Tournament

By David Mandeix
David is a Green Belt at Wu Dao

There exists a tale of an ancient tournament, taking place in a far away land, where martial artists would meet to determine the supreme champion....

...Actually, this tournament happened in July, in the somewhat-distant land of San Francisco. It has taken me quite a while to blog about the experience- which I will attribute to my own laziness, vaguely distressing memories, and mild dislike of the situation. Despite the feeling of vague dissatisfaction at the tournament, the experience as a whole was very rewarding.

Getting to the tournament turned out to be the first challenge; It was a long, restless flight to San Francisco, followed by a lengthy trip to the hotel. Everyone was arriving at different times, adding further confusion to the day. Having arrived early, I took the opportunity to explore San Fransisco with the help of my kungfu brother Walther, who I would like to thank for knowing all the good places to eat- without you and your iphone I would have made some poor decisions.

The opening day of the tournament was a tense affair. I was very glad for the presence and support of the rest of the Wu Dao team. Everyone’s nervousness (myself included) contributed to the chaotic atmosphere of the tournament. It was loud, there were so many people, the divisions were unclear, the location of events kept changing... in truth, not any different from a typical tournament scene- except that we had trained for months and flown thousands of miles to be here- which certainly added to the pressure.

Eventually, however, everything was sorted out and we found ourselves running from ring to ring in an attempt to either compete, provide support to our teammates, or film them competing. I was very proud of my compatriots; you could tell that the hours and hours of training paid off as it shone through in spite of nervousness, floor traction, what have you. My own form was scored lowest in my entire division, but that was nothing compared to the payoff of hearing Sifu say that was the best he'd ever seen me do the form. Oddly enough, I felt good about the form as well, in spite of the low ratings. I suppose it is possible that the greatest reward was being able to compete and test myself and my training against others, but this is a very high-minded ideal and difficult to focus on when everyone else is getting shiny medals to take home.

Sifu ended up providing us with a lot of support and pointers on our first day, but the single greatest moment was watching him bawl out a referee for his poor judging. I don’t usually take issue with judging at a competition- after all, everyone has different expectations of what they want to see from a martial artist, and I’ve usually resigned myself to this fact before the tournament has started- but this man’s oversight with regards to the Tai-Chi he was officiating was criminal. It did not help that Walther was suffering due to his negligence. I felt robbed. I’m sure Walther felt worse.

When the first day ended and everyone had performed well, we headed off to dinner. The evening’s activities included a show put on by the hosts of the tournament. I’ve found that these things can be hit or miss, and this one was largely miss- based purely on the severity of Sifu’s scowl. On the upside it did feature a man well into his eighties performing kungfu- proof that this is a sustainable hobby. We did not stay for the entire production.

Day two dawned, and that meant that it was time to spar! Originally I had not planned on sparring, as I had developed bursitis of the left elbow just days prior to the tournament (also know as water on the elbow- a painful condition that swells the elbow to size and consistency of a grapefruit). However, yesterday’s activities had left something to be desired. To be honest, I am guilty of not leaving my ego at the door- I had worked hard these past months and I wanted to take something home! I wasn’t going to let this piddly little elbow problem stop me! Not after so much suffering to get here!

With that thought smoldering in my mind I joined my other team members (Sissi, Melvin) in gearing up. During the gearing up phase Sissi was almost disqualified because she was not wearing sufficient armor- at Wu Dao we do not train wearing chest/ midsection armor. Fortunately, we were able to convince the judges to allow her to compete. I was very gratified to overhear a conversation occurring behind me that went something like this:

Person A: What’s that school? Isn’t that girl going to wear any padding?
Person B: (No hesitation, just a hint of awe?) That’s Wu Dao!

Not bad name brand recognition over the course of a single day, eh?

As the fights unfolded, I was disqualified for drawing blood (again) but this also managed to earn me a silver medal, so I was content. Additionally I was not injured, having wrapped my arm up in bandages and ice packs. The real showstoppers were Melvin and Sissi:

Melvin: Fought a much bigger Wing Chun fighter to a win over the course of three rounds. It was like watching a train get up to speed. The first round the judges gave to the WC fighter, though Melvin put up a very respectable fight. The second round found Melvin running the man around the ring, working him from a number of different angles and with different strikes. Round three, even though I know both fighters were exhausted, was a climactic battle wherein Melvin clearly dominated his opponent the entire round. Watching him adapt and employ all the things we see in class was truly satisfying.

