The Traditional Chinese Sword League continues to work to advance the art of Chinese Swordsmanship by offering a variety of Tournaments for practitioners looking to test their skills. This year, the League held its first Beginners Tournament on April 3 in Bladensburg, Maryland. Limited to students with two years of continuous training or less, eight contestants gathered from places as distant from each other's hometowns as Bozeman Montana & Highland Park, New Jersey.
While the skill level of beginners might not be at the level of more seasoned players, they were no less vigorous in their swordplay. Indeed, this Tournament saw a number of firsts throughout the action of the many pools. Often closing in closer than most experienced player will, the beginners often found themselves grappling & the judges having to tally points for strike & kicks, and not just sword blows, for the first time. There was even a match that went to the ground, a TCSL Tournament first. This Tournament was also the first occasion where a players used two-handed Jian & Miaodao.
At the end of the day, with all players excited & exhausted, Matt Rosecan emerged as the Champion, taking home the custom made prize jian as his trophy.
A short while ago Chinese Swordsmanship might have been written off as extinct, but today it is making a serious come back. The Traditional Chinese Sword League is very happy to play a role in the rebirth of this martial art by sponsoring tournaments that give practitioners the opportunity to hone their skills. January 10 of 2009, saw the first opportunity for youth to publicly test their skills with a jian in hand at a League Tournament in the Blue Mountains of Australia
Fourteen youth competitors, aged between nine and sixteen, competed in the world first TCSL Youth Tournament. Rules and equipment largely followed the specifications set down for the adult tournaments, with a few small modifications in concession to the age of the competitors, including the use of padded swords.
The fourteen competitors were organizer into two pools according to age, one for the Under 13s and the other for Teens. These matches were interspersed throughout the morning for a total of forty four matches, resulting in top seeding for sixteen year old Matt O'Neill, a four year trained student, and eleven year old Joshua Burke, who trained in classes four days a week for a year, as well as his own daily practice. The children have been quite serious about their training, especially the part which involved having lots of fun.
The fun carried over into the competition. Win or lose a match, there were hugs, laughter and congratulations from both competitors. Parents helped each others’ children prepare for their bouts, doing whatever was needed to free the referee and judges to concentrate on their tasks, and adding a happy, family atmosphere to the event.
Matt O'Neill won the Teens competition in a three strike bout with runner-up, Aled Carpenter. Emily Ashby-House took out the Junior division after the longest match of the Tournament against twelve year old Keith Lougheed. Some of these children have already set their sights on adult competition within the next few years.
Emily Ashby-House, left, Champion of the Junior division, with Matt O'Neill, right, Champion of the Teens competition.
Officials for the Youth Tournament were -
Referee: Linda Heenan
Head Judge: Paul Wagner
Judge: Tashi James
Judge: Yeshi (Paul) Eperjesi