Koshiki Tournament Results -- May 27th

Hi,

On Sunday May 27st, I attended a Shorinjiryu tournament in St-Jerome, QC.

The tournament was hosted by Shorinjiryu Shindo Budo Kwai.

I competed in Forms, Weapons, and Koshiki (Hard Contact) Sparring.

Below are links to the videos of my performances:
Simon Choisnet -- 35+ Advanced Forms
Simon Choisnet -- 18+ Advanced Weapons
Simon Choisnet -- 35+ Men's Advanced Koshiki -- Semi Finals
Simon Choisnet -- 35+ Men's Advanced Koshiki -- Finals

My Results -- 1st Weapons, 2nd Forms, 2nd Koshiki

I got a lot of positive comments about the BO Kata I did for the competition (Tsurunukute No Kan -- with a special ending). They were "impressed" with the dynamic moves in it. They said that I showed good control of the large staff and kept the speed at better than 3/4s of the tapered staff.

These comments were comming from my peers, the ring judges, and even the high ranking tournament officials (7th and 8th dans)! Imagine if they would see the Katas done by the really good people at our club!!!

They asked me what the name of the kata was as well as where I learnt it. I was proud to tell them that I learnt it at Pro-Style Martial Arts in Kanata, ON.

I would like to thank all the BO Senseis at Pro-Style -- Master John, Sensei Dirk, Sensei Quentin, and Sensei James. I would also like to thank the other great BO competitors at Pro-Style -- Sensei Imran, Sensei Allison, and Norm.

I also ran into a friend of ours: Walter Baric

Sayonara!!

Video from 2007 WKA Canadian Championships, May 18-20

Hi,

Below are links to some youtube files containing the video I took on Sunday:

Allison Ferguson -- Women's (35+) Forms
Allison Ferguson -- Women's (35+) Weapons
Darrien Ferguson -- Girls (12-) Fighting
Dirk Muir -- Men's (18+) Korean Forms
Dirk Muir -- Men's (18+) Weapons
Dirk Muir -- Men's (35+) Forms
Dirk Muir -- Men's (35+) Weapons
Imran Jaffer -- Boys (18-) Weapons
James Heaton -- Men's (18+) Musical Weapons
Jordan Ferguson -- Girls (12-) +50kg Fighting
Jordan Ferguson -- Girls (12-) Hardstyle Forms
Jordan Ferguson -- Girls (12-) Weapons
Norman Wong -- Men's (35+) Forms
Norman Wong -- Men's (35+) Weapons
Selina Brown -- Girls (13-17) 60kg+ Fighting -- Finals
Selina Brown -- Girls (13-17) 60kg+ Fighting -- Semi Finals

Congratulations to all our Pro-Style team Pizzazzors!!

Enjoy the clips.

Photos from 2007 WKA Canadian Championships, May 18-20

Here are some images from the video taken over the 3 days (thanks to videoographers Diane, Saul, Imran, and Sharon). Team Pro-Style ended an exciting and busy spring tournament season (most of us competed in 6-7 tournaments since mid-March) on a high note. With most competing in 2-3 rounds in multiple divisions (Dirk competed in FIVE), it certainly was tiring. From the events I saw live and on the video, I can really echo Dirk's comments that everyone did an excellent job, performing at their best against very strong competition.

Some of us get a well earned training break before ramping up for the World's - Imran, Aditya, and I have one more hard weekend ahead (a little event called the "Black Belt Grading") before we can rest. Over the next 2 weeks, I will be trying to heal. I now know what it means to have your "Bell rung" - after one particularly hard hit, I actually heard a bell!

This was my 3rd year at the tryouts and the first time I qualified for an event (if Dirk, his brother and Mike Palliti hadn't all turned 35 this year, I could have qualified for more!). I have to thank Master John, Dirk, Quentin, and James for their excellent instruction and coaching over the years; the members of the extra sparring class for all the practice; and especially Sharon, for putting up with all time (and money) spent on training and tournaments.

Below, Jeff Muir (Dirk's brother) is executing a nice ax kick during Friday night's continuous events (Simon - will you be in Jeff's weight class next year?) and Jean Francois Robiteille is flying high during his winning the musical open form on Sunday.

