day 290: back again and Las Vegas tournament

well, i'm back posting again. i was out of the country for an extended period of time, and so missed a good portion of classes for both kung fu and kyudo. this is the reason why nothing's been posted here for so long.

i came back a little more than a week ago, but just in time to go to the Las Vegas tournament to help referee 2 events. as a result, there was no kung fu class and i missed the kyudo class. as a result, this post only deals with the tournament.

the tournament this year was much smaller than before, i suspect because 1) the economic recession has made it very difficult for people to travel, and 2) it was Labor Day weekend and many people had made holiday plans. but the turnout was still sufficient to maintain activities across 2 days, and sufficient to host additional events. for me, this meant i was a referee for not only jian shu, but a new experimental competition called "extreme push hands".

the jian shu was pretty straightforward, so i don't have much reason to discuss it here. i will say that the quality of competition has gotten much better, and that competitors have gotten to the point that they are getting better at applying jian shu techniques in the context of full-speed full-contact sword fighting--something we didn't see before, and something that Sifu has always said is what we want to see.

i'll devote more of my comments to extreme push hands. i should note that extreme push hands is essentially push hands liberated, with competitors allowed to move their feet and to engage techniques (throws, but no strikes or joint locks). the idea is to return to push hands to its historical position as a stage in the training progression leading towards full-contact fighting. this is largely experimental, since something like this has not been done regularly as a dedicated event in the U.S., and the rules are still being worked out. as a result, things were new and unfamiliar for both the judges and the competitors.

having said this, i still found it fascinating to watch, since it revealed a lot about the concepts within TCMA and just how important they are. i will list my observations about what i saw regarding the concepts as follows:

ting jing

i think all the competitors were trying to apply ting jing. i can see that ting jing as "listening" is analogous to navy submarine sonar--there, they"listen", but they have 2 DIFFERENT ways to listen:

"active" listening (where you send out energy and then listen to thereflection back) and "passive" listening (where you simply take inwhatever information you receive). active listening has benefits in that you can quickly contact the enemy, but the problem is that it instantly reveals your position and intent to the enemy. passive listening has benefits in that you do not reveal your position orintent, but has a problem in that it requires much more skill and training to develop--and it's easy to fool yourself. from what i can tell, it is possible to use active listening as a way of misdirecting or fooling the enemy (e.g., you send a "ping" that reveals a location and intent different from your actual ones).

also, i noticed that when competitors did try to "passive" listen, some took it literally and stopped moving, and promptly got punished. the better competitors still maintained movement, while still listening (i.e., you can passively listen while still moving yourself to avoid the enemy, much as a submarine passively listens while maneuvering around an enemy submarine).

hwa jing/na jing/fa jing

i'll skip the fa jing, since the event was more about the other jings. while all the competitors tried to receive, neutralize, redirect, and control, i think they didn't do so in recognition of the full context of the match. in contrast, the better competitors had a much more instinctive understanding of the jings within the entire frame of 2 competitors trying to find hwa and na. in essence, it is important to understand the relationship of the moving bodies--that is, to sense (ting!) the center(s) (i.e., your center, the opponent's center, the relationship between the 2, and the nature of systemic center). this means hwa jing and na jing are not so much about receiving, neutralizing, redirecting, or controlling the enemy, but about receiving, neutralizing, redirecting, controlling thecenter(s). and once you have the center, everything becomes elementary.

i think this explains why the better competitors expended so little energy--the mind was doing all the work, but the body was simply working with the opponent's energy and letting it go by.

disengage/engage

most competitors consistently started off with a bullfight scenario, and only switched when they found themselves about to lose or when tired. the winners, in contrast, were almost never in the bullfight, but instead constantly disengaging and engaging.

what contributed to this was that the other competitors were "active" listening, which tended to draw them into a bull fight scenario (i.e.,they'd reveal their position, instantly find themselves on defense,but unaware of the center, and so automatically respond with a struggle to regain their composure against the only thing they could see--the body in front of them). what also contributed was that i suspect most competitors thought the only way to listen was to be in physical contact and in close contact.

the winners, in contrast, because they were mixing "active" & "passive"listening, were devoting much more time and resources to movement and positioning, thereby avoiding bull fight scenarios. as a result, they constantly mixed up disengage/engage, adding to the misdirection and confusion in the opponents.

mind

it really got me that everyone other than the winners wer expending a lot of energy. i think this happened not because the winners were more physically fit, but because the winners knew what they were doing and everyone else was simply reacting (and constantly being on the reaction side of an encounter is always more draining than being the proactive one). because the winners knew what they were doing, they were much more efficient with movements, and everything they did had a purpose contributing to the goal of winning.

which goes to the point: the mind is doing all the work, and the body is simply using the opponent's energy. the mind does the listening, the mind tracks the center(s), the mind handles hwa jing and na jing. the body was simply staying out of the enemy's way, misdirecting them, and then letting them go by. it also means that you don't have to really have an arsenal of memorized techniques,but instead all you have to do is control the center(s) and direct the opponent past you.

like i said, very interesting stuff. it gave me some things to think about, and to try and incorporate into my own development. i'll have to give it some attention when i practice.

day 237: las vegas tournament 2009

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
  

i should point out there were a fair number of things i did not record on video that i wanted to get, including some of the other people from our Wutan Los Angeles. part of this was me having to help referee the jian shu tournament as other events were going on, part of it was having to run back and forth between simultaneous performances, and part of it was just simply getting tired and losing awareness of what people were doing.

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.

day 172: las vegas kung fu tournament

well, we finally had the big trip to the Las Vegas Kung Fu Tournament.

this was a first time for me, and i figured to just go and experience things. as a result, i didn't have any expectations.

originally, i was entered the beginner sparring competition and was also serving as a referee for the sword sparring competition, but i knew there was a conflict between the 2 and the chances of me being able to do both were pretty slim. this was all the more assured by the announcement that the organizers were going to try and have everything in 1 day, compressing the schedule. with this in mind, i'd pretty much made up my mind that if there was a conflict, i was going to referee the sword sparring, since it seemed to be a bigger event and something that involved a lot more people than just me (as opposed to just beginner sparring, which only involved me), and hence had greater significance that called for greater priority.

the tournament was hosted by Tony Yang and Nick Skrima. Tony is a kung fu brother of our Sifu, Jason Tsou. the tournament, while open to anyone, seemed to also serve as a reunion point for the North American representatives of the Wutan organization, with the list of masters including a roll call of Wutan flag-bearers: Su Yuchang (New York), Jason Tsou (Los Angeles), Tony Yang (Ohio), John Hom (Canada), and Kurt Wong (Alaska). they were only missing Adam Hsu, who relocated to Taiwan a number of years ago but used to be in San Francisco.

this was a bit of a revelation for me. even though this tournament was in its 1st year and hence had a smaller turnout relative to the other national ones, it still seemed like a big event. part of this was that i've never seen so many kung fu practitioners gathered into 1 location. another part of it was that i'd never seen such a diversity of kung fu participants. the tournament crowd covered a full spectrum in age and gender and race and background and styles and skill level. i spoke to a few people who'd driven or flown from as far as Alaska (from Kurt Wong's school) and Florida.

i took a few pictures so you can get a feeling of the visitors:
for Sifu and the other Wutan masters, i could tell this was really more a reunion, and thus a time to catch-up on news and events in their lives and share time with friends they don't get to see that often. the tournament was really a secondary thing. as a result, they were quite relaxed and seemed to be have a good time.

