Back to School

In spite of it all, I've found that it's pretty unusual for me to regret checking out a Wushu tournament. I was really wishy-washy about heading up to check out/help out with Collegiates last weekend, but even with all the brushes with icy death on the I-5, police oppression, and sleep deprivation, I came back satisfied that I'd made good use of my precious, precious weekend.

The event was tiny in comparison to previous years, which is naturally a bummer, but I must admit it's nice to run through these things without intense time pressure. I barely worked a third of the time I was there, which allowed me to contribute to posterity by taking lots and lots of pictures, applying in a really half-assed way the various things I've learned in my photography workshop.

I'm not sure if the Oregon guys fully appreciate this, but they've got a really nice looking gym. It gets plenty of natural light and I love the wood paneling and scaffolding.

In the afternoon, rays of sunlight would hit various parts of the rings which made for some interesting lighting opportunities.

This is Kunyu from the Stanford team. I got my hand at doing some ringleading this time, which helps me recall people's names. Stanford went on to win the coveted team title.

Here's Caren from the Cal team. No idea what the results are from all these, but you know where to get 'em.

Filip from the Stanford team. The shot sort of works even if the exposure is probably about a stop too dark.

The Cal 'Happy Bears' team group set stood out dramatically from the rest of the field. There was a general sense talking to folks afterward that this whole trend of including LENGTHY sparring sets in group sets has got to stop. I'm slightly looser on this in that I think some is okay if people can positively NAIL it -- i.e., if it really looks like a fight. That sort of thing takes real time and skill to pull off. If not, I'd highly recommend ditching it.

The Cal team did have a lengthy sparring section, but it was very well choreographed and very convincing. But in the end, I generally side with the view that group sets are about perfect timing and coordination. Maybe folks have forgotten, but you'd be shocked how awesome people look when they're perfectly together across a complicated series of moves.

A small tournament meant a relatively early stop (after a pretty forgettable and impromptu 'Mad Tricks' competition), which left plenty of time for...

They never seem to print out enough of these things.

To be continued...