16th Annual CMAT

Video: http://http://youtube.com/watch?v=J_8pj4b0EdUSuper heroes Sparring!

Well, CMAT has come and gone!! It was a tremendous undertaking requiring hundreds of volunteers, 90 Judges, and over 450 competitors...and over 14 hours to complete!  There were many great performances,and many old friends I have not seen in awhile, which is one of the great things about CMAT; it brings together the Martial Arts Community and gives you a sense of the Family of Wushu.  There are always gliches in an event of this size, you just cannot plan for every eventuality.  I had planned out the opening ceremony for several weeks before the tournament, and was pretty set , when on Thursday I got a call from Coach Wu Bin that he would not be able to attend since he would be running in the Olympic Torch Ceremony in Beijing.  Jiayo Coach Wu!  Then right after that Madame Chen of Hongdao said she would  not be able to attend....there goes all the officials for the Opening Ceremony.  What to do?  Well I had been thinking of asking Sifu Tat Mau Wong, and fortunately for me when I called he agreed to be one of the officials.  Then I received confirmation from Jackie that Grandmaster Jiu Ji Ling would be attendance too.  That was a relief!  But up until Saturday Morning I did not know who would dot the third Lion........that worked out too as Jared did not finish painting the third lion.  With a little delay waiting for Master Wong to arrive, we began the Lion Awakening Ceremony...the tournament was finally going to start after almost a half year of preparation and many hours of planning.  the Ryans and Elissa and Pam did a bang up job everything went off well even the shoulder stack....good job you guys!!  After the opening ceremony the tournament began, with the younger kids and the Seniors.  I got lots of good comments from parents and seniors, they all agreed that this year's tournament ran so much smoother and that  they all had a great time.  Thank you all!!

Dim Jing (Lion Awakening ) Ceremony presided over by Grandmaster Jiu Ji Ling, and Master Tat Mau Wong(on rt.).  On right side is Eureka danced by the two Ryans, on left side is Powderpuff danced by Elissa and Pam.

Lions once awake search for the Choy......fortune...symbolized by the lettuce and the oranges are for happiness.  It will bring good fortune and a smoothly run event!

Grandmaster Jiu Ji Ling talking to a young competitor: Do you love wushu and are you having fun??

Cao Yue one of Wu Bin's students...many times the junior of Jet Li, getting ready to compete in the broadsword....which he blew all of the competition away....he was really fast.

Me and Shahob.........he Kenny, and Collin did an incredible fighting set........Batman and Robin versus Superman!!  The fighting sets were at the end of the day and were hotly contested.  Shahaub had told me that they had something special for the Tournament.....and it definitely was, it, stopped everything..................check out the video above!!  While often the wushu purist don't like costumes.......this is America and this is our Wushu....gotta have fun!

Tiger Claw was also doing a promotion for Jet and Jackie Chan's new movie: Forbidden Kingdom...........and this time the film company has done a great job in promoting the movie with lots of kool giveaways and trying to hit the martial arts community for support!  Don't miss this movie...the reviews I have read say this is a spectacular movie.....lots of fighting but a little weak on story............hey we're martial artist we don't see the movies for the story!!!       

Also, always great to see local AnDers stop by to visit...........good to see you guys, and of course thanks to DJ Bam for allowing us to rope him in to judge!  Ok gotta go for now, cya!