Złockie 2010

Between June 27th and July 8th in beautiful regions of Beskid Sadecki in spa-related parts on Muszyna – Muszyna Zlockie in the valley of Poprad River there was the next  Kung fu summer camp organized together by Polish Praying Mantis Kung Fu Society, Busko Yantai Kung Fu Club and the Choy Lee Fut of Wieliczka school. Thanks go to Tomek and Sabina for finding this place.  At our disposal we had a wide range of sport equipment and a lot of other entertainments, such as a water pool, water park, gym, sauna, dancing room, etc. Of course, despite cold water, the water pool was the most popular attraction.

23 people from different centres of our Society took part in the camp. Because our  centre was positioned only 5km from the Slovakian border, instructors from Czech and Slovakia were also present. At some point our simple children and youngsters camp has grown to an international event  – with participants from Poland, Slovakia, Czech and Italy. The theme of the camp was perfectioning the forms for the Championship of Poland in September and also free fighting. Good training conditions and excelent weather have caused the camp to be one of our best. Of course there was also time for trips and fun. Elders were playing paintball and the youngest had their own version of the game with empty bottles.  One can say paintball is becoming our second passion, right after tanglang.

In our camp subgallery one can find pictures from the event. They were taken, apart from myself, by Tomek Renowicki and Tommaso Conte. Thank you. Soon I will try to put a short movie clip, for a longer one we have to wait until September.

I remind you that in August for all willing, but foremost for people participating in the Championships, Lukasz will be conducting consultations in School at Bonifacego St. The next season will start on Semptember 4th, after we get back from China.

See you soon. We will try to give regular reports from our stay in Yantai and all the other places.

Sławomir Milczarek

End of season 2009/2010

Just a few more days and we're ending yet another, 25th this time, season of practicing Tanglangmen in Poland. On June 27th at 9 o'clock from the car park near the Creative Integration School a bus will leave taking us to a next Tanglangmen summer camp. This time it will take place in Muszyna, the part of it not taken by water during the recent flood. The theme of the camp will be preparations to the Wushu Championship of Poland. Of course our group is mostly interested in traditional forms and traditional fighting competitions. When it comes to fighting as for now this is all just wishful thinking and early planning.  We are coming back from the camp on July 8th only so after less than three weeks we can leave for a competition in Yantai.  The event is only one of items in our tight schedule for this journey.

Last Saturday during the training we had a small celebration. After five years of trainings instructor Paavo Sjőblom of Tuusula has officially become a representativ of Polish Praying Mantis Kung Fu Society in Finland. At the same time he has become a representativ of the Yu family Tanglangmen style in Finland. We wish him many successes in future.

The new season will probably start on Saturday, Semptember 4th. See you at the training or at the camp.

Sławomir Milczarek

Polish Cup in Wushu

Between May 21st and 23rd, 2010 in OSIR "Koło" W dniach od 21 do 23 Maja 2010r. w hali OSiR "Koło" hall at 60 Obozowa St. in Warsaw there was the 7th Grand International Wushu Festival and 14th International Polish Cup in Wushu organized by  Polish Wushu Association. The event gathered about 400 people from leading clubs in Poland. Among them was a group of twelve members from Buski Yantai Kung Fu Club and 8 teams from abroad ( Iran, Slovakia, Russia, Belarus, Czechy China ). 90 competitions were played with fights divided into Qingda (llght contact with throwing, tripping) and Sanda (full contact).

Excellent performance in their debut was given by the youngest competitors from Buski Yantai Kung Fu Club winning 11 medals. Winning gold medals in Qingda were  the first time participating Artur Łapczyński (10yo), Szymon Gronostaj (12yo), Karol Karpiński (14yo), Kacper Zamojski (15yo), Michał Stradowski (18yo), silver medal winners were Piotr Bezak (8yo) and the youngest first time competitor Kuba Młynik - who was given the loudest applause for his fighting spirit.  Bronze medal was also awarded to 10 year old Ala Jamróz, unfortunately in junior Sanda , 16 years old Marcin Augustyn lost his fight against his counterpart from Russia. In traditional northern forms  Agata Bezak and Przemek Bezak won 2 silver medals. Apart from that  Przemek also won a silver medal in long weapons forms competition (mei hua qiang) and bronze in short weapons forms  (yan qing dao).

On Saturday night there was a gala with Kung Fu shows. It started with the lion and dragon dance by the school of Tomasz Chabowski from Wieliczka.  The culmination of the event was a show by a chinese wushu group from Tianjin University of Technology. The performance in Warsaw was part of the European tournee organized by the Confucius Institute. It was a unique merge of acrobatic skills with theatre. Focusing back on the sanda tournament - good preparation of competitors from Iran and Russia could be seen. Unfortunately the level of Polish players in fights I have seen left much to be desired.

Sławomir Milczarek

Urle, May 2010

Like every year, we spend the long Polish weekend in Urle. This time it was  the 6^th International Tanglangmen Seminar. This year apart from Polish students, adepts from Finland (Fenlan Tanglangmen), Czech Republic (Jieke Tanglangmen) and one person from Slovakia have been present. Unfortunately, four people from Czech and Finland couldn't be there because of different random events, injuries and sickness. From Poland, apart from Warsaw, there were teams from Suwalki, Ostroleka, Torun, Wroclaw and Lomza.

The topic of the seminar were the different kinds and methods of generating power in Tanglangmen. Types of power that were described are zhan nian jing, gang jing, dou da jing, chou shan jing, etc. As we know, power in Tanglangmen system comes mostly from waist movement. Waist works in every direction allowing the limbs to strike with much greater strength than when using muscles only. The best way to practise the waist were exercises with pads.

Apart from that we have been talking about the five stages of becoming skilled in Tanglangmen free fighting. Of course there was also time for sparrings and forms. Advanced students have been learning si lu zhai yao and shuang cha hua forms and beginners cuo gang and drills like tiao hua ba shou. Jieke Tanglang group has also been practising yan qing dao. The weather was not what we have hoped for but we're still happy because it could have been much worse.

We are already waiting for the next seminar.

Right after the seminar, a new, third, "Mantis" was born in Torun. This time it is a boy. All the best to Radek and Daria.

See you at the training.

 

Sławomir Milczarek