This Saturday, August 2nd we hosted the Wong 2003 Kung Fu Tournament at the Hyatt Hotel in Washington DC Chinatown.
All-in-all the tournament ran pretty smoothly.
I’d really like to thank all the judges and competitors who came out to make the event a success. Whatever work we do behind the scenes; without judges and competitors there is no tournament.
For those who scoffed at the injury rate of the continuous sparring: in my ring alone there were 3 or 4 DQs on blood; including a busted nose (I think that’s what happens when the nose bleeds from the top and the bottom), a black eye or two, and an iced up (sprained? broken?) arm. Next ring over, I swear this dude got KO’d or a decent concussion. No stretchers this year that I saw, but we were tryin to avoid that. I think if people are going to spar with that “hurt 'em” mentality then they really should do full contact.
BEST HOTEL LOBBY>>>>> EVER!!!
[SIZE=1]cool lion dance… also…[/SIZE] :rolleyes: 
:D… just make sure… next year that the hamburgers are DONE… worse 4.50 i EVER spent…
Yah I’m sorry bout the food. We had absolutely no control over that. We did what we could for the judges.
Also, I guess technically it wuzn’t in chinatown; but don’t ask me geography, I’m from Baltimore. BSS baby!
D.C. doesnt even have a chinatown any more, there’s the overpass architecture thing, cheng’s, go lo’s, and several more restaurants and stores that cover about two square blocks. But anyone visiting and looking on maps for chinatown won’t find it. Even the subway just calls it gallery place now. Its really just becoming a restaurant entertainment area for the business district and MCI centre with remnants of what it was a long time ago.
Yah, just walking through there gets my sihings sad. Don’t even try to get them into that Hooter’s or the Fuddrucker’s; they’ll go on a rant if they even walk by the front door.
Woulda liked to have seen it in the old days.
These days I hear everyone that was there spread out around Virginia and Maryland.
Guess that’s what happens when real estate values and property taxes skyrocket & destroy a community. 
But the tournament was interesting. I could be wrong but it seemed that loong fu pai school from NY was taking alot of the sparring divisions, at least for the time I was there. The tricks for the lion dance were excellent, those guys have really improved and Ly Ling still showed she plays some of the best drum anywhere. What was the rule on face contact? I saw one of Sifu Hoy Lee’s or Sifu Middleton’s students getting pummeled but would’nt hit the other guy back in the face. I didn’t see any of the forms divisions. anybody know how they went?
Great Job!
Jow,
It was an excellent tournament, you guys did a great job!
I especially like the new venue.
I was assigned to judge the Wing Chun at Ring 7. During the sparring, one of the competitors got rocked with a punch to his jaw. He dropped to his knees, fortunately he was not seriously injured. We also had our share of bloody noses. As a result of the level of intensity, we repeatedly told the competitors to tone it down a notch. We all understand, that in the heat of battle, adrenaline kicks in, and things get out of hand. Otherwise, everyone showed excellent sportsmanship.
Please extend my thanks to Sifu Wong for a great and very professional tournament. I look forward to being there next year.
Sifu Tom Chez
Was supposed to be no face contact, only side of the head.
I remember seeing the Loong Fu Pai school warming up and remember thinking that they were very “motivated”; but I don’t think any were in my ring and I’m not really aware of how they did overall.
I’m sure the results will appear in a future issue of KFQ, and probably our website so from that you might be able to get a general idea of how they did; or maybe not.
Props to the Jow Ga guy sufferin to stay within the bounds of the rules; but that’s the exact reason I personally refuse to do anymore continuous sparring.
Sifu Tom
Hey! Thanks again for all the hard work this weekend! I’ll make sure to pass along the word.
I was the human ring rope between 5 and 7.
Seemed like anytime a judge got done warning a competitor on contact, they’d turn around and hit harder. I KNEW the Shaft music would probly get 'em too excited. 
Jowbacca,
Was the tournament videotaped? If so, I would love to get a copy so that I can see all the good stuff that I missed while judging.
Sifu Tom Chez
Sifu Tom
We had a camera going, but I’m not sure how long it was on and how much we got. I’ll let sifu know that people were interested in the tape next time I see him and try to get back to you via email.
Great tournament…
A great time was had by all…Eric your lion dance was awesome!
I think if people are going to spar with that “hurt 'em” mentality then they really should do full contact
I too have forsaken continuous sparring for this very reason…The only good thing I can say about continuous sparring is that helps guys make the transition from point sparring to full contact, but at the same time I have seen it develop some bad habits in myself…you worry about punching the guy a million times w/o worrying about getting knocked out, though you may still get hit very hard…continuous isn’t even fun to watch…
But that is my only gripe with said tournament…overall it was a great event…
Originally posted by brothernumber9
But the tournament was interesting. I could be wrong but it seemed that loong fu pai school from NY was taking alot of the sparring divisions, at least for the time I was there. The tricks for the lion dance were excellent, those guys have really improved and Ly Ling still showed she plays some of the best drum anywhere. What was the rule on face contact? I saw one of Sifu Hoy Lee’s or Sifu Middleton’s students getting pummeled but would’nt hit the other guy back in the face. I didn’t see any of the forms divisions. anybody know how they went?
