Quick Update...tourneys and such.

The trip to Ft. Worth and Plano last weekend (July 20-22) was really great! I got to visit with the one and only Brian Briscoe (seldom known as Alice these days due to an increase in butt-kicking ability), I enjoyed a workout at his Krav Maga school, we had a blast at the Taiji Legacy tourney in Plano...fun, fun, fun!

I've noticed that I tend to put off blogging because I want to write a really great entry each time. However, that usually means that weeks go by without an update, and they're really not that great anyway. So I'll be brief.

Amy won 2 gold medals, Renee won 3 gold as well. We had a bit of a moment before Amy's staff competition when her staff was judged 'too thin', even though the woman next to her had a slender staff as well, and wasn't told this. I ran out to see Nelson of Beijing Imports, and he only had a handful of sticks available, none suitable. "Oh, wait, maybe this one..." he walked over to a corner and took his coat off of a stick that ended up being perfect, if a bit thick. He saved the day! The new staff was so huge that we immediately dubbed it "The Log", and Amy won her second gold medal with it. Yay!

I watched some of the Shuai-Jiao events while I was there, and with all due respect, I just wasn't all that impressed. I've had training in Judo and BJJ, and I've been thrown by Theo (Godzilla in human form), and watching these guys just wasn't what I had hoped it would be. I thought about entering this competition at the upcoming tourney, but I have several students competing, and I don't want to miss any of their events...my responsibility is to them, not to seeing if I can beat the Shuai-Jiao guys at their own game. However, I might hang around and see if I can have a friendly bout or two. ;-)

The san shou fights were lots of fun to watch, and Westside's guys all took gold. The importance of conditioning was highlighted in almost every match, and there was one guy who apparently thought he was Jet Li, based on the stances he was using. He lost the fight...go figure.

The Houston tourney is fast approaching, and I'm looking forward to visits from Sifu Israel Flores from Pharr, Tx and the incomparable Larry Escher from Corpus Christi, and man, we're going to have a grand old time!!

There's other stuff, but I'll post more tomorrow. Have a good night.