guess who was behind that mask?

We got up to Fremont with time to spare so I took Grace and Chad by Tiger Claw Headquarters, which was chaos as expected. Staff was running about dealing with last minute issues. I took Chad on a quick tour of the warehouse, then we scooted over to the Welcoming Banquet before we got enlisted in some other errand (keep in mind that I had been working on the load-in for ten hours straight already).

The Welcoming Banquet was one of the smallest that we’ve ever held. I’m not exactly sure why. Since the pandemic, I’ve been only working for KungFuMagazine.com part time and remotely. Consequently, I wasn’t privy to everything happening in TCEC development. Last year, we had the lowest volunteer numbers ever. Was this year going to be worse? A disturbing lack of faith entered my consciousness. I had a bad feeling about this.  

How did the ‘auspicious’ weekend go? Read 2024 Tiger Claw Elite KungFuMagazine.com Championship – May the Fourth be with You!