By Matt Mollica, 6th Degree Black Belt (4th Teng)

The Great Lakes National Kung-Fu Tournament, held in Euclid Ohio April 25th and 26th, was again a huge success for both participants and spectators.  Competitors in Shuai-chiao, San-shou, Northern and Southern Shaolin, and in Tai-Chi, as well as weapons, had ample room in the spacious Euclid Sports Plant.  The Sports Plant, located just fifteen minutes from downtown Cleveland, was large enough to operate several rings at one time including a children's Shuai-chiao division with over fifty contestants!  Parents were pleased to see their children competing in a safe and well judged environment.  Tournament arbitrator and Chief San-shou official Dr. Chi-hsiu Daniel Weng presided over the event and was satisfied that all of the judges had been certified before the event and showed good judgment and a full knowledge of the rules. 

PASF Results from the group led by Dr. Weng:

Shuai-chiao:
Lightweight: Shigero Isoda - gold
Welterweight:  Nick Masi - gold
Middleweight:  Andy Koswara - gold        Kenichi Iwasaki - silver
Heavyweight:  James Fraser - bronze

Shuai-chiao Team:
1st- Brazil
2nd- USA & Japan
3rd- Indonesia

Tai-chi:
Intermediate: Ya-wen Lin - gold

Short Form: Kenichi Iwasaki - gold
                      James Fraser - silver;
                      Nick Masi - bronze

Long Form:  Scott Rugtiv - silver

Cardio Tai-chi Group
Performanace:
Ya-wen Lin, Kenichi Iwasaki, Scott Rugtiv, James Fraser, Shigero Isoda, and  Andy Koswara - gold

by Nick Masi
     On April 5th and 6th, 2003, more than 400 martial artists gathered in the city of Sao Goncalo (in the county of Rio de Janeiro), Brazil to compete in the 2003 Pan-American Kung Fu Shuai-Chiao Championships.  Athletes came from Brazil, Argentina, the United States, Japan, Taiwan, and Indonesia.  The Championships were cosponsored by the Pan-American Shuai-Chiao Federation (PASF) and the City of Rio de Janeiro.  Sao Goncalo, only 30 minutes from the famous beaches of Rio, offered an excellent outdoor venue void of the crowds and traffic of Rio.
     The US team, led by Dr. Daniel Weng, arrived in Brazil a few days early to enjoy the foreign atmosphere.  Staying right on Rio's famous Copacabana Beach the team managed to both train and relax while taking in such famous sights as Corcovado (the Christ statue overlooking Rio).  Two days prior to the competition the

team moved to the SESC hotel in Rio where they could focus more on the Championships than on the beaches.  It was there that Dr. Weng got a first look at the Portuguese translation of his 1984 text, Fundamentals of Shuai-Chiao.  The author, Arthur De Sa Ferreira, M.Sc., included some additional information about tournament rules and added new photographs of techniques performed by Master Lee Wing Kay of Sao Paulo.  This new translation is a milestone in the dissemination of information regarding Shuai-chiao.  Dr. Weng, as President of the PASF, expressed his appreciation and his sincere hope that more texts will follow in order to promote a greater knowledge and understanding of Shuai-chiao in South America and around the world.
     In the opening celebration on Friday night, there were exciting displays of lion dancing and a variety of kung fu demonstrations interspersed with short speeches from the organizing committee and other local VIPs.  The night concluded with some spectacular modified Sanshou matches (no gear but gloves and knees were allowed) that kept the crowd roaring.
     The next morning, the Championships began with an impressive new group event built on Dr. Weng's Cardio Tai-Chi program.  Although the Brazilian group gave a remarkable samba-influenced performance, the US team edged them out for the gold.  A plentiful crowd managed to brave the heat and cheer on their favorite athletes in the Sanshou and Shuai-chiao matches that followed.  Each country made a strong showing as was evident by Brazil, Japan, Indonesia, and the USA each taking home gold in Shuai-chiao. The US team would like to thank Dr. Daniel Weng for organizing our trip to Brazil and Master Lee Wing Kay for being our gracious host in Rio de Janeiro.