i had a chance to meet all of them, enough to get a feel for their personalities. Master Su Yuchang, who is the most senior of the group, doesn't speak very much English, so i had some difficulty talking to him, but he seems to be a very friendly individual once he feels comfortable around you--i've been told he's quite a socialite, and is renowned for staying up late into the night and early morning, and the little i saw this time confirmed this for me (i don't think i've stayed up past midnight in YEARS, perhaps decades, but Master Su seemed to do this with aplomb). Masters Tony Yang and John Hom also seem quite gregarious, with Tony Yang appearing to be the more outgoing personality, and the leader of conversation in the group. Master Kurt Wong turned out to be what i had expected, with a much more reserved personality (i've always believed it takes a certain personality type to live in Alaska, particularly as a teacher, and he fit it almost exactly).

this also gave me an opportunity to see Master Tsou in context...he's the only martial arts instructor i've had, so i've never really been able to have a feel for how he compares with others apart from people have told me. he's not quite as socially outgoing as Masters Su, Yang, or Hom, with a slightly more toned down edge. and his kung fu practice seems to cover more of the traditional asian medicine aspect compared to the others--with the exception of Su Yuchang, who i understand is an actual TCM doctor. in addition, he also seems to be in better health.

i wasn't able to take as many pictures or videos as i would have liked. because the schedule was compressed into a single Saturday, i found myself busy the entire day. as i had expected, there was a conflict between beginner sparring and sword sparring, and i had to forfeit beginner sparring to help out with the sword tournament. this was just as well, since it turned out that the sword tournament had 19 competitors (by far the most popular event of the entire tournament) and had a shortage of judges (even with me, we still had to rotate in Mike DiSargo and Sifu to help). that, and Sifu mentioned to me that because this was the 1st year for the sword tournament, he considered it more important than anything else we had going on and wanted to try and make sure it had a good debut.

i managed to make some videos during breaks, mostly of the events closest to the sword ring. you can see them for yourself.
kung fu kid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyTHRfro_zI

women's sword: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXJWb54ThUA

women's sabre: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACJEcDqKEQE

men's sword: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRamUBtClm8

i had wanted to take video of everyone from our school who was competing, but i missed out on most. Laura was in beginner forms, John Eagles was in 2 events (advanced forms and sword sparring), Jonathan Shen was in 3 events (advanced forms, intermediate sparring, and sword sparring), Simon was in beginner sparring, Phunsak was in advanced forms (solo, and 2-person with Ching-Chieh), and Richard was in sword sparring.

i ended up mostly taking video of the post-tournament Master's Demonstration, which served as the closing ceremony. Sifu did demonstrations of san cai and bagua 64 palms, and Phunsak did a 2-person demonstration with Ching-Chieh of 64 palms as well as a 2-person demonstration with Kieun of san cai jian. you can see the video of them, as well as the 1 video i caught of Jonathan, below:
Sifu Jason Tsou, 64 palms A & B: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nABvS5e3O2E

Phunsak & Ching-Chieh, 2-person 64 palms: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWaPRTUpsmA

Sifu Jason Tsou, san cai jian: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPzsSjRbNQ4

Phunsak & Kieun, 2-person san cai jian: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IBQAhHyoEM

Jonathan Shen, mantis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ9rMtqYQeM

one of the things i should note is that i got a real sense while being in the audience that my kung fu school, and my instructor, is really unique. i heard whispers of excitement and curiousity about bagua and san cai jian, with some people saying that it was important to record them because they were the kind of things people don't often see. i even overheard one person tell his partner to ignore all the other forms and to make sure to record ours, since they were more important and more worthy of video time on his HD video memory card. i could see that our school is much more traditional, and much more closely aligned to the fighting function of kung fu, relative to many others that were present, which were more modern and related to current wushu practice.

most of the other forms i saw were all shaolin-related. they were impressive, and definitely very showy and crowd-pleasing. you can see the videos i took:
shaolin weapons: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COGzF4x-O24

shaolin rope dart: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE0omJ7BwkA

would i go to a tournament again? well, this tournament is being held in Las Vegas again next year, and then the year after is moving to Tokyo. i'd like to go, and actually make an effort to compete. and for sure, i think it's important to try sparring, if nothing else to help motivate learning how to use kung fu as a martial art--Kieun mentioned to me that compared to other forms of self-defense, kung fu generally doesn't do anywhere near the same amount of person-on-person application training that other styles like boxing, judo, wrestling, etc. do, which i see as important in terms of actually being able to defend yourself.

the catch for me is that i'm in a bit of a fluid period in my life, since i'm looking for a tenure-track job and don't have a lot of stability. i'm also still committed to endurance sports, and my friends are saying that there's only so much time for us to get together (since everyone has family and careers that are pulling us away from each other) and that we should commit to doing an Ironman as a group--and all the ones they want to do occur at the same time as all the kung fu tournaments. i'm going to have to take some time and sort this out.

but this was a good experience, and i got to see a lot of things i didn't know before. it helped improve my perspective on traditional chinese martial arts, and learn more about the Wutan presence within it. hopefully i can go again...i'd really be interested in Tokyo, since it would give me an excuse to stay for an extra month and really tour a country i've always wanted to visit. we'll see.

day 171: final pre-tournament Sunday

forms:

• tournament prep

this was the final Sunday before the tournament, and we followed the same pattern as last Sunday, doing a few rounds of light sparring and then doing a few rounds of mock jian shu.

as a result, i'm keeping this post this short, since we didn't cover anything new and just worked on tuning up everything we've done before.

day 169: rules changes & tournament prep

forms:

• tournament prep-sparring
• tournament prep-jian shu
  

we learned of a bit of a hiccup today. Jonathan Shen checked the sparring rules for the tournament, and found out they'd been changed to san shou rules, with 1-minute rounds for beginners and 2-minute rounds for advanced competitors. this means that there is now full-contact strikes and also throws. hearing this, Sifu said we needed to work on handling throws, both employing them and countering them, and had this be the focus of sparring work for the day.

tournament prep-sparring

we worked on throws in the grass area, with people breaking off into pairs, so that 1 partner was using only throws and the other partner was using only strikes. the general idea was that the "thrower" had to focus on entering and executing the throw against a non-cooperative "striker." the "striker" in turn, had to counter the throw by resisting it, breaking it, or escaping it.

Sifu had us focus on very basic throws today, with just 2-3 variations. he said there wasn't enough time to do any more, and that we should just focus on learning a handful well.

we worked on this for awhile, and then started working on sparring rounds. i did a no-punch round with Richard and then a light-contact round with Jay, trying to use the throws. i have to say this is going to need some more work, and i definitely want to continue with this next Sunday. although, whether or not there's going to be enough time to get comfortable is another question, since the tournament is the following Sunday.

whatever. it's a learning experience at this point, and that's just how i'm going to have to see it going into it.

tournament prep-jian shu

we continued with jian shu practice, doing the mock rounds with the goal of getting practice for both judges and competitors.

there's some concern at this point with the tournament, since Nick Skrima informed Alex that no one signed up for the jian shu tournament (which is even less than the 4 he told Sifu). this doesn't quite match what Phunsak and Alex have, since their estimate based on the confirmations they've received from other places is at least 10 competitors.

whatever. we'll see once we get to Vegas. at this point we'll work with whoever shows up.

we finished around 1 and everybody had to go to their various commitments, leaving me to go to lunch with Phunsak.

