Archive for May, 2006

Quebec Wushu Chinese Martial Arts Demo

Saturday, May 27th, 2006
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Chinese martial arts, especially wushu is not that popular in the province of Quebec, Canada but there is one small wushu school in Montreal. Students from this club did a demo at a cultural event here in the suburbs of Montreal this weekend. Their basics were okay but definitely not at the same level as clubs out in Ontario or BC. There were one or two students with potential but they could have used some more focus and intensity. They go through the motions of their forms but each technique appear too casual to me. Perhaps some competition experience would be helpful as they could see how top competitors in any martial arts style do their forms. This is a trap that many martial arts students (and instructors) fall into when they restrict their training to just within the walls of their own schools. After all, a form is a simulated fight, not a dance.

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World Martial Arts Games in Victoria

Friday, May 26th, 2006
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Just reviewed the forms rules for the World Martial Arts Games coming to Victoria, BC in August. Looks like most of their forms divisions will involve only forms that are recognized within known systems much like the NBL traditional divisions. Unlike NASKA traditional divisions which allow made up forms that use traditional techniques, the forms in both NBL and this international event in BC will be more tightly controlled. They do have a musical division that allows creative forms but interestingly enough, they do not have a non-music creative division so those martial arts competitors that do not have their creative forms set to music will be out of luck. I think that NBL traditional competitors will have an easier time to make a cross over to compete in this Victoria event compared to NASKA competitors.

For more info on this event, see www.cnmaa.com

Also see NASKA and NBL to verify their rules.

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World Martial Arts Games to Compete with WOMAA

Thursday, May 25th, 2006
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Looks like the World Martial Arts Games in Victoria,BC Canada will be ‘competing’ with the World Organizatioin of Martial Arts Athletes (WOMAA) event in Costa Rica. Both international martial arts competitions will take place over August 18 weekend. I would like to compete in one of these two events. The Victoria event is easier travel for me since I’m already in Canada but the Costa Rica event has 45 and over divisions which puts me at the beginning of that age bracket.

For more information about the Victoria event, see www.cnmaa.com

For more information about the Costa Rica event, see www.womaa1.com

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The Bo and other Long Wooden Staff Martial Arts Weapons

Tuesday, May 23rd, 2006
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Besides rocks, one of the most basic of all weapons throughout mankind’s history across most cultures has been the long wooden stick. This makes sense since sticks were always readily available in the forests or could be easily made. The Asian martial arts took the long wooden staff into an art form as many martial art styles include the long staff in their systems. Some styles even have traditional weapons forms or katas featuring the long staff. Some systems of martial arts train with weapons such as the staff through practical techniques only without the use of set forms.

Unlike many martial art weapons such as swords, knives, kamas and sais which are short range, staffs are long range weapons with superior reach. This enables the user to attack and defend from a distance which can be frustrating from the point of view of an opponent who has a short range weapon. Long range weapons are also useful in keeping multiple opponents out of reach too. Of course, long weapons such as the staff cannot be easily concealed like short range weapons so they can be cumbersome to carry around.

One of the most popular martial arts weapons from the Japanese karate styles is the bo. Even today, the bo is usually the first weapon taught at karate schools and is the most common weapon seen at tournaments. The bo staff comes in different variations. There are heavy bo staffs which resemble thick poles which are considered more traditional and there are lighter versions which are tapered at both ends. There are also multi-sided bo staffs such as octagonal but these are much less common than the usual round, circular versions.

[read the rest of this article at The Bo and Other Long Wooden Staff Martial Arts Weapons]

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New England Nationals Karate Tournament

Saturday, May 20th, 2006
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Just got back from the New England Nationals karate tournament, which is part of the World circuit from NASKA. Once again, it was a very well run event with divisions starting on time. I finished both of my divsisions by 10:15 am. However, there were only three judges for each division again which had some disastous effects on some divisions including mine. It take only one judge who scores out of whack to screw up the positions of the competitors. This is certainly not a very good scenario with only three judges for black belt divisions. I hope the next event in Louisville, Kentucky will at least have the five standard judges per division.

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Two Sizes of Karate Martial Arts T-shirts Sold Out

Wednesday, May 17th, 2006
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The Karate Queen girls (children/youth) t-shirts in large sizes have been sold out. There are still small and medium sizes available for the girls. The Karate Queen design in the adult womens fitted version is still available in all sizes.

The Martial Arts for Life t-shirt in white is sold out in the adult small sizes. This martial arts t-shirt is still available in all other sizes in the white. All sizes including adult small are still available in the gray version of the Martial Arts for Life shirt. All sizes in the children/youth versions of this karate shirt are still available.

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Hope New England Karate Tournament Won't Be Affected

Monday, May 15th, 2006
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The New England karate tournament in Marlborough, Massachusetts later this weekend is an annual NASKA (North American Sport Karate Association) event. I hope that the flood problems in Massachusetts will be cleared up by then so the event will not be affected. There have been reports of flood trouble in both Massachusetts and New Hampshire and the weather forecast is still pretty wet for the first part of this week. The New England karate tournament is one of the longest running NASKA martial arts events.

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Forms Divisions at WOMAA Event Similar to NASKA

Thursday, May 11th, 2006
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It looks so far that the forms events at the WOMAA (World Organization of Martial Arts Athletes) World Games at Costa Rica might be very similar to those at the NASKA tournaments. This will be good for those martial arts competitors who are used to competing in NASKA where the rules are not as strict or tight as NBL divisions. The VP of WOMAA, Ron Van Clief, is a regular NASKA judge so this may make sense. I will have a chance to speak to him in person hopefully at the upcoming New England Nationals karate tournament or the Bluegrass Nationals which will host the NASKA Awards Banquet.

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Is NASKA (North American Sport Karate Association) Circuit Too Expensive?

Saturday, May 6th, 2006
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The world circuit of NASKA (North American Sport Karate Association) is probably the premier martial arts competition circuit in North America due to the size of its tournaments, the caliber of the competitors and the fact that most of the events sanctioned by NASKA have been running for years. There are about 13 tournaments in the world circuit in 2006. World championship rating are based on points earned at results from the tournaments. Years ago, the final points were calculated using the best 8 or so results of a competitor’s year. So if a competitor does really well by placing first at 8 tournaments, he or she will not have to go to the rest of the events on the circuit for the year (or any poor placings won’t carry as much weight in the final outcome). For 2006, all 13 events will count towards the final scores.

Therefore, the competitor who does well in each event and attends all the tournaments will likely end up with the highest number of points for the year. The game becomes point chasing. In this case, attending all 13 events is a very costly venture with flights, hotels, meals and tournament entry fees. For families with kids who compete, the overall costs to attend all NASKA events may even be prohibitive.

NASKA is probably still the best league to compete in and the promoters know it. However, based on the current system, only those competitors with deep pockets or sponsorships are able to do the entire circuit.

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Future Merger of World Karate Circuits?

Thursday, May 4th, 2006
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While competing at the Quebec Open, Mike Bernardo was judging in the adjacent ring. In between divisions, we were chatting about the various world circuits for karate competition. He is of course, head of the WKA in Canada. I unfortunately missed all of the WKA qualifiers this year due to conflicts. Mike mentioned to me that there is a planned meeting with the Canadian reps for WAKO, another long established world circuit to see if a possible merger would be feasible. WAKO has already merged with yet another world organization, IASKA recently. Of course, mergers would simplify the international karate scene a bit since there would be less organizations out there. But any merger will require a blending of divisions, rules and events which are always a headache to sort out.

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