Results for the attending Cupertino Kung Fu Club Team (Lidia Marchioni, Fong Liu, and Nick Masi)
Taiji (Advanced, Other Style):  Lidia Marchioni - Silver Medal          Taiji (Intermediate, Other Style): Fong Liu - Silver Medal   
Shuai-chiao (Middle Weight):   Nick Masi - Gold Medal                     Shuai-chiao (Heavy Weight):  Fong Liu  -  Silver Medal

Congratulations to these members of Cupertino Kung Fu Club who  went to this event. The leader of the team Dr.Weng was serving  as Arbitrator for both Sanshou and Shuai-chiao at the tournament.  Fong Liu and Nick Masi were judging for the Sanshou Event and both  will receive a Certificate of Judge of Sanshou from the Director of the Event Mr. Jimmy Wong , President of the USA Chinwoo Association.  The number of athletes attending the event was over 800. Coaches of both  Shuai-chiao and Sanshou competitors from Texas have expressed interest in bringing teams to CAAT next year.     ~ continued, next page

The Mayor of Paris will once again be hosting the International Shuaijiao Tournament in Paris on 12/20-21 2003.  The USSA will be assembling a champion caliber team to go and compete in this prestigious event.  Countries from all over Europe and Asia are slated to compete in what has historically been a large and well run tournament for Shuai-chiao.
     The USSA has sent teams to the Mayor's Cup since 1992 when Team USA took first place, as well as 1st place finishes by Grand Champion Mark Miller and 74KG Jan-yu Weng.  Four years later, USSA went back again coming in 2nd only to China in the team competition.  And two years ago, Team USA again took 2nd place to China with 1st place finishes by Immanuel Robinson and Nick Osborne that helped anchor the team. 
     This year the USSA will send national champions from the Great Lakes Championship as well as the CAAT.  The team is currently being selected based off their recent competitions in USSA-run events and will also be taking a head coach and judges to represent the country.  The team is limited to the top 10 competitors (including women) from the USA that will count as team points while each individual continues to fight for their own medal in their respective weight divisions.  For anyone who is interested in coming to Paris to cheer on the team, please send an email to headquarters at info@shuai-chiao.org or jyweng@aol.com

Black Belt Promotions by Dr. Chi-hsiu Weng

The last 12 months have been very active in testing.  We continue to see a high level of tests conducted by our branch holders all over the US.  It is very exciting to see so much activity and watching everyone developing their knowledge in Shuai-chiao.  During this year's Great Lake Championship, Dr. Weng conducted a  Black Belt Test for numerous USSA members in Ohio.  Additionally he returned 2 months later to test additional black belts in Cleveland, Ohio at Wing Lam Kung-fu.

Dr. Weng, Master D. Ch'ang, and new 7th Teng, John Ervin Jr.

Wing Lam Kung-fu
John H. Ervin, Jr. - 7^th Teng (3^rd Degree Black Belt)
Gino Belfiore - 9^th Teng (1^st Degree Black Belt )
Brian Corbett - 9^th Teng
Matthew Corbett - 9^th Teng
Daniel Cliff - 9^th Teng
Danny Hall - 9^th Teng

Cupertino Kung-fu Club
Leo Wong - 8^th Teng (2^nd Degree Black Belt)

Ho-I Martial Arts Academy
Matt Mollica - 4^th Teng (6^th Degree Black Belt)
Matt Martin - 9^th Teng
Ryan Schumaker - 9^th Teng

Li's Golden Tiger Academy
Jerry Li - 8^th Teng

OSU Shuai Chiao Kungfu Club
Mike Grigsby - 6^th Teng ( 4^th Degree Black Belt)

by Justin Tan, 9th Teng   

     Sunday July 20th marked another annual celebration of Chinese arts and heritage.  Held once a year at De Anza College in Cupertino, the Chinese American Athletic Tournament brings together hundreds of competitors in all flavors of Chinese arts.  People come to both watch and compete in Shuai-Chiao, Wushu, Tai-chi, and many other events.  The day-long competition also featured performances of traditional Chinese dances and incredible martial arts feats.   
     The Cupertino Kung-Fu Club is the host for the Shuai-Chiao competition at the CAAT.  This year, there were participants from both the local clubs and teams from as far away as Ohio.  They competition was organized in the usual categories of youth, women, and men, with each of those subdivided into weight classes.  ~ continued, next page