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.

day 165: more sparring & jian shu

concepts:

• closing the gap

forms:

• tournament prep-sparring
• tournament prep-jian shu
  

this is another short post, since we followed the same format as last Sunday, doing sparring rounds and jian shu rounds.

tournament prep-sparring

i had 2 sparring rounds today, with the focus on following up from my observations from last week to work on dealing with larger opponents. i ended up having some insightful conversation with Jay and Phunsak regarding the ways you face a larger opponent.

the general idea is to close the gap and engage, but the question (and certainly my problem to date) is how to do this. the tactics are to use movement and timing to find and exploit angles and openings. but again, here too, the issue is how you do this. i ended up getting a number of pointers from Jay and Phunsak as to just how this is supposed to be done, and what you should be trying to do once you have managed to engage.

both of them also pointed out that it's a fallacy to look at a person's physical dimensions and automatically issue judgments as to who has an overall advantage. rather, the reality is that each person has certain advantages in certain areas in certain conditions, and hence each person has different sets of tools given a particular set of conditions. in which case, a good fighter uses those tools to maximum effect and minimizes those the opponent has an advantage in.

this was pretty useful for me. it's the kind of training and experience i think is necessary to really learn how to employ a martial art...and the kind you don't get just practicing forms or techniques, or talking about objectives and principles. you can't really learn how to defend yourself unless you actually learn how to use your martial art.

tournament prep-jian shu

we spent the rest of the day doing mock rounds of jian shu, practicing the formal calls and hand signals. we also went through several hypothetical scenarios to evaluate how the rules would work. after that, we went to lunch.

day 163: sparring & jian shu

forms:

• tournament prep-sparring
• tournament prep-jian shu
  

we warmed up with some of the partner drills from last week, and then went straight into tournament prep.

tournament prep-sparring

i had 2 sparring rounds today, the 1st against Richard and the 2nd against Jonathan. my round against Richard went better, with me able to hold a slight edge, even though it was mostly a draw. even though Richard had more experience, i was able to use my height and reach advantage against him to hold him at range.

in contrast, my round against Jonathan was pretty much a disaster. he's taller and has greater reach, and as much as i tried, i still wasn't able to figure out how to close in and engage him. every time i thought i had it figured out, i found myself getting hit. granted, he has more experience, but this is proving to be quite a puzzle for me--the prescription against a bigger opponent always seems to follow the same formulas (i.e., close the gap, move, engage), just as much as it does for smaller opponents (i.e., keep them at distance, control movement, engage), but i'm finding it's hard to actually do the things necessary to achieve these formulas.

from what i'm seeing, there's an issue in knowing what to do with your body and skills to exercise these formulas. basically, it's like having a set of objectives, but then struggling to figure out how to achieve them given a limited set of tools defined by the parameters of your body, your mind, and your skills. you have to know how to use what you have to meet your goals in order to be effective in a fight.

i spoke with Jay about this the next day, and he nodded and confirmed my suspicions. he said that's why experience is so important--because it's one thing to know what you want to do, but another thing entirely to know how to do it given your personal capabilities. and the only way to know how is to learn from personal experience, because only you can know your own capabilities. whatever someone else knows is based on their own body, own mind, and own skills, and so may not be appropriate for you. you have to know yourself, meaning you have to go through the process of exploring yourself, and learning what you can do and what you prefer to do.

this of course, relates back to the constant admonition in martial arts that a true practitioner has to "master the self" in order to master others--you have to know yourself before you can hope to be effective in fighting others. that's not the whole truth to the admonition (there's many other levels i know of), but it's one level i'm learning now.

i asked Sifu about this over lunch, and he nodded, saying that is why you have know your identity as a martial artist--you have to know how you want to do certain things given the assets composed of your body, your mind, and skills. and you can improve those assets through training and experience. and if you're good enough, you can change your identity...but apparently this is a topic for another time, preferably when i've achieved a certain level of development.

tournament prep-jian shu

we finished the day with mock rounds of jian shu, so that judges and referees could get practice and competitors could also get training. Alex and Sifu seem to have decided to try to formalize the calls, with specific terms and hand signals to be used by judges and referees. this threw an additional layer of difficulty in, and required more time to get comfortable with. from what i could tell, we didn't really get entirely used to the terms and hand signals, and definitely need to get more practice.

by the time we finished, it was approaching 2, and we decided to wrap things up since people had other commitments to get to.

day 161: punch and kick drills

forms:

• tournament prep-sparring
• tournament prep-jian shu

we had a long Sunday, with Alex back and wanting to get in practice time for referees. we ended up dividing things equally between sparring and jian shu, starting at around 9 and ending around 1:30.

tournament prep-sparring

sparring work today consisted primarily of punch and kick drills, with the goal of acclimating people to free-form offense and defense. Sifu had us work in pairs, with each pair doing several rounds of each drill before switching partners with another pair. in addition, to help us adjust to tournament rules, he had us work in full gear, with helmets, gloves, and pads. he cautioned that since this was meant to acclimate people to full-speed actions that we should hold off on full contact power and focus on just adjusting to timing and velocity.

the drills were as follows:

• punching drill--this involved 1 partner attacking and the other partner defending. the attacking partner was supposed to attack with any type and combinations of punches, with the defending partner defending himself. both partners are free (and expected) to move around each other as if it were a real fight, either trying to get around one another or opening or closing distance from each other.
• kicking drill--this is the same as the punching drill, but with the partners both using their kicks. the defender, however, could use hands to defend against kicks (using go and gua), although the primary defense was supposed to be the feet.
  

Sifu made a number of points:

• for us, high kicks are considered dangerous, and so normally in a street fight setting we'd stick to low or medium kicks. however, we employed them in practice to learn how to defend against them.
• on defense, don't try to watch the punch or kick. it can be too fast to observe or react in time, and often can be used as just a diversion. it's better to simply focus on the overall body of the attacker, and read their actions based on their body movement. this allows more time to respond.
• you're going to get hit. you can't always successfully defend against every punch or kick. the goal, however, can still be to minimize the damage.
• keep the chin down, eyes up. this can be hard when you're constantly moving, which is why you have to train for it.
• keep the hands up. this can be hard when you get tired, which again is why you have to train for it.
  

tournament prep-jian shu

we finished the day with jian shu tournament prep, holding mock rounds to help the judges train to either be referees or to work as line judges. we also worked on some tournament formalities that Alex wanted to institutionalize into the sport.

day 159: partner drills & sparring

forms:

• partner drills
• sparring
  

this turned into a Sunday, since Alex was back and Sifu wanted to work on both sparring and jian shu preparations. we began around 9:30 but didn't finish until around 1:30.

partner drills

we warmed up with some of the footwork line drills from last week, and then Sifu took us through a series of partner drills. the partner drills this week involved partners moving in circles, with multiple sets of partners going at the same time. Sifu told us to switch off partners randomly during each of the drills, so as to have us acclimate to constantly changing partners and movements. the partner drills today can be broken down in the following:

• moving forward, small step-big step--each partner faces each other, with guard hands in contact, and stepping in a circle so that both move around the center. both partners step forward, and if they want to change direction (e.g., go from clockwise to counter-clockwise), they have to pivot and change guard hands. either partner is allowed to change direction at any time, with the other partner required to match. Sifu said to mix up the steps, with either small steps or little steps.
• moving backward, small step-big step--this is the same as above, except that the partners move backwards.
• moving forward or backwards, small step-big step--this combines everything above, with either partner allowed to change direction as well as moving forwards or backwards using small steps or big steps, and the other partner required to match.
  

sparring

after the drills, Sifu had us begin sparring, with the plan being to go in 2 rounds of 2 minutes each for each person. i ended up being paired with Randy.

this ended up being an educational experience. to be frank, it was a disaster from my end. as much as i tried to apply the principles i knew, i ended up just getting beat down. Randy is larger and more experienced than me, so this shouldn't be much of a surprise. but it was frustrating nonetheless to not be able to avoid his punches or land any of my own, despite my best efforts to do either.

from an educational perspective, this is the kind of experience i need to advance in learning martial arts. to date, i've done light sparring, but it's not the same as going full-speed and full-contact, and it is definitely a challenge to adjust. in order for me to really understand kung fu--or martial arts in general--i know that i have to be able to use it effectively (key word: effectively) in a realistic setting. but in order to do this, i have to get experience to know just what i need to do to protect myself and just how principles are supposed to be used.

