CMAT and counting!

Picked up Coach Cui and Dillon...................Gao Jing and Yin Peng Wei also came with them.  Yin was here cause his father pulled some big strings to make the trip possible. Gao Jing had come before when James Yang brought the Team to the US in 2005.  It will be exciting as Coach Cui tells me they are all going to compete!  Good competition always raises the level!

Shahaub and I took the Team to Crepevine for dinner.....their dinners are huge!!  I tried to keep them awake so they would not get too jet lagged.

Afterwards, we went by Haas Pavilion on Campus to check on Dillon's place in the competition

He's looking good in his AnD Hat........got yours yet?

The next day..the day of the Tournament begins earlier than I thought......as Jackie calls me up and tells me the Opening Ceremony is in a half an hour.......it's only 7:30am...............but we get it all together, as I pile into Kenny Perez's Car....................I arrive  just a little after 8am........lots of judges present...........I remind everyone to give each student their fullest attention.........and then reminded everyone of all the upcoming competitions.......this is the first year that there are 5 Wushu Competitions on the West Coast.........probably more than any other part of the country!  Then Jackie organizes the Judges into their rings.....and off we go!  500 competitors just takes a long time to judge....this year though we tried to limit the number of events that competitors could do..........otherwise we have to run over 1500 events!  However, this did have the effect of cutting out the group competition and the sparring sets.  The Cal Wushu team did an excellent job...the competition ran smoothly, and we were able to actually have many judges help at the end.......Probably the highlight of the Tourmanent was when Dillon finally came up to compete....he competed in the Open Weapon category.....with his Drunken Sword............the performance was flawless........showing equal amounts of technique and flavor..............demonstrating his flare and mastery of his body.................the Gold was his!  Gao Jing also gave a good performance with her Fanzi Quan  again you can see the difference between Chinese Athletes and their American counterparts.............the American forms are technically very good but lack the martial spirit and intent..............jumps are just not enough.  I was quite happy though that many of the Cal Wushu second semester students competed and did very well....and had fun doing it,  Also Caan one of my senior Taiji Student competed in his first tournament and won three medals...one silver and two gold........good job Caan!  Finally around 11pm,  everyone decided that they would compete in group forms....so everyone got together to figure out what to do.................it was a blast, everything was choreographed at the last minute........this truly captured the spirit of Friendship first, and Competition second!  The Tournament ended with 10 minutes to spare....then it was finish the nite with the After Party.........................that's always a little wild......I dropped by to congratulate the Cal Wushuers.....and hung out for a little.........man was it a long day!