day 167: tournament prep

forms:

• jian shu

we were short-handed today in terms of turnout. given the low turnout and the pressing time needed for Kieun and Phunsak to practice, Sifu decided to skip sparring practice and concentrate on jian shu. i suspect he also did this because of the lightened sparring rules in Vegas and the need to get jian shu consolidated--both for judges and competitors.

jian shu

Kieun and Phunsak spent some time practicing the 2-person san cai form, while Jonathan Shen and John Eagles put in some practice time with the jians. Kieun and Phunsak finished just as Alex showed up, at which point we began running mock jian shu rounds--but this time actually running things with the full regulation slate of 1 ring judge, 4 line judges, and a timekeeper (i think this may have been a first!). we practiced calls, hand signs, the procedure for point rulings, the procedure for starting and stopping matches, and the procedure for switching judges.

i have to say things are running a little bit more smoothly now than they have in weeks past. and it makes a big difference to have the full crew of judges. although, it definitely requires practice and experience to be an effective judge, and there continue to be things we need to work on--particularly in making quick decisions and clear calls. but i think things are going to be all right for the Las Vegas tournament.