hey bro, i wonder which one of my sifu’s guys kept gettin hit in the face? must’ve been in the beginners division which i didn’t really watch cuz i would imagine any other of the more senior guys losin their patience(like my sihing did in orlando 2000, poor poor opponent..)
actually, i myself fought in the intermediate divison and i remember specifically askin right before if u were allowed to hit to the face if they had a full face mask(since it seemed so in the rules) and my judge told me no. i wore a full-face mask and had a great time sweepin through my division(until the last guy decided to try his “my-nose-to-ur-fist style”!) and i got DQ’ed. accidently of course, i hate havin to hit people to the nose.. its too easy. that’s actually the only gripe i have about this type of sparrin is that to face attacks are some of the most essential to fightin as they assisst very much in attackin. i got to spar w/ full-face gear, chest protector, footpads, cut-finger gloves and a cup(and mouthpeice of course). i wish everyone could have had this, it woulda sure made the divisions a lot more interestin. i didn’t mind gettin hit in the facecage, though it rarely happened(i even encouraged them to try to!). i like to counter these types of attacks. the reason i wore it was b/c i knew that eventually things could get out of hand and i didn’t want to have to really go buck on someone.
sihing tom-i gotta question for ya. i observed the WC division and was very happy to see it in tournaments bein promoted more. the only division i didn’t agree w/ was the WC open chi sau(?) in which the competitors wore face cages and hand gear and couldn’t kick. this didn’t seem to be very productive and the competitors seemed to get easily frustrated w/ the frequent clashin. i saw a judge( i think) try to demonstrate what could be done to remedy this, but i think the simple point overlooked was why not jus encourage the WC guys to free-spar in the other divisions? i did see one WC fighter in a lightweight divison against(i think) a HG(?) guy(and his WC was pretty okay against it.) was i missin an essential point to it? i jus don’t think that WC vs WC fights would be very productive and may jus really make the fighters adopt bad habits. i did understand more the chi sau, where the players were already bridged and were testin eachothers bridge. i’d like to know ur (or anyone else’s) opinion to it as i guess that maybe i’m jus confused by its objective. thanx in advance.
Yah I get in trouble for my views on continuous sparring ALL the time. :o
Hey Mysteri-
I was one of the two score keepers in the intermediate ring. Which competitor were you?
Originally posted by mysteri
[B]
sihing tom-i gotta question for ya. i observed the WC division and was very happy to see it in tournaments bein promoted more. the only division i didn’t agree w/ was the WC open chi sau(?) in which the competitors wore face cages and hand gear and couldn’t kick. this didn’t seem to be very productive and the competitors seemed to get easily frustrated w/ the frequent clashin. i saw a judge( i think) try to demonstrate what could be done to remedy this, but i think the simple point overlooked was why not jus encourage the WC guys to free-spar in the other divisions? i did see one WC fighter in a lightweight divison against(i think) a HG(?) guy(and his WC was pretty okay against it.) was i missin an essential point to it? i jus don’t think that WC vs WC fights would be very productive and may jus really make the fighters adopt bad habits. i did understand more the chi sau, where the players were already bridged and were testin eachothers bridge. i’d like to know ur (or anyone else’s) opinion to it as i guess that maybe i’m jus confused by its objective. thanx in advance. [/B]
Mysteri,
You brought up excellent points. Upon Sifu Wong’s request, this was the first time a separate Wing Chun division was being given. I was asked by him to co-manage it. Being that it was the first true time, there was a great deal of things that needed ironing out. Due to the lack of time, we were unable to do so. But for the next tournament, there will be major changes. Such as eliminating “Wing Chun” sparring when the competitors can go and compete in open sparring with other styles. Thus, allowing the Wing Chun competitor to test their skills against unpredictable opponents.
The Chi Sau event was not about fighting, that is what sparring is for. The objective is to test sensitivity, body positioning and alignment, control of the centerline and the ability to control and manipulate your opponent. We made certain that the competitors did not turn the event into “gorilla” Chi Sau, a wrestling match. We enforced the fact that the competitors remained bridged. When one competitor showed good control of the other opponent, we have them break and reset themselves. This made for a better, controlled event. This was done after the first two competitors of the event, made things get out of hand. It was certainly a work in progress.
Sifu Tom Chez
hey Jowbacca
the tourny was great. I liked it.
Not too many people listened to the no contact to the face rule in the sparring though. a lot of the ones seemed like slap fests too. I was in ring 5 performing. I did northern hand forms and a weapons for intermediate.
I liked the tournament, the Jow Ga Schools were good at performing. Some of the forms from other schools, I was disapointed in watching though. some people looked like they were just walking through it, no power in their punches and no spirit and intensity when performing. And they were scoring high. But it wasn’t me to judge so i just looked on. I was happy. I got a 2nd in the long weapons and 4th in hand forms. I will be back next year.
does anyone know who won men’s advanced open hand? was there any kind of grandchampionship?
How much was it? Perhaps I would listen better and get to go to watch next year
sanshou at wong’s tournament??
Yep alot of heavy fighting at wong’s thisyear. Its a pitty that alotof the bruisers don’t have the guts or desire to put their skills on the line in a SanShou ring.
Hey, why not throw a SanShou Tournament next year alongisde of the regular tournament.
Since the WushuUnion has dropped it from their tournament I can almost certainly bet that there would be a huge tournout, especially since they can’t throw this kind of event in NY anymore.
eric