my effort was bad enough that i ended up working with Jay for the remainder of the session on my sparring skills, even after everyone else had done their rounds and had moved onto to jian shu training. Jay was willing to share his experience with me, and had me work on learning how to take punches and kicks, holding a guard, as well as working on movement. there were a few things he told me that i thought were pretty useful:

• don't focus on incoming strikes. they move to fast to react to, and you can respond quicker by just focusing on the opponent's body and face, which often relays signals as to their movement
• don't chase incoming strikes. meaning don't reach out to intercept strikes. opponents usually want you to do this, since it often places you in positions vulnerable to the opponent's follow-up attacks. good fighters actually try to lure you to chase strikes to set you up for their big hits.
• eyes down, hands up. i apparently don't do this right.
• move. always move. opponents will try to force you to move in certain directions to set you up for their strikes. they also try to close off your routes to deny you attacking angles. you have to keep moving to deny them a stationary target and to seek out opportunities.
  

of course, the big issue for me again is experience. i don't have enough experience to recognize what is a "good" opportunity (versus a "bad" opportunity) to strike, to read an opponent's body language to know what they plan to do, or to know when a strike is a ruse or a real attempt to hit.

later over lunch i told Sifu i think i need to be doing this on a more regular basis during the course of the year, just to develop the above skills and get a better sense of just how a fight situation really works. he said that this is something we should setup as students on our own, and something he definitely encourages.

that was it for the day. definitely a wake-up call.

day 157: more leg drills & mock jian shu

concepts:

• footwork

forms:

• tournament prep--leg drills
• tournament prep--jian shu
  

today build on the drills from last Sunday. we had a new person today, Randy, who had been in Sifu's Long Beach sword class, and is preparing to go the Baltimore tournament. Alex was back today as well, to help practice running the jian shu tournament rounds. we warmed up with a repetitions of the Chen tai chi long form, although a few people filtered in after we had started.

leg drills

we began by repeating most of the solo leg drills from last week (reference: day 155), then went into some new drills:

• crossover step, solo--this followed the same pattern as the step and shuffle drills from last week, except this time we used a crossover step, with the rear foot stepping in front of the front foot to advance forward, and the front foot stepping in front of the rear foot to move backwards. Sifu said this was important, since it reduced the chance of tripping the feet.
• triangle step, stationary, solo--basically, you visualize an imaginary equilateral triangle on the ground, with each side matching your typical stance width and 1 vertex aiming at an imaginary opponent. you place 1 foot on the front vertex and the other foot on either one of the rear vertices. this will place you in a way that has 1 side of your body aiming at an angle in the general direction of the opponent. you then begin shifting your feet, so that you change which side of your body faces the enemy (e.g., if you began with your left foot on the front vertex and your right foot on the left rear vertex, you then move both feet so that your right foot is on the front vertex and your left foot is on the right rear vertex). Sifu said emphasized: DO NOT JUMP, but instead try to move in a way that has 1 foot taking the place of the other on the front vertex (i.e., shift the foot that is on the front vertex). we did this for several rounds of 16 repetitions.
• triangle step, moving, solo--this is the same as the above, except that with each shift in side you either move forward or backwards. we did several rounds of 16 repetitions, with each round either advancing forward or backward.
• triangle step, partner--here, Sifu had 1 partner be the attacker, holding a sword. the other partner was the defender. the attacker's role was to poke with the sword (ideally, it's a fake sword w a dull point, or just a plain stick) straight at the defender's chest. the defender's role was to then use the triangle step to shift out of the way. both partners would do 1 round moving forward, and then 1 round moving backwards. we did several rounds, again with 16 repetitions, and then switching roles.
• mix step, partner--this integrated all the footwork drills from last week. the drill is identical to the triangle step with a partner, except that the defender has to match the attacker's footwork, with the attacker choosing to either step, shuffle, or crossover while poking the defender with the sword. the defender's job is to retreat away from the sword. in this drill, the defender always retreats, and never advances.
  

after we did these drills, Sifu broke us into separate groups, with Simon and Richard going to give Randy sparring practice, and with me, Phunsak, Ching-Chieh, John, and Alex going to run some mock jian shu tournament rounds to practice judging.

jian shu

Sifu decided that we should have Ching-Chieh get some practice being a line judge, since she was going to act as a time-keeper for the jian shu tournament and might possibly have to fill in as a line-judge in case someone got sick or was unable to make the tournament. so we held several jian shu rounds, with everyone rotating in and out as line judges. Alex and i took turns being head referee.

this consumed the remainder of class time, and we kept going until the time Ching-Chieh had to leave (she's going away for 6 weeks for field research, which was why she's been trying to get in so much practice time recently). everyone had things to do and so had to skip lunch, leaving me and Phunsak to go eat.

day 155: tournament prep - leg drills & mock jian shu

concepts:

• footwork

forms:

• tournament prep

i'm writing a short post for this Sunday, since it was largely straightforward, with Sifu having us go through drills to prep for the tournament. we had a pretty sizable turnout today, since John Eagles was back, adding another participant for jian shu. this seemed to make a difference in terms of running the mock jian shu rounds, even though Alex was absent today.

Sifu broke us into different groups to warm up. he had Ching-Chieh and Phunsak do several repetitions of their 2-person 64 palms form, Simon repeat several baji routines, Jonathan go through his mantis work, and John Eagles, Richard, and me perform several iterations of the chen tai chi long form.

tournament prep

once we'd gone through the warm-up, Sifu had us spend the day focusing on footwork drills. he said this was the paramount element in fighting (not just for tournaments, but also for real-life self-defense), since it drives your ability to move and position yourself with respect to a hostile enemy, and also acts to generate power in your attacks.

for today, Sifu had us focus on the following drills:

• basic step forward and back, solo--this is just the basic step (front foot stepping forward, with rear foot following) in the ready stance, with the purpose being to move back and forth along a line while staying in the ready stance (so as to keep the gates closed and the body ready to act) and keeping the feet flat and light (so as to not provide an opening for the opponent to trip the feet). we went 10 steps forward and 10 steps back several times.
• basic shuffle forward and back, solo--this is the shuffle (rear foot moving forward close to front foot, with front foot then moving forward) in the ready stance, with the purpose again being to back and forth along the line while in the ready stance with flat feet. we went 10 steps forward and 10 steps back several times.
• basic step forward and back, partner--same as the solo drill, but facing a partner. the added goal is to maintain distance with the partner that is just close enough to be near to hand range, but still outside effective kick range. Sifu stressed that we focus on being to sense the partner's actions, and that we do so without fixating on a single point of the opponent (i.e., we maintain soft focus). we did this 16 steps forward and 16 steps back several times.
• basic shuffle forward and back, partner--same as the solo drill, but facing a partner. the distance is the same as above. we did this 16 steps forward and 16 steps back several times.
• random footwork drill, linear, partner--this is something Phunsak had learned from his fencing class, and it combines all of the above, with 2 partners facing each other, and 1 partner designated as the leader and the other partner being the follower. the leading partner can move forward or back in any combination of step or shuffle in any number. the other partner has to respond by staying with the leader (i.e., step when the leader steps, shuffle when the leader shuffles). we did this in several rounds of several minutes, doing it slow at first and then doing it faster.
  

after we finished going through the footwork drills, Sifu had us run through several mock jian shu rounds, so that 1) he could get a feel for the jian shu fighting, 2) he could see how the refereeing and rules worked, and 3) get in practice time for participants and referees. Sifu also wanted to take some time to figure out logistics, particularly in terms of who we could get to serve as referees, as well as lines-people, time-keepers, scorers, and administrative support. Richard, John, and Phunsak took turns as competitors, and i and Phunsak switched off being the referee. we discussed a number of different scenarios and their possible solutions, but we'll have to bring them up with Alex before finalizing things.

