I practice taijiquan (tai chi chuan) and have for some years now. I had always been interested in Taoism and (incorrectly) believed that there was a connection between Taoism and taiji. Coming out of university, with a Taoism class fueling my interests, I found myself at the Great River Taoist Center here in DC. And at GRTC I learn that taiji was a true martial art and not some New Age crystal infused pajama festival. The first few classes kicked my ass, and I was hooked.
My teacher, Scott Rodell, is an internationally renowned swordsman and focused on revitalizing the sword practice. This includes not only the Yang family sword forms but also actual cutting and fighting. I’ve been practicing these sword forms for a few years now.
And with that practice has brought pay off, or at least the opportunity to test my stuff out against other practitioners in a judged competition. In two weeks, I’ll be headed out to Bozeman to compete at the Traditional Chinese Sword League’s first full-contact competition. Needless to say juggling my day job, which rarely stays contained to just daylight hours, and the regular tasks and diversions that fill up time, I have found it harder than I expected to properly train for this competition. I can swing a stick with the best of them, but knowing some of the competitors, especially the bruisers coming from the Great River branch in Estonia, I am concerned. The fact that the rules allows for full contact at full speed isn’t so worrisome. It’s more the case that I really really don’t want to get eliminated in the first round. Guess we’ll see how it goes.
If you happen to be in the greater Bozeman, MT area on May 10th, come to the Emerson Cultural Center and watch the fun.