the Las Vegas kung fu tournament was held this past weekend, and have been recovering this past week since coming back from the trip.i didn't indulge in any of the typical activities associated with Las Vegas--those are just not my things, and in fact, i actually detest the city as a vacation spot or resort getaway, since it's just not my idea of a good time. i went primarily because of the tournament. i didn't compete in any events, but helped as a referee in the jian shu tournament.
the Las Vegas tournament itself i think is a worthwhile endeavor. even if you're not a competitor, judge, or volunteer, i think it's interesting just to go and see all the various schools and styles of Chinese martial arts from across the country. it's something that you can't find easily. it's kind of enlightening to see the range of perspectives on kung fu, and interact with other people who are just as committed to TCMA as you are. that, and i've met some genuinely nice people there.
i took a few photos, but not too many. i've put 3 that i thought amusing in this post. this year, i made an effort to make as many videos as i could, since i wanted to try and do more to make a record of all the various styles and performers who were attending. i uploaded all the videos i made onto Youtube--you can reference my Youtube channel, jonathanonapath, and look for anything titled "kung fu tournament 2009." there's too many videos to list here, but i can list the ones i made from our kung fu school:- master's demo spear: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_bq34Uears
- master's demo sabre: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_W5IencFtg
- bagua deer horn knives: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2ubyEyRY_M
and it was tiring. even though i don't think i did that much (refereeing and recording). but by the end of Saturday night i was barely able to get into bed before falling asleep, and by the end of Sunday night i was happy just to be home. thankfully, it helped that i had a room (and an entire suite, no less!) all to myself, since 3 people canceled at the last minute and we found ourselves dividing 3 suites between 4 people. this made for a big difference in terms of rest. i could deal with this again.
the turnout for this year was less than last year, and i suspect the poor economy had a lot to do with people making the decision to travel or not to travel. but things were still busy, since there were new events (most notably shuai jiao). i still managed to meet people from across the country, and also met a group from a martial arts academy in China. i tried to speak with them, but no one spoke English and i ended up having to get translation from Tommy (who was competing in shuai jiao).
i should note that the Las Vegas tournament is now part of a series being introduced across the United States, as well as around the world. the organizer, Nick Scrima, has created an umbrella organization, the International Chinese Martial Arts Championship, with the goal of promoting Chinese martial arts and improving the overall quality of all participants. the organization is starting tournaments similar to Las Vegas in other cities in the U.S., as well as in other countries such as Japan, Costa Rica, the Bahamas, and Italy. you can reference their website (http://www.kungfuchampionship.com/ ) as well as their Youtube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/KungFuChampionship ).
we finished the weekend on Monday, with Sifu holding a disciple ceremony in the evening. i won't go into details about the ceremony, since my impression is that apparently the nature of the ceremony is something that the Wutan organization generally wants to keep secret--or at least not something publicly transparent. but it was comparable to last year, and seems to be a good fit with the past weekend's trip to the tournament.
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