Results from 2007 WKA Canadian Championships, May 18-20

I just wanted to give a quick run-down of the results for those people who made Team Canada for the WKA World Championships to be held in Karlsruhe, Germany, August 25 - September 1, 2007. I'm sure in the coming days Norm and I (and others too - Alison? Simon?) will post more about the tournament and the results. Everyone who participated did an excellent job for themselves, our club and Ontario. We have a lot of top three finishes (meaning they can go to Germany) and other great top 6 finishes too. And even if they didn't make to the Sunday competition, they did very well - almost all our divisions were large. In alphabetical order, here is my attempt at the full results (any and all corrections are encouraged):

Selina Brown: 2nd 13-17 60kg+ Girls Fighting; Top 6 13-17 Girls Kata
Aditya Devgan: Top 6 13-17 -65kg Boys Fighting
Alison Ferguson: 1st Women's Veteran (35+) Weapons; 2nd Women's Veteran (35+) Forms; 1st -60kg Women's Veteran (35+) Fighting
Darien Ferguson: Top 10 12- Girls Hardstyle Forms; Top 6 12- Girls Fighting
Jordan Ferguson: 1st 12- 50kg+ Girls Continuous; 2nd 12- Girls Weapons; 3rd 12- Girls Hardstyle Forms; 2nd 12- +50kg Girls Fighting
James Heaton: Top 6 Men's Weapons; 2nd Men's Musical Weapons; 3rd -90kg Men's Fighting
Imran Jaffer: 2nd 13-17 Boys Musical Weapons; 3rd 13-17 Boys Weapons; Top 10 13-17 Boys Hardstyle Forms
Dirk Muir: 2nd Men's Veteran (35+) Weapons; 3nd Men's Weapons; 3rd Men's Musical Weapons; 1st Men's Veteran (35+) Forms; 2nd Men's Korean (Taekwondo) Forms
Brian Wong: Top 10 12- Boy's Weapons
Norm Wong: Top 6 Men's Veteran (35+) Weapons; Top 6 Men's Veteran (35+) Forms; 1st -75kg Men's Veteran (35+) Fighting

Circle of Friends in Hamilton, May 12th

On Saturday, May 12th, two carloads of Prostyle students (one carload with Alison, one with me) were in Hamilton to compete at Jeff Burrough’s (of Libery Karate) Circle of Friends Tournament. Although we were only eight competitors, we did extremely well:

Aditya Devgan- 2nd in weapons, 1st in kata, 1st in sparring.
Alison Ferguson – 1st in weapons, 2nd in kata, 1st in sparring.
Darien Ferguson – 2nd in weapons, 5th in kata.
Jordan Ferguson – 1st in weapons, 1st in kata, 1st in sparring.
Taylor Ferguson – 4th in weapons, 5th in kata, 2nd in sparring.
James Heaton – 1st in musical weapons, 3rd in weapons, 1st in sparring, 1st in team forms.
Imran Jaffer – 2nd in musical weapons, 1st in weapons, 1st in kata, 1st in team forms.
Dirk Muir – 2nd in musical weapons, 1st in weapons, 2nd in kata, 2nd in sparring, 1st in family kata, 1st in team forms.

Our sole kyu belt representative, Aditya Devgan, received second in weapons, first in kata and then first in sparring too (although his hard-hitting backfist lost him a few points in warnings – I guess they aren’t as sturdy in SW Ontario as in this area!).

The junior black belt divisions were quite large. However, Jordan Ferguson was our triple crown winner for the day (against 12 and under, girls and boys together), although Darien Ferguson also had a great showing (2nd in) and 5th in kata) as did Taylor, who was 2nd in fighting (I “coached” him – i.e. I watched him clean some clocks – great job!) , 4th in weapons and 5th in kata. Imran won his weapons and his kata, and got 2nd in musical, even though he used James’ music (I guess he should check his CD case before we leave for a tournament).

Of the adults, Alison did a great job, with second in forms and first in weapons (although the only one, if she competed against the 18-34 competitor, Alison would have won, IMO). James won musical weapons but then had some exhaustion mishaps and ended third in weapons. He made up for it by winning his fighting. Meanwhile I was running all over the place, getting second in musical, first in weapons (only one there!), second in kata (to my brother – grrr) and second in fighting (first time in four years), again to my brother (double grrr).