this consumed a fair amount of time, and we ended up going until about 1pm. we eventually wrapped things up, and everyone went to lunch--although i had to skip this because of some research i have to do.

day 154: refinement, side B

concepts:

• turning (yin into yang)
• moving with contact (using energy)
• rotation footwork (setting up rotation)
• sinking
  

forms:

• 64 palms, palms 1-4, side B
• tournament prep
  

Sifu returned this week from Hawaii, and class resumed with the full complement of students.

we began the day with a full discussion regarding several administrative items:

• the tournament. Sifu wanted to get a tally of everyone who is going to the tournament, and which events they are going to do. he wants as many people to go as possible, and to have us involved in more than 1 event. he says the Las Vegas tournament is going to be a major Wutan event, and so wants to make sure that we contribute to making it a success.
• class for the rest of the summer. as he said before he left for vacation, he will hold class both Saturday and Sunday for the rest of the summer up until the tournament, so as to get everyone prepared.
• equipment. for the tournament, we need 1) t-shirt maker (Sifu says if we know anyone who can silkscreen t-shirts, get a hold of them and contact him), and 2) sparring equipment (everyone involved has to get their own--a helmet, gloves, rib protector, cup, and mouthguard).
• hotel. a hotel has been chosen, and the link to it is at Tony Yang's website. we're supposed to be getting a discount on rooms, since the tournament is being held there.
  
• bus. Sifu wants to rent a charter tour bus to go to and from the tournament. this is to save money on gas, help people rest, and carry all our equipment. but it's also necessary as we will be having a much larger party of people returning from the tournament than going to (see below).
  
• sifu/disciple ceremony. Sifu says that a number of people will be returning from the Las Vegas tournament with us to help him hold the sifu/disciple ceremony on that Monday (Labor Day). apparently, this is a big thing, since he hasn't done this before for various reasons. he said he wants everyone to come and observe, so as to see the process, since it's fairly formal but also meant to be a celebration.
  

64 palms, palms 1-4, side B

after finishing the discussion, Sifu had us continue working on 64 palms, side B. for today, he said to review palms 1-4. after working with the baji students for awhile, he returned to observe us, and then made the following observations:

• turning (yin into yang)--this point was made in reference to palm 1, but it also applies to the other palms (particularly palms 1-6, sides A & B). the form ends going from leaf covers summer flower into the closing stance (which is the starting stance). Sifu says there should be a turn into leaf covers summer flower as well as a turn going out of it. the turn into the technique is going away from the direction of the opponent, meaning yin, and the turn going out of it is in the direction of the opponent, meaning yang. this should be a reflection that the initiation of the technique in the opening/closing stance should be done with a slight yin energy (i.e., slight yielding) to receive and read the opponent before proceeding into a yang state to attack to the opponent.
  
• moving with contact (using energy)--this was in reference to palm 2b, although it's a basic principle in internal martial arts. in palm 2b, there is a sequence of 4 movements: black tiger steals the heart, cloud crosses, mountain road, white snake spits its tongue, and effortlessly support the silver water jar. Sifu said we were doing each of these by recoiling first. he said this is actually wrong, since it means breaking the sequence into 4 separate techniques, and hence breaking contact with the opponent. the sequence of movements is supposed to represent a series of actions flowing continuously from one to another, so that the practitioner is moving while maintaining constant contact with the opponent. but more than this, you are actually moving using the contact: Sifu noted the central idea is that you are using the opponent's body as a source of energy to drive your own movements--in effect, you are using the opponent's body and momentum as a springboard to drive your actions, such that you are using the opponent's energy to add to yours.
  
• rotation footwork (setting up rotation)--this was raised in describing alternative applications out of palm 3b's white snake coils in its den. this technique employs the dragon stance. Sifu said the dragon stance can be interpreted as setting up a turn--not just into the direction of the leading foot (as done in palm 3b, which goes from white snake coils in its den to green dragon turns its body), but also away. in essence, the dragon stance can be seen as the opening step creating potential energy for rotation, with the footwork creating the position from which the practitioner can unwind in a direction away from the opponent's body. this means that the dragon stance is not a delimiter in the direction of rotation, as so offers options in terms of what can be done--Sifu demonstrated a throw, very similar to classic aikido throws.
  
• sinking--this applied for all the palms today. Sifu stressed that many of the techniques should be done with a slight sinking into their closing stances, with the sinking being into the kua (or hip and pelvic cradle). this creates a yin component to help draw the opponent's yang attack, and so helps to receive and control their movements.

we practiced these palms, as well as some of the applications Sifu showed us, which were comprised largely of throws to take attackers down. this took the bulk of class time, and filled out the remainder of the day.

tournament prep

we finished the day with an impromptu sparring round--actually, it was just me and Simon trying to fit in some sparring as everyone left. Simon had acquired the full regalia of equipment and so had everything to go. i had everything except the helmet, so we just agreed to not attack my head.

i decided to focus today on throws, since we'd been practicing this in class today, and i wanted to try and actually learn how to throw an opponent within a full-speed setting. to be quite honest, this is still a complete mystery to me, and i'm still sorting out just what is involved in trying to use take-down throws in a free-form full-contact scenario--it's one thing to understand theory and know applications, but it's another thing entirely to actually have a good enough grasp of things to actually employ them in self-defense.

Simon got the better of me today, in the sense that he was able to do more using punches and kicks than i was using throws. i noticed that i could receive and direct his strikes, but i couldn't engage a throw--at least, not often enough to have any confidence in the techniques. if it had been a tournament setting, or even a real self-defense situation, i would have definitely been in trouble. there was a number of things i learned:

• in employing throws, the priority is to break the opponent's centerline (i.e., their structure). if you don't destabilize the opponent, they will have a base from which they can resist you, turning the throw into a basic lock-up of both fighters, creating a classic force-on-force confrontation (Sifu's conception of a "bull fight")--with the stronger opponent being the victor. breaking the opponent's structure denies the opponent a base from which they can resist, allowing you to exert force without opposition. from a theoretical perspective, i can describe it this way: a stable structure is wuji, or a state of solid energy or nothing, meaning there is nothing to work with in terms of your yin and yang actions; in contrast, an unstable structure is a division into yin and yang, meaning there is something for you to work with and manipulate with your own yin and yang movements.
• you don't break the centerline focusing on hands and feet, or arms and legs. you break the centerline by positioning of your body. the limbs are just vehicles to position your body. once they set the position, your body then acts as a single entity to break the enemy's structure. this is because your limbs individually are not always strong enough to push or pull an opponent--especially a strong one, a stable one, or resisting one, especially if they know how to use physics. you have to generate more power using your entire body (limbs and torso) as a single integrated mass, and do so in a way that everything works in unison to apply the requisite physics...something not always easy in a full-speed full-contact environment.
• a throw is about the setup. again: it is about the setup. this means getting into the opponent's gate (by finding an opening in a gate, or luring them into opening a gate), positioning yourself, and breaking their structure. the take-down is just the reward that comes from the closing movements. this, of course, is pretty much the same for all of martial arts--punches, kicks, joint locks, etc. the infliction of damage to the opponent is just a byproduct of the setup...and this is really nothing more than the steps that we've talked about in class: ting, hwa, na, and fa jing, with the setup being ting, hwa, and na jing. the lesson is that the goal isn't the final step--the projection of power, or the infliction of injury, or the punch, or kick, or joint lock, or throw; the goal is really the setup. because the setup sets the stage for what will happen...it's almost biblical: the setup determines the finish, the beginning is the end, the alpha is the omega, the cycle is without end.
• there is a certain window of opportunity in which to execute the throw. if it doesn't happen within that time, you have to get out or change techniques, otherwise you've left yourself stationary, and thus in a precarious position. by being caught in a stationary position, you're making it easier for the opponent to recognize and react to your actions. and the better the opponent, the better they can recognize and react, and thus the smaller the window of opportunity. as a result, once the window closes, you have to escape and move on to something else.
  
