Mr David Pickens - a Shuaijiao teacher based in Austin, Texas - is throwing a festival. It is the Austin Martial Arts Festival, and they have a Shuaijiao event!

I asked Mr. Pickens and he told me that overseas fighters could compete.

So, if you find yourself in Texas between October 6th and 7th, drop in and roll, and help make the Shuaijiao event the most exciting international event in the tournament!

In case you were wondering… here are the rules

Go for gold

&

Keep Smilin’

Michael

The 2007 National Shuaijiao Championships will be held July 20th to 23rd in Inner Mongolia’s Xi-wu-zhu-mu-qin-qi. If - like me - you have no idea where that is click here. All I know is that this place holds the Guinness World Record for most runners in a horse race - another integral part of Mongolian culture - with a total of 228 runners racing in it.

Evidently, this year’s Championships will be held outdoors just like the Mongolian Wrestling competitions held during the Naadam Festival. This is a first for the Nationals, and promises to be exciting. Perhaps they might like to go for another Guinness World Record and have all the 500+ fighters fight at the same time. That would really be “manly” as the Mongolians might say (Wrestling - or Boke as they call it there - is one of Mongolia’s 3 “Manly” skills)

Anyway, to get you in the mood for Shuaijiao on the grass… something we had better start training for… here are some videos that i came across on Youtube. Courtesy of The Mongolian Wolf

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Here is the offical letter of invitation. I will translate it in full below as soon as possible…but here is the gist: National Ref Training to be held in Beijing China on  June 1st-4th. Cost is RMB 900 for accomodation and training. Enrol before May 15th

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This technique is called Pei. There are a few different ways to do this, and this particular version is called “La-bu-pei” or “Pull-step Pei” as i like to call it

When you master the Pull-step Pei you will have added one of Shuaijiao’s most frightening and crowd pleasing moves to your arsenal.

In order to do that watch Coach Ma’s movement closely and then drill it with your team mates. As with any of these techniques, you have to do it thousands of times before you get the distance, timing, coordination, and strength to win points on a resisting opponent

Go for Gold!

Michael

ps… how come nobody leaves any comments?

Something from the Chinese Wrestling Association site that i translated for you all (see below)
I’m really excited about this… I know you will be too.
YOU can be a part of Shuaijiao’s biggest competition EVER!
The 1st World Shuaijiao King Tournament.
Now, there is no chance i’m going to even place in this but i absolutely want to take part in Shuaijiao history and learn as much as i can
The organizers have the Government permission for the tournament - which is the hardest thing to get, but the dates havent been set. So start training and saving!!!
I’ll keep you up-to-date with developments!
Keep Smilin’
Michael
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(this is a guest post by Sacha)

Disclaimer: this is long as hell, and for the most part has nothing to do with Shuai Jiao. Read at your own risk.

Like Michael, I started in martial arts with high expectations. I first joined a Shotokan Karate class, but had to quit after one year when the instructor stopped teaching. Looking to continue martial arts, I searched for another thing to do. I disregarded the strange “jujitsu” that big, sweaty, and mean-looking people were doing in the Karate place’s other room. I also didn’t want to do Judo, because it was so common.

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How Did You Come To Know/Practice/Love Shuaijiao?

I’m really interested to listen to your story. Please take a moment to post your journey

It’s a bit long winded, but here is mine.

Keep Smilin’

Michael

Giving up the Chinese Martial Arts was a drawn out process that should have finished the first time I was deceived by a “master” when I was 19. I’d like blame my continuing search for “the real thing” on Jet Li movies, but it was really romantic stupidity combined with a thirst for adventure.

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Each week i try to post a technique that is a little different to the previous weeks one. “Shuan” is definitely different. In this post you can learn a whipping motion that i see with so many Shuajiao techniques. I have yet to master it…so, lets train it together!

ps. I have some news about the Nationals this year that i can hopefully share with you in detail this coming week. Exciting! This year it will be held outdoors on the Mongolian Grasslands. A first for Shuaijiao, and a big home advantage for the Inner Mongolian contingient.

This week’s technique is one of my favourites. “Zou” simply means “walk”. It’s a simple technique but it looks awesome when you do it well. It’s best when you are taller than your opponent, but thats not essential.

Try bullying your opponent by doing two or three of these in a row.

Another favourite combo is a standard zou - with the press and pull to your rear - followed immediately with a second zou but with the press and pull to your front… result: splat.

Have fun with this one

&

Go for gold!

Michael