Yee Chuan Tao

[ThatWasAKick]

Congratulations Chee, Nadia, Dylan, Riley, and Kala. Looking forward to photos! :supcool:

-Hjordes

 

[chee]

Hello everyone!

Thank you for all your support and well wishes to us, The Welcome Mat (Vendrell Martial Arts) Team to the 2004 Taiji Legacy in Dallas, Texas. I just got back (after stops to see my Mainland relatives) and am posting a 800x703 photo here. I have more but they need reduction in size. I will post them as they become available so please stay tuned!

The team competitors are: (L to R Back row) Nadia, Dylan, Chee, Riley and (front) Kala

We did very well. From a team of 5, we received 8 medals (everyone got one!). Thank you Sifu Mike for getting us ready! We had a wonderful experience and a great time.

 

[nlmantis]

Congratulations on your achievements, well deserved I'm sure!

 

[chee]

Taiji Legacy is a well-run international Kung Fu tournament. It draws competitors from all over the world. All judges are invited by Jimmy Wong, the promoter (and he knows all their names- impressive) not like some Martial Arts competitions where any "Black Belt" can be a judge.

The Teens catelogy is an especially hard category to compete in because there were so many people in the category. This one category (all levels) took 3.5 hrs to finish making it a very long and tiring wait for many competitors. No competitor in this category (or any) should ever feel bad about not being able to win a medal. There are just so many talented people in a limited amount of divisions and judging is always a subjective thing...

Here are a few photos:

Kala- Broad Sword

Dylan - Staff

Riley & Chee -
3-Sectional Staff vs Spear

More to come...

 

[ThatWasAKick]

Great photos. Congratulations to all.

Chee - is the YCT tee still available on cafepress? It seems to have disappeared.

 

[chee]

Yes, the Yee Chuan Tao T-Shirts can be purchased here: http://www.cafepress.com/yee_chuan_tao

Here's more photos from 2004 Taiji Legacy:

Chee doing classical Chinese Fighting Fan. Unlike Tai Chi style fan, it is done in the fighting style of Yee Chuan Tao Sigung Michael Vendrell taught me.

Here's Dylan & Kala in Dual Gim (straight double-edged sword) done Yee Chuan Tao style

Riley doing Bumbo taught by Sigong Rob Moses:

 

[tshadowchaser]

Great photos

and Congradulations

Hope you all enjoyed your time at the festival

 

[Flatlander]

And my congratulations as well to the Yee Chuan Tao team at the Taiji Legacy. Sifu Mike must be a most able teacher. A fortunate group of students, enjoying the bounty of their hard work must be a most gratifying sight for him. Way to go!

Dan Bowman

 

[RHD]

Great pics. Were you competing in Wushu or traditional forms?

Mike

 

[chee]

Thanks. Some of us competed in traditional and some open. No Wushu though.

 

[grappling_mandala]

Congrats to all of Sifu Mikes students who competed!

Dave Copeland
Portland, Oregon

 

[RHD]

Thanks. Some of us competed in traditional and some open. No Wushu though.

Had to ask...
In the pictures there's some jumping and one of those butterfly-flippy-kick things. Typical of wushu. Are these common YCT movements?

Mike

 

[Sifu Mike]

Most of the kicks in YCT are executed at waist height or lower. We do have some jump kicks but not too many, it's hard to get any power when your feet are off the ground. I think you are referring to the photos of Dylan's and Kala's forms, and it was their choice to put those kicks in. When we build a form, the students have the option to add any movement they choose. That's what makes it an art. I allow my students to create from things they learn from me and Sifu Rob.

Sifu Mike

 

[RHD]

Most of the kicks in YCT are executed at waist height or lower. We do have some jump kicks but not too many, it's hard to get any power when your feet are off the ground. I think you are referring to the photos of Dylan's and Kala's forms, and it was their choice to put those kicks in. When we build a form, the students have the option to add any movement they choose. That's what makes it an art. I allow my students to create from things they learn from me and Sifu Rob.

Sifu Mike

Ha ha ha (sigh)
Just wanted to see if the YCT gang was still monitoring this forum. Looks like they are. :cheers:
Enjoy.
Mike

 

[RHD]

Hey Dan, that quote about questioning is quite interesting wouldn't you say?
Mike

 

[chee]

Had to ask...
In the pictures there's some jumping and one of those butterfly-flippy-kick things. Typical of wushu. Are these common YCT movements?

Mike

Actually there are only 1 or 2 aerials in each form, they add to make the form more difficult in a competition where one needs an edge with so many other competitors, many times competing against Shaolins whose forms are composed of that type of "butterfly-flippy-kick things". In an open category, one can also go up against any kind of form or type of weapon. Our teens like aerials because they are more exciting to do and watch. Adults older than 30 don't normally attempt them since it's hard on the body and those that have been doing them when they were young (myself included) have one form of injury or another and can't handle things like that anymore.

Tournaments are performance based so some of our forms are done especially for that reason. Since YCT is really a form-less art, we can use many classical as well as modern moves in them. Creativity allows YCT students to better understand when, how and why techniques are applied. Afterall, one should always do a form with an understanding of what technique one is using and why. In my 25+ years of martial arts study, I have always been taught that it should be an imaginary fight between another when one is performing a form of any kind.

 

[RHD]

Tournaments are performance based so some of our forms are done especially for that reason. Since YCT is really a form-less art, we can use many classical as well as modern moves in them. Creativity allows YCT students to better understand when, how and why techniques are applied. Afterall, one should always do a form with an understanding of what technique one is using and why.

So besides higher tournament scores, what is the application for the jumpy flippy thing and have any of you ever used it outside of a form? I like the concept though...no forms, so just make them up.

Mike

 

[chee]

So besides higher tournament scores, what is the application for the jumpy flippy thing and have any of you ever used it outside of a form? I like the concept though...no forms, so just make them up.

Mike

Use your imagination. Haven't you ever seen KF movies where people do a butterfly kick or some kind of aerial to multiple attackers running at them?

You can only make it up if you have some sort of a basic concept of what would work. There's always a counter to a counter to a counter as we learned in Chin Na which is also a part of our YCT training. It's in how you react to what's coming. We do study Shaolin's 12 basic forms as well as some other standard Shaolin forms Sifu Rob teaches us. To be a student of Yee Chuan Tao is to be versatile and think out of the box. Here's a question Sifu Rob Moses would ask us: have you ever tried doing Shaolin (or any of your own forms) in a phone booth? Well, you should be able to do them in any space, even in a phone booth.

 

[7starmantis]

have you ever tried doing Shaolin (or any of your own forms) in a phone booth? Well, you should be able to do them in any space, even in a phone booth.

I like that, we do the same thing. We usually say an elevator, but a phone booth works as well. Although I can hardly get in a phone booth.

7sm

 

[chee]

Yeah, on the way to the competition, Reily, one of our team member, went and did it in the airplane's bathroom. How's that for hard core?? I was surprised he didn't rock the plane as he can hardly fit in there as well! You can hardly find phone booths anymore in this country...