• it's one thing to know what to do, it's another thing to actually do it. it's easier said than done, and easier visualized than done. and it's only through actual experience that you realize what issues are specific to you as a person (i.e., what may be a problem for one person may not be the same as a problem for another person), and what issues you need to focus on fixing. i'm going to have to keep working on my throws. they just are counter-intuitive to my instincts, which are to hit the opponent. throws, much like grappling (which, incidentally, leads me to think grappling is going to be another problem area for me), involve a different mindset of receiving the opponent--and by receiving i mean engaging close to the opponent (closer than you do with close-range punches) and then manipulating the opponent, which entails sustained contact rather than the staccato contact of punches.
  

by this time people were leaving, so we called things to a close and went as a group to the post-class lunch.

day 153: basic swordsmanship

forms:

• kuen wu jian

the heat for Sunday was forecast to be less than Saturday, but it ended up hitting the same temp of 103 degrees in Pasadena. so go figure. as you might imagine, we only had 3 people show up: me, Phunsak, and Alex. given the little we were able to do today, i'm keeping this post short.

Alex had originally wanted to try and continue with mock rounds, so as to practice being judges and referees. but with the turnout being too low to hold mock jian shu fights, we ended up just working on kuen wu jian.

we did a number of repetitions of the kuen wu jian form, stopping at a number of points to try and refine the movements. Alex has never finished this form, and so was also trying to catch up with what we've done.

this consumed most of the time, and we ended up leaving a little early before noon to get out of the heat and get some lunch.

day 152: drills & light sparring

concepts:

• movement

forms:

• tournament prep

today was a low turnout day, probably a result of the intense heat we had (forecast temps for Saturday and Sunday were over 100 degrees F). with the limited number of people we had, we ended up just dividing off into pairs, with Phunsak practicing the 2-person 64 palms form with Chieng-Chieh, and me continuing the kick and punch drills from last week w Viet, Richard, and Eric (eventually just Viet, since both Richard and Eric had to leave).

there wasn't much new this week, so i'm keeping this post short. basically just trying to improve my comfort level with the kicks and punches, as well as work on more movement. Phunsak did lead everyone through basic mantis footwork drills, but this was also a repetition of what Kieun had shown me last week.

James had been working with Simon, since Simon is apparently going to the sparring competition at the Las Vegas tournament. he asked for some light sparring sessions with us, to give Simon and me (and also Viet) a chance to start getting acclimated to sparring work. because we hadn't brought the pads or helmets, and Simon didn't have gloves, we agreed to just no hard punches or kicks, focusing instead on just movement and positioning. we did a few rounds of this--as much as we could do in the heat (i'm guessing 3 rounds between me and Simon, then 1 round each between Simon and Viet, and also me and Viet).

we wrapped things up around 1pm, despite the heat, and took an afternoon lunch.

day 151: practice jian shu and movement drills

concepts:

• judging

forms:

• jian shu
• tournament prep

this Sunday was divided between jian shu and sparring training, with both devoted to tournament preparations. Alex showed up today to help with the jian shu, as did Ching-Chieh. this meant that Phunsak had conflicting demands on his time, and so he ended up agreeing to work with Ching-Chieh for the time she could stay (she had to leave early), and then turning to help Alex with the jian shu preparation.

jian shu

while Ching-Chieh was warming up, i asked Phunsak to take me through more of the jian shu basics before everyone arrived. we briefly reviewed the 5 i had learned before (reference: day 140), and he then led me through the 5 parries:

• schwan (sp?) : this involves slight circular motions, either clockwise or counter-clockwise, on a vertical plane perpendicular to the orientation of the sword-holderwith the tip of the blade in front of the body, basically circling the opponent's sword
• ya : this consists of arcs traced by the tip of the sword done in conjunction with the flipping of the sword blade, such that the blade goes from the ready position over to a flat position with the tip forward. this is meant to redirect an opponent's sword thrust off to the side and slight downward
• gua : this involves holding the sword more vertical, and having the tip move in circular patterns on a horizontal plane, so that the sword blade follows a cone, with the tip of the sword tracing the open end of the cone and the handle of the sword acting as the closed vertex of the cone
• bow : this is basically a horizontal movement of the sword, but in a way that is not meant to slash, but instead to use the flat part of the blade to parry
• ti : this has the tip of the blade move in a U-shape facing the opponent, and means moving your sword from one side to the other side of the opponent's sword
• shyo (sp?) : this just traces an X pattern in front of the sword-holder, with the downward-moving blade intercepting an opponent's attempt to strike upwards
• jia : this is similar to schwan, but is more abrupt and only traces a circle one time, and with more force, so as to force an opponent's sword off to one side
  

after this, Alex had us practice mock jian tournament matches, with people taking turns playing as fighters and as judges. Phunsak joined us after he finished practicing with Ching-Chieh. i ended up taking a turn as a participant, but focused on getting in practice as a judge.

i have to say that judging is an art, and not something that a person can be expected to do without prior practice. it's one thing to know jian shu techniques and to know the rules, but it's another thing entirely to apply them in a full-speed scenario. just as much as a participant has to adjust to full-speed, so does a judge. as a judge, you have to be able to see actions at full speed, and then also be able to make immediate, accurate, and definitive decisions as to possible points, penalties, or necessary stoppages in action. this can be difficult.

i mentioned to Alex that we're going to need to make sure that all judges are trained for the tournament, since it's definitely a challenge and not something that anybody can do without some prior practice. he seemed to agree, and seems to have already issued announcements to participating teams that they need to train their own judges for the tournament.

tournament prep

after finishing with jian practice, i went to do more sparring training with Kieun. today we built upon the free-form movement drills we'd started at the end of yesterday's practice.

Kieun had me work on drills focused on entering an opponent's gate, but instead of simply reacting to the opponent's actions, this time he wanted me to work on trying to entice the opponent into an action that i could use to position myself for a counter-attack. this was essentially the same as Sifu's concepts of progressing through ting, hwa, and na jing, particularly in terms of Sifu's comments about starting with ting jing by playing with opponent to sense their actions and play with the their minds so as to manipulate them into doing something that allows you to progress to hwa jing and then na jing.

this consumed the rest of practice, with things stopping at 12:30, at which point Kieun had to leave to get to his wedding preparations. Phunsak and Alex decided this was as good time to stop as well, and the 3 of us went to lunch.

day 150: tournament prep drills - basic fists and kicks

concepts:

• bagua fists-attack & defense

forms:

• tantui
• tournament prep

this Saturday was run much the same as last Saturday, with people showing up just to practice whatever they wanted. there was a lower turnout this weekend relative to last week, and so things were much more informal. today ended up being about tournament preparation. we broke up into 2 groups, with Phunsak and Ching-Chieh continuing practice on the 64 palms 2-person form for the tournament, and Kieun working with me and Viet for the sparring work on the tournament.

tantui

since Phunsak ran a little late due to a traffic jam, Kieun had us warm up with tantui. we haven't done this in class for awhile (although i do it periodically on my own for review), so it was good to run through it. i hope to go through chang quan with Sifu to get the applications in tantui and pao quan, since i think this would really help me make some progress with chang quan--although, it will have to wait until the fall, after the tournament has passed. i think i'm at a sticking point in terms of my skill with long fist, and it won't get any better until i can get some more insight as to what the intent and physics are supposed to be utilized within the forms.

tournament prep

Phunsak eventually arrived and went to work with Ching-Chieh on the 64 palms 2-person form. Kieun, Viet, and i started the sparring prep with basic movement drills, beginning with the shuffling and stepping along a line drills from last week, and then building on them with some shuffling and stepping in combinations and angles.

