I liked the throw in the middle of the video where he catches his opponent off balance, great timing there. The last throw was actually a counter, it looked like a shaving type throw but it was very well done. Short match, enjoy.
Topics: Match, SjNation News
Post by emeric | 0 comments
(WARNING LONG POST)
I’ve been recently thinking of the different rules I’ve been under during Shuaijiao competitions around the world and I’ve always thought, why are there so many different rules of Shuaijiao and why are there so many different ways to win or lose a competition? From Brazil, California, Ohio, to Taiwan, the most consistent rules I’ve come across are obviously 1. you need a traditional Shuaijiao uniform, jacket + long pants (usually something thick double stiched and short sleeved) 2. trim your nails (because no one likes to get scratched). And that’s about it. What’s always different something I have to understand all over again are the competition rules on winning. This is usually the case of the two different scoring systems, “best 2 of 3″ and “straight up points” systems.
The point/scoring systems that I’ve come across have always varied in some way. And this is supposed to basically determine how good your Shuaijiao skills are, and determine a winner? What used to be the most common method of scoring was the best 2 of 3 rule, which is basically you get 3 chances/rounds to throw your opponent and first to throw their opponent twice wins. The round times varied from 1 min to 2 min, to whoever goes down first. This inconsistency especially the unlimited round time could make very short or long competitions. Good for competitions with a small amount of competitors who like to stall, and large tournaments with people with no balance, and bad vice versa. This may have also been good maybe a dozen years ago, or even a hundre years ago but it makes for very dull tournaments because I’ve seen someone win because he just simple tripped or pushed another person down. Not to say this isn’t a viable way to knock down your opponent but this is something we have also discovered ourselves when we were 5 years old. This way of holding a tournament may be good maybe for a beginner’s division or for more localized tournaments but it is simply too old fashioned. Now I can already hear some of you guys say “Oh ths is how it was traditionally especially by so and so Grand Master and he made it this way so we should stick with it” and that is fine. I’m not saying this system is entirely flawed, I’m just saying that there are better and Improved ways to hold tournaments.
The other system is a straight point scoring system. This is usually a 1 to 4 points for a throw system. 1pt for a simple trip, tug or push. 2pts for a technical move where the opponent falls but does not flip in the air or entirely go over the throwers back. 3pts-4pts for spectacular clean throws flipipng people in the air and just beautful, basically. And -1pt for falling or messing up a throw but the other person goes down as well. The round times are usually from 1-3 min per round, best 2 of 3. There is even a mercy rule for some compeitions if the difference of points is 10 or more, then the match is over, which makes sense. Most competitions don’t have the 4pts and just have a 1,2,3pt scoring sheet.
Why I don’t like the best 2 of 3 system. Not because it’s old for the reason of being old, but the fact that it lacks anything modern or contemporary. There are many issues with this one mainly being that the strategy of competition could be dumb down to simply trying to not fall or to completely ignore the offensive and stay defensive and counter when your opponent messes up. Both which make for very boring competition. This then leads to matches where competitors barely move or keeps both arms stiff because they are afraid to mess up and lose that one point, which is an entire round. If you’re fighting someone who is very good at countering and making his offensive look like something, but is really nothing, then you’re basically done for. So should the guy on the defensive win because he’s a better fighter? Not necessarily. He has just proven that he knows how to look for a good counter and stall a match. But does this mean that the guy on the offensive just has poor skills and should be more careful when he enters or sets up a throw? Not necessarily. He probably just hasn’t had many attempts to feel out his opponent to capitalize on his true flaws as a fighter. Overall, the flaw of this system is that it doesn’t allow the fighters to get a feel for their opponents and attempt more moves and techniques. It does not feel free flowing or natural to the nature of Shuaijiao. This system constrains most fighters to be overly cautious and not develop different and creative ways to throw your opponent down.
Why I like the point scoring system over the other. It has points and everyone loves to see points. Point, points, and more points. There are basically no huge flaws because I don’t know of any system that is better so I can’t compare it to anything else except for what is worse. The minor flaws come with the other factors of competition which are how you score the points and how long the round times are. Round times should be around 1:30 to 2:00 min. 2 rounds with 0:30 to 1:00min break in between, and a 3rd round if necessary which should be 1:00 - 2:00 min sudden death. I like 2 min rounds because if you’ve ever fought in a good competition, then 2 min is enough time until you feel like you’re getting tired. Sudden death because by that time, if you’re not really tired, then you really haven’t been fighting and have been stalling, which should be penalized but this is an entirely different conversation. The strategy; it varies and this is good. Fighters should be encouraged to try everything they have because the only thing limiting them from completely failing at scoring a point is usually the 10pt mercy rule. If there is no mercy rule then by all means use your whole arsenol of moves and techniques. This also means that you can basically try 10 different things assuming that your opponenet successfully counters all your attempts and pushes you to the floor and only scores 1pt. That 10 is bigger then the 2 tries from the “best 2 of 3″ system of competition. This gives each fighter a different strategy depending on the situation of the fight and the difference in score. Lets say if you’re up by 2pts, then you can basically almost sit back and try and go for the 1pt and 2pt moves and slowly gain a comfort zone of points. Or you can entirely ignore that and try and gain as many points as soon as possible and end the match. If you’re down by 2pts, then you have to play the catch up game, the way you do it is entirely up to you. You could slowly gain point by point with smaller moves or you can try and tie or go above it and go for the bigger throws.