Sissi: Faced off against some sort of South American kick-boxing champion. This was the classic battle of sport karate versus martial arts. Sissi’s stance was rooted, her guard was up, and all her strikes were firm and deliberate (but quick). Her opponent, on the other hand, bounced around the ring (in what can only be called the absence of a stance) and constantly dropped her hands, leaving her entire head and body open (good thing she had that armor). The result of this fight is immaterial- you could tell the better martial artist in the opening stances.

With the conclusion of the sparring, we were left to our own devices to celebrate the 4th of July in San Francisco. It was a good reward for all those months of training and days of competition.

In my mind the tournament itself was nothing to get excited over, but the experience of being there with the folks competing was what made the entire ordeal worth it. Not just the tournament, mind you, but the months and months of suffering and training as well.I hope to attend future tournaments and get the same experience (except maybe win some more things) Until that time it is back to the training hall for another hundred thousand repetitions.

Managing Disappointment

By Walther Chen

Walther is a yellow belt at Wu Dao

My tournament was a little bit of a disappointment , which is probably why it's taken so long to blog about it.

I competed in three events: beginner forms for kung fu, beginner forms for tai chi, and push hands. The first two, I was able to perform decently. For my short xiao hong quan, I tipped over a couple of times (a combination of carpet and nerves), but I felt I did the best I could considering my training up to that point.

Where I surprised myself was in push hands. I became pretty upset after I lost the one round I competed in (there was only one other participant). I think that going against a competitor in a match really brought out my competitive juices, and I also was very frustrated by my inability to cope with his tactics. Literally being pushed around can be quite aggravating.

So, where to go from here? One half of the solution is to simply get better. As Shifu mentioned after the tournament, one of the goals in training is to become good enough that there is no doubt who is the best. The other half is to accept that losing can be good: it exposed my weaknesses, knocked down my ego, and provided a great motivation for training.

I'm looking forward to the next tournament!

When training becomes more mental than physical

By Melvin Geronimo
Melvin Blue Belt student at Wu Dao

As the count down began for the ICMAC ( International Chinese Martial Arts Championships ) in San Francisco, the training intensified. Training for this competition was a bit difficult and different when compared to the last competition our school attended. It was and sometimes still is more of a motivational and mental challenge for me. Tuesdays and Thursdays of the week, I am assisting on training newer students in the first class and I am training in the second class. Most of the advanced students come to the first class and sometimes do not stay and train in the second class. As a result, I find myself training and pushing myself on my own since Shifu is usually busy training newer students. Don't get me wrong, I love that I was presented with this opportunity to help train newer students. It's just definitely a lot easier to train hard and push yourself when training with a partner or group, but when you are on your own, it's a mentally and motivationally challenging. But as the saying goes, "There is no rest for the wicked" and I had to keep in mind that training is more than just physical, it's also mental.

For the about three months we spent most of the time focusing on the Shaolin Hand Form. At the beginning, when we first learned this form I felt as if I was behind. The more advanced students had the opportunity to train and practice the form in both classes while I only had one class to focus and train. My Kung Fu brothers and sisters were far ahead on the form than I was, I felt as if I was being rushed to learn the whole form and started getting mentally dishearten that I wasn't going to learn it completely before the tournament. But once I have finished learning the form from beginning to end we broke it down into a series count and each week we focused on a different part of the form, drilling it down and smoothing it out. This type of training was intense and exhausting, my body felt as if I was hit by a car after every class, but also felt incredibly rewarding at the same time. I felt better and better about the form as the weeks drew on. We also maintained this type of training with the Shaolin Staff Form, breaking it down and focusing on each series count and putting it all together as the tournament date became closer and closer.

A few weeks before our trip to San Francisco, I decided that I needed more training. I asked Shifu if I would be able to train in the first class instead of assisting and he said that was a good idea. Although thinking that an increase my training would help, I hit a speed bump. I started having lower back pains that was excruciating. I noticed that it was very painful to even bend over and try to touch my toes. I tried to mentally block the pain and push onward and even started to take muscle relaxants to see if that would help ease my pain. It was less than a week before the tournament and it felt as if my back wasn't getting any better. I was fearing that I wasn't going to be able to compete. Feeling discourage about it, I decided to take two days off to rest. Just with those two days of rest my back felt better, almost like new. When you're instincts and your body is telling you that you need rest, you need to listen to it no matter what. Pushing yourself and training hard is one thing, but you also need to let the body rest and heal itself.