from here, we did a review of the basic kicks from last week, doing repetitions of each against kicking pads.

after this, we went on to finish the introduction to the bagua fists we'd done last Saturday. last week we'd managed to get 4. this week we finished off with the other 4: hawk, unicorn, monkey, and big bird.

for today, Kieun and Phunsak both noted that each of the 8 bagua fists has an application on both offense and defense, in that each one can be used to attack the opponent or to parry the opponent's attack. in some situations, they can also serve to simultaneously do both. Kieun had Viet and i take turns applying the fists on both offense and defense from a stationary stance. while doing so, he pointed out that different kinds of fists are meant for different distances and different body areas (either as targets for attack or body parts to defend), which from what he and Phunsak said can be broken down as follows:

• lion--range: long or medium, body area: upper part of upper body or head
• snake--range: medium or short, body area: lower part of upper body or midsection
• bear--range: short, body area: lower part of upper body or midsection
• dragon--range: medium or short, body area: upper part of upper body or head
• hawk--range: short, body area: upper part of upper body or head
• unicorn--range: short, body area: lower part of upper body or midsection
• monkey--range: short, body area: upper part of upper body or head
• big bird--range: long or medium, body area: upper part of upper body or head
  

after going through the introduction to these, Kieun had Viet continue with basic punching drills (the same ones from last week), and had me work on using the fists while moving, first with repetitions of each fist, and then progressing to randomly employing them in response to free-form actions by an opponent.

i struggled with this, since i haven't had the opportunity to practice free-form partner drills (i.e., drills where actions of one or both partners are random), and it added another layer of complexity that disrupted my coordination. i suspect that it gets easier with time--which based on my struggles today i'm definitely going to need.

this consumed the rest of class, since there was quite a bit of material covered.

i should note that i'm finding this pretty educational. most everything that i've learned with bagua is connected to takedowns in terms of throws. we have had some punching applications and joint locks, but they've been covered in relatively lower proportion to takedowns. this is the first time i've been spending time exclusively focused on using punches with bagua. this may be because i joined after the curriculum had covered this material (it certainly seems like Kieun and Phunsak have seen it before), but i'll have to ask.

we eventually called things to an end around 1pm, when we decided it was time to go to lunch.

day 149: miscellanous, with no agenda

concepts:

• 5-element theory
• bagua fists
  

forms:

• basic qi-gong
• 5-element qi-gong
• tournament prep
  

today was not really a formal class day, since Sifu is at home in Hawaii for the next few weeks. but i'm going to list it--and the next few weekends that Sifu is out--as blog posts, since i figure i'm still learning things which otherwise might not be recorded in this blog.

we're supposed to be starting double-up weekends for the summer, with the plan being to have class on both Saturday and Sunday every weekend from this point on throughout the summer up until the Las Vegas tournament. this applies for the next few weeks Sifu is gone. however, for this weekend, we only scheduled to meet on Saturday, since Phunsak had a fencing tournament on Sunday and everyone had already made plans as well.

Phunsak says the general idea for this time without Jason is to review and practice. he's also offered to cover anything that anyone wants to request, whether it be bagua, tai chi, or anything else. James has apparently also offered to do the same for the baji students.''

basic qi-gong

i'd asked Phunsak earlier in the week for some help with qi-gong, and so we'd scheduled to meet up early before class (at 9am). i asked for this because Jay had checked me earlier in the week and had said that my qi was entirely too low for someone my age (his words)--he's said this a number of times before, and so have other people, at least in terms of the sentiment that i have low qi. thing is, none of the bagua or tai chi qi-gong really seems to be helping me on this, and so i figured i might as well devote some time getting assistance focused exclusively on qi.

Phunsak started us with some basic qi-gong (he called it "qi-gong 101," which i'm guessing is what i need). we began with 2 basic postures, holding them for a few minutes each to get the form right and focus the mind and breathing. Phunsak noted that when he first started, he usually did these every day for around 10 minutes each, and that over time the tingling or warm sensations normally associated with qi began to become easier to bring on, and that eventually he could feel it throughout the entire body as opposed to just the fingertips (which is about the limit i've been able to do).

i asked how you can tell the difference between the tingling from real qi compared to the tingling from the body part falling asleep (e.g., when your legs become numb from sitting too long). Phunsak said there is a clear difference, and you'll know.

5-element qi-gong

from there, he took us--by this time Ching-Chieh and Viet had arrived--through 5-element qi-gong. i have the DVD for this, although haven't watched it since going through the introduction to 5-element theory in Sifu's class this past quarter. this is the qi-gong taught by Sifu Su Yu-Chang, and Phunsak says he suspects Sifu Su developed it (even though he claims he learned it from other sources). basically, it incorporates 5 sets of qi-gong movements corresponding to each of the 5 elements in TCM (i.e., wood, earth, metal, fire, water), with each set having 3 moves corresponding to yin, yang, and neutral. it's a very active qi-gong, with movements that are both soft and explosive.

i asked Phunsak about this type of qi-gong in relation to the bagua and tai chi qi-gong i've learned so far. he said that a lot of the movements and postures are actually really the same--there are variations, but you can see that the general postures are the same, and the principles of breathing and concentration are the same as well.

tournament prep

at this point, Keiun appeared. Phunsak went to work with Ching-Chieh to practice the 2-person 64 palms form for the tournament. Kieun, Viet, and i went to work on sparring preparation.

for today, Kieun had us working on more basic drills, consisting of the following:

• basic movement: stepping and shuffling
• basic kicks: roundhouse, side kick, bicycle kick
  

Kieun said to focus primarily on getting used to the body mechanics in the drills, and developing coordination to improve speed and power. we did a number of iterations of these drills along a line, consuming a good chunk of time getting these down.

from here, Kieun then led us further into punching drills, adding onto to the ones we did last week. instead of drills to work on timing, however, this time he said we needed to learn the range of fists in bagua, so as to provide us more material to work with in the next few weeks.

this was the first time i've heard mention of bagua fists. i know there is a bagua fist form, which presumably teaches students how to integrate fists into bagua (meaning it goes from being bagua zhang, or 8-trigram palm, to bagua quan, or 8-trigram fist), but Sifu has not yet taken us through this form. apparently, however, the fists have been covered earlier in the curriculum--this must have been before i started, presumably around the time when everyone learned the 8 mother palms or xiao kai men, since i began just when everyone finished xia kai men.

basically, the bagua fists consists of 8 (duh...bagua...) fists, and much like the 8 mother palms and 8 stances and 8 qi-gong movements (duh...bagua...), each fist is associated with each of the 8 bagua stances (duh...bagua...sure do love the number 8). Kieun had me and Viet work on the fists for the first 4: lion, snake, bear, and dragon. we practiced punching against mitts, with Kieun telling us to just focus on getting the technique and timing down for now.

this took the remainder of practice time for today. Kieun had to leave strictly at 12:30 because of wedding preparations, and so we stopped with the 4 bagua fists, with the remainder reserved for next week. we stayed long enough to record a video of Ching-Chieh and Phunsak doing the 2-person 64 palms form (note: this is not going to be posted on Youtube, since it was Ching-Chieh's personal video to help her learn the form for the tournament). after this, we ended practice for the day and went to lunch.

day 148: commencing tournament prep

concepts:

• referee/judge
• timing
• combinations
  

forms:

• chen long form
• kuen wu jian
• mitt work
  

this Sunday was pretty much a transition into tournament preparation, even though it wasn't formally stated. Phunsak and Kieun said we were now 3 months away from the tournament, and needed to start training for it, otherwise we'd risk not being ready. Sifu apparently already decided the same thing, and announced that from this point on he was going to extend the schedule of both Saturday and Sunday classes to every weekend, with the focus on training for the Las Vegas tournament. he said he expected us to continue the schedule--and the training--while he was gone for the next 3 weeks, so that we'd be ready when he returned, when he wants to start us really going at it.

