My 1st Kung Fu Competition Experience

By Melvin Geronimo
Melvin Blue Belt student at Wu Dao

On October 10th and 11th, I participated in my first Kung Fu competition at the International Chinese Martial Arts Championships in Washington DC. There were many competitors from all around the U.S., many of whom I’ve become friends with.

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Even though I had only been studying and training in Kung Fu for about 2 years, I competed in the advanced divisions. On October 10th, I competed in Advanced Traditional Northern Long Fist and Advanced Traditional Long Weapons.

In the morning hand forms competition, I felt that I could have performed better but my nerves got the best of me. I felt each mistake. Instead of relaxing and finishing the form, my thoughts were simply focused on each movement and trying to execute them correctly. In the Advanced Traditional Long Weapons, I performed Shaolin Zhen Shan Gun (Shaolin Moutain Trembling Staff). I felt more relaxed and comfortable. I was 3rd to perform in this event and was in 1st place after my performance, but unfortunately that didn’t last too long. There was a complication that occurred after my performance. One of the judges mysteriously disappeared and the continuation of the competition was delayed 5-10 minutes until another judge was found. The scoring for the rest of the competitors was substantially higher in comparison to the first 3 competitors. I felt I was robbed from this event missing 3rd place by .01 of a point, due to the changing of judges, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles sometimes at these events.

I didn’t really mind not placing. I was more pleased about the compliments that I received from other competitors and even one of the judges. I will not forget what the judge said, “I was very pleased to watch you perform with much intensity.” This is the type of compliments that I was hearing all day from other competitors and judges about our school, which was very inspirational.

Knowing how competitive I am and feeling a bit discouraged about being the only competitor from our school who did not place that day of competition, I decided to sign up for the Advanced Continuous Sparring competition, that was held on Sunday, October 11th. Even though I hadn’t sparred in quite some time, I was satisfied with my performance! The first fighter that I had to face was a San Da fighter. Even though he had more experienced in fighting, I was able to hold my ground by keep my hands up and was able to run him out of the ring several times. Towards the end of the fight, I took a hard punch to the face, but was able to continue to the next round against Dave Mandeix, a fellow Wu Dao teammate, for the 3rd place. We fought earnestly. Unfortunately the fight was stop due to my nosebleed and Dave was disqualified, even though he was not the cause of the bleeding. I was able to continue but the judges stopped the fight. To be honest, I did not like the way I earned the 3rd place. But a win is a win.

Some lessons learned include if you find yourself making a mistake in a competition or performance, don’t let it get the best of you—erase it from your memory and move on to your best ability. Be open-minded and enjoy the competition as a way to share knowledge and make new friends.

All in all, the competition was an amazing experience. I haven’t felt the thrill of competition since high school Track and Field. It’s pleasing to be able to have that feeling again. I am also very proud of my Kung Fu brothers and sisters on their performance at this championship competition and proud to be part of Wu Dao.

How You Train is How You Fight

By David Mandeix
David is an Orange Belt student at Wu Dao

Recently, Wu Dao celebrated its second year anniversary as well as its debut in Kung Fu tournament circuit. Two years of hard work, blood, sweat, toil and tears was put to the test, and the results were gratifying to say the least.

For my own part, this was not my first martial arts tournament. I have a long string of (somewhat unsatisfying) Judo and Tang Soo Do experiences (read: I lost a lot). In the wake of the team’s success in Washington DC, I found myself trying to figure out what had been different about this particular tournament. All of my usual elements were there- the nervous jitters, the anxiety, the alternating feelings of faux bravado and gut-churning trepidation. In the past this usually resulted in a downward spiral of increasing alarm culminating in nightmarish defeat. This time, however, I broke the mold. What gives?

I am convinced that the factor that carried everyone through this tournament is the training we have absorbed at Wu Dao--training that has been ground in on a bone-deep level and flushed through our digestive systems with liberal amounts of "bitter." Proper stances, proper technique, and expression of power is not something that just comes to you when it’s your moment to shine--it takes a great deal of care and consistent hard work to develop. When you only have one form to show off your Kung Fu, every little thing counts, and if you haven’t trained out your bad habits by then, they will show up.

Every time we sweated and strained to hold a position while Shi-fu made minor adjustments, every time we felt like collapsing at the end of a form because he pushed us to perform at maximum speed, every time we groaned because he said: “Again!”, has helped to build this victory. What’s more; our training has given us an awareness and an understanding of what we can reasonably expect of ourselves. When we found ourselves stiff and stressed out before competing, we stretched. When the stretching wasn’t cutting it, we fell back on some sun salutations to loosen up. (Personally, I loathe sun salutations--both A & B--but I know that they are the best way to loosen me up and have me ready to go in a short period of time). It may come as no surprise that they did the job.

Interestingly enough, however, the physical training isn’t the end all and be all. Watch the video for yourself--Wu Dao students go about their business with confidence and a clear focus. Waiting to compete, we stood at attention. We acted with purpose. We expressed excellent martial spirit, something that is built up over time. Serious and careful training has given us serious and careful attitudes, and this shows up when we are under the gun.

In times of heightened stress, in a tournament or even combat, our training is what we fall back on. When we don’t have time to think or are too anxious to, what has been deeply ingrained comes to the surface. You may want to think of it as instinct or muscle memory- but those don’t include the attitude you adopt. You can say that you just need to “psych yourself up," but no amount of that is going to make you remember to pull the fist back to the waist. Ultimately, as Shi-fu constantly reminds us, "How you train is how you fight."