The most fun (i.e. we won money) must have been the team forms. In the synchronized family kata division, Jeff (my twin brother) and I put on a good show using Shorinji-ryu Chinto to win the division. Then for the team katas division, James, Imran and I won (taking 3 of the top five spots to do it – we won by only 3/100ths of a point!). This is the first leg for the overall team kata championships – two more to go.

The kata grands also went well, but no one placed. Imran was second for the juniors, and I was second for the adults. Oh well.

For videos from the tournament (only the katas), you can download them from http://www.yousendit.com/ via links I will post by the end of today at www.geocities.com/dirkvmuir/tournydownloads1.html since I don’t have a DVD burner! If you have any other requests, ask, and I might have it on file.

Now for the WKA Team Canada Nationals …

Highlights from the Spring In-House Tournament, May 5

It was great to see all the adult competitors at the spring in-house tournament. Actually, I didn't get to see all their events live. As the tournament began, I was drafted to be the scorekeeper for ring 4 - did you know the scorekeepers for rings 3 & 4 don't get assistants?!? Fortunately, Brian taped all the events I missed.

I did get to see James end his under-belt tournament career by winning the adult grands, after winning the advanced men's kata earlier in the day.

The tournament ended with the most exciting tag team fight, with Heather and Callum squaring off against Nancy and Matt. I thought the orange belt ladies would be tagging out as soon as Matt and Callum tagged in, but they they stayed in a few times and scored some points! Nancy, who missed the kata and fighting events (watching her Little Dragon kids compete), was especially aggressive, scoring a couple of reverse punches on a blitzing Callum! It was a close fight, with Nancy and Matt winning 24-21.



Earlier in the day, Matt was on fire, winning the advanced men's fighting with exciting matches against Callum, James, and Marc. Tony cleaned up in his divisions, winning in kata (his kids Anthony and Melissa also won their kata events) and fighting.

Marc was looking to avenge his loss to Tony at the Aversa Brothers tournament, but he had to fight in the advanced division and did well, loosing to Matt in the final.

Kristy competed in her first tournament and performed very well, winning in novice kata, and advanced fighting.

In the junior black belt division, Jordan dominated winning in kata, fighting, and weapons - later she led her team to a win in the team fight.

Preliminary results at the bottom.


Preliminary results:

• Adult Tag Team Fighting - Nancy and Matt winning over Heather and Callum
• James - adult grand champion, 1st kata, 2nd weapons, 3rd fighitng
• Matt - 2nd kata, 3rd weapons, 1st fighting, 1st team fighting
• Kevin - 3rd kata
• Jesse - ??? kata, 4th fighting
• Callum - ??? kata, 1st weapons, 5th fighting, 2nd team fighting
• Marc - 4th kata, 2nd fighting
• Tony - 1st kata, 1st fighting
• Devon - 4th kata, 3rd fighting
• Don - ??? kata, 2nd fighting
• Jay - ??? kata, 4th fighting
• John - 2nd kata, 5th fighting
• Marie - 2nd kata
• Heather - 3rd kata, 1st fighting, 2nd team fighting
• Nancy - 1st team fighting
• Margo - 1st kata, 2nd fighting
• Kristy - 1st kata, 2nd novice fighting, 1st advanced fighting
• Jordan - 1st kata, 1st weapons, 1st fighting, 1st team fight , junior black belt grand champion
• Saul - 3rd kata, 2nd weapons, 2nd fighting, 2nd team fighting
• Alyssa - 2nd kata, 3rd weapons
• Larissa - 1st kata, ??? weapons, 1st fighting, 3rd team fighting
• Darien - 2nd kata, ??? weapons, 2nd fighting, 2nd team fighting
• Seran - ??? kata, ??? weapons
• Anthony - 1st kata, 3rd fighting
• Melissa - 1st kata, 2nd fighting
• Zoe - 1st kata, ??? weapons, ??? fighting
• Danillo - 1st kata, 2nd fighting
• Jordan Dixon - ??? kata, 1st fighting
• Ian - 1st kata, ??? weapons, ??? fighting, junior underbelt grand champion