Today I participated in the Chicago Shaolin Kungfu/Wushu Tournament as chief judge of the contemporary wushu division. Students from All Star Kung Fu, Chicago Wushu, and Extreme Kungfu were present. It was great to see the next generation of martial artists perform. One of the things that many look forward to at these events are the Masters Demo. This is usually where the instructors perform a demonstration. The idea here is that the tournament is really for the kids, so the instructors usually don’t compete. However, the instructors sometimes get to showcase their skill and talent in the Masters Demo. There’s no judging for these performances, just a display of years of training.
Today I was looking forward to seeing the instructors from All Star Kung Fu, most of them ex-pro athletes from China do their Masters Demo. Here are some videos:
Masters Demo Warmup
Don Hyun K Performing RopeDart
Pek Pongpaet is an internet entrepreneur. Pongpaet’s expertise ranges from product design and development, user experience, and martial arts. Pongpaet worked at Accenture Technology Labs in the research department coming up with next generation user interfaces. At Roundarch, a technology and strategy consulting firm, Pongpaet’s work included envisioning and designing the dashboard of the future for the Tesla Model S electric car. He has given talks at Northwestern University, DePaul University, and University of Chicago on topics such as Design, Innovation, Technology, and Entrepreneurship.
My name is Pek Pongpaet and I'm an entrepreneur, developer, designer, tech geek, martial artist, mac enthusiast, tinkerer, foodie, and blogger.
Pretty cool demos! I especially liked the rope dart one. It always amazes me how people can get the timing and coordination right like that. Probably because I hit myself over the head every time I try it. Then again, I competed in Sanshou, so not much use for taolu forms using weapons…
Great post!
Wim