Chieh Lower Belt Promotions:

Cupertino Kung-fu Club
by Dr. Weng

Christina Roman - 3rd Chieh
Brian Yu - 3rd Chieh
Alban Ng - 4th Chieh
Paul Chang - 5th Chieh
Colin Campbell - 5th Chieh
Jonathan Shih - 5th Chieh
Emily Lau - 5th Chieh
Steffi Lau - 5th Chieh
Kristina Woodruff - 5th Chieh
Jason Woodruff - 5th Chieh
Kelly Woodruff - 5th Chieh
Traci Kim - 5th Chieh
Brittany Kim - 5th Chieh
Ben Hopner - 5th Chieh
Nicolas Lim - 5th Chieh
Fong Liu - 4th Chieh

OSU Kung-fu Club
by Mike Grigsby

Tammy Lake - 1^st Chieh
Daniel Beck - 3^rd Chieh
Jaron Bernstein - 3^rd Chieh
Jeffrey Wacker - 4^th Chieh
Tim Goytowski - 4^th Chieh
David Blocksom - 5^th Chieh
Daniel Thomas - 5^th Chieh
Daniel Cowan - 5^th Chieh
Aaron Fown - 5^th Chieh
Tim Goytowski - 5^th Chieh
Johnathan Spuhler - 5^th Chieh

Ho-I Martial Arts Academy
by Matt Mollica

Jonathan Hartley - 5^th Chieh
Wayne Rossiter - 5^th Chieh
Larry Workman - 5^th Chieh


DeAnza Kung-fu Club

Shigero Isoda - 4^th Chieh
Kenichi Iwasaki - 4^th Chieh
Andy Koswara - 4^th Chieh

2003 CAAT continued…

However, the true highlight of the Shuai-Chiao tournament was the open-weight division held after all the weight divided bouts.  Traditionally in China there were no distinctions based on size or weight; competitions were purely a match of skill. Dr. Weng and the other grandmasters of Shuai-Chiao used to compete with each other regardless of size.  Since the CAAT is a celebration of Chinese art and heritage, three open-weight divisions were held at the end of the day.  There was a "Women's open",
"Men's under black belt" and " Men's black belt and over" competition though some non-blackbelt competitors moved up to the black belt division to challenge themselves.  These open-weight divisions allowed any competitor of any size to fight any other competitor.  The result was an extremely fun and enjoyable experience ending the competition with an intense match between She-peng Weng, 8th Teng of the Cupertino Kung-Fu Club, and Daniel Cliff , 9th Teng(Wing Lam Kung-fu of Ohio).  Both champions

fought hard for the crowd, ending with a close 3-2 win for She-Peng.
     Awards were given out at the end of all the matches.  The day ended with Dr. Weng holding a free question and answer clinic for the competitors in thanks to those who came so far to compete.  As the Shuai-Chiao community grows, competitions like the CAAT will begin to draw even more competitors from even farther reaches of the world.  In fact, the 2005 CAAT is slated to host the Pan-American championship.  Additionally, due to the positive feedback of this year's open weight division, the CAAT hopes to continue offering this division in upcoming years.

Women's Open
1st  Diana Lin
2nd Llic, Una
3rd  Bigelow, Angie

Men's 135 and under
1st  Jonathan Shih
2nd Shigero Isoda

Men's 135-150
1st  Tan, Justin
2nd Corbett, Matthew
3rd  Hall, Eric

Men's 150-165
1st  Cliff, Daniel
2nd Masi, Nick
3rd  Koswara, Andy

Men's 165-180
1st  Martin, Matt
2nd Iwasaki, Kenichi
3rd  Ng, Alban


Men's Open Weight:

Black Belt
1st  Weng, She-Peng
2nd Cliff, Daniel
3rd  Koswara, Andy

Below Black Belt
1st  Fraser, James
2nd Masi, Nick
3rd  Hall, Eric