Since more than a few of you just saw or met the two ladies in Cleveland I thought I’d let you know this:
Just returned from the CACMA (Carolinas Association of Chinese Martial Arts) Regional Tourney with great results.
Becky (tall, short black hair) entered the Beginners division and fought the only other female beginner besides Sylvia. Becky was steadily connecting with front kicks and front punches while the other woman was making illegal contact to the head. (No head contact was allowed at all). Becky’s opponent disqualified herself in the first round due to this infraction. Becky was very disappointed at not being able to finish the entire match but it was a great introduction into competitive sparring.
Sylvia (not quite as tall, dark curly hair) stepped up to the Intermediate division (1.5 – 3.0 years of training in this venue) and with her not quite 5 months of training took first place in a field of four women. She had two matches and did well in both though she certainly had first fight jitters during her first match. By the second match she had found her breath and handily beat the next woman for first place.
A good strong showing for Asheville Martial Arts and Pong Lai Praying Mantis.
Video and stills were taken and will be available soon for those that want a look. Just let me know.
This Tourney is held annually in May. It was a pretty good turnout. Wong’s Kung Fu of Washington DC was there with 4 students and a school from Cincinnatti (‘something’ Hill’s Kung Fu Center) brought a dozen or so. That school had a bunch of good fighters and they fight mostly San Shou from what one of their guys told me.
The Hall of the Peaceful Dragon from Charlotte also had 12 or more students. Their name should not give a false impression at all. Student’s from my school fought some of theirs last year and again this year. Their Sifu trains some good people.
Overall I think about 70-80 competitors.
I met a student of Sifu Biggie’s from SC who is teaching a small group of people. We exchanged contact info and talked about trying to visit each other’s schools to exchange hands. He did a drunken set and mantis set that i forgot the name too. very nice.
The forms comps were generally very good. Wong’s southern fist (hung fut maybe?) is very nice. most of the stuff was all very northern except for a bunch of wing chun.
There was a very small two-person division that my school will dominate next year
and, to get this a little more back On Topic. Sifu Biggie’s student did the only sets with any sort of ‘aliveness’ to them. Everyone else just did their movements. He inspired me to do more work on making my forms tighter looking and maybe compete the next time around.
Wong’s does Jow Ga of Sifu Dean Chin -> Raymond Wong lineage. A mix of Hung Ga and Choy Ga. Visually similar to Hung Fut at times but different, since most Jow Ga schools are relatively close to or in the Washington DC metro area, it has spawned a general friendship between the Hung Fut and Jow Ga schools and also a great rivalry.
Sifu Wong hosts an annual tournament in the summer in D.C. It’s a fun tournament with some strong female competitors (good for your students) having competed in the last few years. A couple years ago there was even impromptu master’s demonstrations when Sifu Wong just began calling people out of their seats during introductions and cleverly but not overtly challenging them to display their skills.
It is one of the few tournaments where a slew of southern and northern and mixed traditional styles make strong presences. Jow Ga, Hung Fut, Hung Ga, Tien Shan Pai, Bak Siu Lam, Wah Lum, Wing Chun, 7 Star Mantis, on and on and on. If you liked what you saw at that last tournament, you’d love Wong’s.