There are no real controversies with this system unless its a really close 1pt or 2pt match but the judges at competitions are usually really good, you either fell or you didn’t. The guy either had control or he didn’t. And you either fell on your side/back or you fell with a flip or over the other guy or you didn’t. There aren’t many things to argue there unless you’re arguing the “one hand” rule or “one hand one knee” rule or “sacrifice throws” rule. But those are other topics of discussion. The points usually say that this person was “x” amount of points better than you, and they win, which makes sense. The point system also lets people constantly change their strategy and style of fighting which is good because then you develope into a more rounded fighter. And that’s about it, what do you guys like better? 2/3 or point system?
Topics: Discussion
Post by emeric | 4 comments
I’m almost done with the list of Shuaijiao schools across the states and Canada, if anyone of you guys know more info about schools elsewhere not listed in our directory please give those schools and me a heads up. I’d like to be as comprehensive as possible and wouldn’t want to leave anyone out.
Here is a list of people that I couldn’t get in contact with but would like to so if you guys know them or know of them please let me know, the list is as follows:
1. Brian Wu - ACSCA, Chicago, Illinois
2. Victor Ke - ACSCA, Dallas, Texas
3. Mark Cheng - Chung-Hua Institute, ACSCA, Los Angeles, California
4. James Peterson - Yee’s Hung Ga, Willmington, Deleware
5. Scott Winokur - Midewest Chinese Martial Arts Center, Kansas City, Missouri
6. Jerry Lee - Lee’s Academy of Martial Arts, Miami, Florida
7. Matt Bates - World Shuai Chiao Society, Brownsburg, Indiana
8. Karl Stantial - World Shuai Chiao Society, Cape Coral, Florida
9. Tim Carmell - Shenwu
10. Steven Zhao - Toronto, Canada
Thanks for your cooperation and emails, I enjoy reading them and I hope to get a lot more as the years come. Now I will be working on getting a list of schools in Europe, South America, and Africa. You may be wondering why not Asia especially China? Because someone is already working on Asia and that is a near impossible task already since there are many small schools throughout Asia that teaches some form of Shuaijiao. Lucky me.
Topics: SjNation News
Post by emeric | 6 comments
We at ShuaijiaoNation.com would like to welcome the new schools added to our list:
Northern Virginia Shuai-chiao Club, Bei Shaolin Institute ( B.S.I Martial Arts), Rick Wong’s Chinese Martial Arts Center, Ho Chun school of Chinese Martial Arts, National Federation of Shoubo, Senegal, Africa and David Lin from the American Combat Shuai Chiao Association.
Topics: SjNation News
Post by emeric | 0 comments
Chan-Chiao Theory – The Art and Science of Combat Shuai-Chiao By Master David Lin
Link on info from kungfumagazine.com forums: http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=52343&highlight=shuai+chiao
Direct link to the book from his own site http://combatshuaichiao.com/merchandise.html
I myself haven’t read it through yet so hopefully I can get back to you guys with a decent review.
Topics: Book Review, SjNation News, Technique
Post by emeric | 2 comments
The interview was posted a few months ago and I forgot to publish the story on our site. You can read the full article hear. Ancient martial art getting boost from modern era. It’s focused on the new school in Temple City but references ShuaijiaoNation.com.
Topics: Entertainment, Event, SjNation News, Technique
Post by emeric | 0 comments
A few posts I have read on the forums say this tournament, which took place on Sept. 13th, 2008, was pretty successful. TenTigers from the kungfumagazine.com forums says this about the Shuaijiao tournament:
The shuai-Jiao divisions went pretty smoothly-from what I saw-didn’t watch the whole thing. Black Taoist was competing and held his own against two big guys who had some pretty good skillz. I saw some really nice, clean throws from all three competitors. It’s one thing to claim that your system has throws, etc. But to go in and play against guys who do nothing BUT throws, and give them a run for their money-well, that really proves it.
The thing I like about the Shuai Jiao competitions is that they seem to have the best sportsmanship. There can be no bais, no missed points. One guy is standing, the other is on the mat. Both know who got the point. Both competitors smile at each other, nod their heads and go again. I think there should be more of these events.
I don’t what the actual results were or who fought in the tournament so if anyone can post the results in a comment that would be great.
The event page can be viewed at this link.
Topics: Event, Tournament, Tournament Reviews
Post by emeric | 0 comments
I’ve recently gotten notice that the site formally: www.austinmartialartsfestival.org has changed to www.amafest.org. Please visit their site for more info on their upcoming event!
Topics: SjNation News
Post by emeric | 0 comments
Originally posted I said the tournament was canceled and it appears that way. I also believe there is another local Shuaijiao tournament taking its place instead of the Annual Great Lakes Tournament. More info coming soon.
I’m being corrected and told different things by different people so one party says its still happening on April 25th. More info to come soon. I am still awaiting official response. I still believe that it is canceled but I will wait for official reponse before I post more.
Thanks for your guy’s research.
Topics: Event, Spotlight, Tournament, Training
Post by emeric | 7 comments