chen long form

we began the day with Sifu leading us through a few repetitions of the chen long form. this was more of a warm-up, since we didn't really go into any detail of it. Sifu asked Alex to continue with the jian shu tournament preparations, and worked with Ching-Chieh, Joe, and Viet on finishing the chen long form and Jonathan on praying mantis.

kuen wu jian

Alex already sent out the latest version of rules to all the jian shu tournament participants, and so wanted to change the focus of the Sunday session to more tournament training and less rules set-up. by "training," Alex means the entire infrastructure of the tournament, meaning not only having people work on their jian fighting skills, but also on preparing possible judges and referees.

currently, the only referee (the person who will actually be in the ring with the jian competitors moderating their match) is Alex, and the only judges (the people on the sidelines watching each match to determine hits and points) are Richard, Kieun, and me. Alex seems to want Phunsak to be a competitor, although i'm not so sure Phunsak is so enthused about this possibility. under the World Jian Shu League rules created by Alex, each match should have 1 referee and 4 judges. ideally, however, we want more, so that referees and judges can rotate in and out of tournament matches and rest. but to make this possible, we have to 1) find people to be referees and judges, and 2) train them.

we were short again today, and so had to make do with 1 referee and 1 judge. between the 4 of us practicing (Alex, Phunsak, Kieun, and me), we ended up taking turns as referee, judge, or competitor--i ended up playing a competitor, even though i'm not participating as one at the tournament, and so don't even have the equipment (and won't for awhile...no money).

i have to say we're going to definitely have to do training as referees and judges. it's harder than you think. you have to be decisive, timely in making calls, clear (loud and visible) with your calls, and be capable of seeing sword actions at full speed. in addition, you have to remember (and apply) rules, and follow a standardized protocol in making calls. these can be a challenge in intense sword matches, especially with competitors who may have opinions contrary to yours. based on my experiences today, we're all going to need to continue preparations to be referees and judges.

we consumed most of the time with jian shu. originally, i'd wanted to devote some time to jian shu basics, since i feel i really need to learn them to really understand jian shu. but this was bypassed by the tournament work, and was forgotten as we moved onto lei tai sparring practice.

mitt work

i'm using the term "lei tai sparring" loosely at this point. Sifu has informed us that Tony Yang has changed the rules at the Las Vegas tournament so that the full-contact sparring will no longer be kick-boxing rules (apparently, this made the tournament subject to Nevada state boxing commission requirements, which involved some expensive fees and infrastructure), but instead more traditional kung fu match rules. however, Sifu said that Tony Yang has not decided which rules to follow (i.e., lei tai, sanshou, etc.).

despite the uncertainty of the rules, Keiun said we should at least start doing some basic sparring preparation, since this at least works skills that can be used for any set of tournament rules. for today, Kieun suggested mitt work, with Phunsak agreeing.

from what Kieun tells me, mitt work is one of the fundamental aspects of fight training (all kinds: tournament, self-defense, etc.). it develops some of the basic components necessary to engaging in full-speed, full-contact scenarios: timing, coordination, working in combinations (i.e., combinations of punches, kicks, etc.), movement, and power generation--all while getting hit or avoiding hits. these are things not necessarily covered by other parts of the typical martial arts curriculum, which tends to focus on techniques, form, and principles. mitt work is one of many training tools that helps transition curriculum material into realistic application, and is typically part of the initial basic steps in preparing for using curriculum information in actual fighting. Kieun called it "kick-boxing 101," and then later corrected himself and labeled it "fighting 101."

for today, since i've never done this, Kieun had us focus on just basic mitt work, with no movement in terms of footwork. he told me to just work on timing, and combinations with punches and kicks. this was just as well, since i found this to be a challenge in and of itself. i'm finding the thought process is a bit different than what i'm used to, in that you have to really integrate your entire body in a forceful manner--which runs somewhat contrary to the placid mental state emphasized so much in the tai chi and bagua lessons i've had...although, i suspect, the point is to be violent in your physical movement while peaceful in your mental state, so that your external behavior is coordinated with your internal intent, and your internal intent can thereby manifest itself through your external behavior.

one thing i noticed today was the odd feeling of switching from right to left sides with the mitt work, particularly in contrast to jian shu. i've been trying to work on both right and left sides, so as to ensure symmetry in coordination, body, and skills. but i noticed that it seems easier for me using my left side with the sword than it does in mitt work. i don't really know why. i mentioned this Phunsak and he seemed surprised. i'm going to have to work on this, since i'm really concerned with symmetry, particularly because i've found (or my physical therapists have found) that so much of my aches and pains are due to asymmetry in my body's musculature and bone & connective tissue structure, and i've subsequently spent the past few years in some very painful efforts to correct them--making me leery of anything that might induce any kind of asymmetry, which would undo all the pain i've gone through to date and relegate my efforts to futility. this is not something i want to think about.

by this time even Sifu had left, and after continuing on for a while, we decided to finish for the day. since Sifu is going to be gone for the next 3 weekends (he won't return until June 23), Phunsak will be running the weekend classes. Phunsak told us he wouldn't be able to make next Sunday, so next weekend will just be a Saturday session, but after that he can make both Saturday and Sunday. we left on that note.

day 144: jian and chen (now and zen)

concepts:

• names
• rules
  

forms:

• chen long form
• kuen wu jian
  

this Sunday was a continuation of last Sunday, with Sifu telling Alex to continue working out the jian shu tournament rules so that they could be finalized and sent out during the week. the issue was that we had so few people we couldn't stage a simulation jian shu fight. luckily, Jonathan Shen showed up in time and that brought in enough people to hold some mock rounds.

Sifu began by making a number of announcements regarding the tournament:

• he wants to rent a bus, to not only take all the people who will be competing, but also all equipment and merchandise (the DVDs, uniforms, sparring equipment, and weapons--for jian shu tournament, in particular) that we want to sell. this will help people rest, as well as help transport all the equipment.
• the sparring rules have changed, to the open-handed gloves that allow grasping. no one knows which specific type, so Sifu said to wait on buying them.
• the sparring rules won't be kick-boxing rules, but we don't know what rules they will be yet
  

chen long form

we began with the chen long form, going through several iterations. Sifu apparently used this as an opportunity to test Joe and Ching-Chieh on their memory of the chinese terms for each posture in the form (he also hinted he was going to eventually expect the same from all of us). this took a number of minutes, giving enough time to warm up.

kuen wu jian

once we got through the chen long form as a group, Sifu broke us up into several groups, with him taking time to review Jonathan's mantis form (it seems he's been learning praying mantis separately from Sifu) as well as work with Joe, Ching-Chieh, and Viet on the chen long form.

for the rest of us, we followed the same pattern as last week, staging mock jian shu tournament rounds to test out different rules and think out various scenarios. we also took some to discuss just how we want to format the tournament; Alex is favoring a single-elimination tournament, with paired seedings, much like the NCAA basketball tournament or any tennis tournament. the issues are 1) we don't know how many competitors there will be--we just know there will be many, 2) we don't know how much time each fight will take, 3) there is only so much time that Tony Yang will allot to the jian shu tournament, and 4) there is only 1 ring for the jian shu tournament. in addition, there's a question of who will be serving as referee and judges.

these are questions that Alex decided to hold off on until he knows more, presumably closer to the tournament. for now, however, he asked me and Kieun to help out as judges, and possibly as referees.

this took the remainder of the day, and lasted until noon, when we finished and went to lunch to continue discussing the jian shu tournament setup.