Hong Kong Open Tai Chi Competition

On Sunday we had the 25th Hong Kong Open Tai Chi Competition at Kowloon Park organized by the Hong Kong Wushu Union (website).  I'd entered through my school back in October, along with some of my classmates.

You could only enter for one style so I chose chen-style again.   The time-limit was relatively long at 5-6 minutes which was just right to complete the whole Chen-56 competition form.   Other competitions allow as little as 3-4 min.

Classmate from my Chen-style class

There were about 270 competitors : 150 women and 120 men, of which only 4 had western names.  The overall standard was very high.  I understand that this is the Hong Kong competition that everyone wants most to do well in.

Classmate from my Chen sword class

My long-term goal is to be good enough to win a gold-medal in this competition but this is some years away!   So my goal for this year was to give a good account of my current level, not embarrass myself or my school - and not get the lowest score!   And to make a permanent step-up in my ability from two months of intensive preparation.

Classmate Tommy 

Actually this did not quite go to plan.   In the end I simply didn't put-in enough hard-work and preparation.  So my performance was pretty disappointing.   But there are several positives for next time.

As I started training harder in the months before the competition I suffered from recurring knee-pain.  I belatedly visited a physio and podiatrist who diagnosed muscle imbalance and issues with my gait stemming from my unusual foot shape.  They adjusted my shoes and gave me regime of exercises to build-up strength in my quads and glutes to better support my knee.   And based-on their explanation I also focused on some corrections to my tai chi technique.

Former classmate

This made a huge difference to my tai-chi, and the knee-pain improved immediately!  But as I started using the correct muscles more my legs were getting utterly exhausted.    It was really hard to motivate myself to do the 5 x 5-min sets daily that I'd planned.

It is often observed that 'Kung Fu' in Chinese literally means 'hard work' (wiki definition).  The  fundamental requirement for developing skill in the martial arts is the character and dedication to train every day, and 'eat bitter' (persevere through physical discomfort).

Participant

Unfortunately I rather failed the test of 'kung fu' character this year.   In the last weeks before the competition I became much busier at work.   I could still have trained after work at 10pm like I did back in 2013.   But instead I got discouraged and almost stopped training altogether, and even put on several extra kilos!

On Sunday Hannah, Rika and I arrived at the competition 30min late to find that I was scheduled to compete in 15 min.   I just had time to register, change, observe that the competition was on carpet not wood (slippery and harder to balance), and do a few breathing exercises to center myself.  Then I was on.

Actually I was quite happy with my performance.  I had to be careful on the carpet but I didn't make any major mistakes.   I felt that I displayed a lot of technical improvements compared to 2013 (head upright, back straight, body relaxed, breathing from stomach, moving from the waist, balance solid  etc).    Although the standard of competition was high, I thought I compared fairly well with the bottom third of the group.

So I was quite disappointed to get a score of 7.2 which I think was 2nd lowest (behind a man who got stuck on a very difficult move that I'd not even attempted).   I found myself in the embarassing position of watching the remaining participants and secretly hoping that someone else would slip-up and get a lower score!

As I watched I realized that the judges were looking to see powerful 'fajin' (explosive power), which is a characteristic of Chen tai-chi, even if it wasn't fully controlled.   I had focused too much on control and ended up being too soft and slow on the fajin moves.   My sifu had repeatedly warned me about this and I had planned to work on it in the last 2 weeks but never did.  So looking at the video my performance looks rather plodding and lifeless.

Video:  Hannah Papa tai chi.  See also this other video on Youtube (youtube link).

Also I had paused too long between moves (a habit from practice to check alignment), rather than flowing smoothly from one to the the next.    These weaknesses might have been fairly straight-forward to correct with more training in the final weeks and perhaps a few pointers from Tommy.  So perhaps I could have achieved a mid-table 7.4 if I had worked more dilligently.   Finally my stance is too high, but it will take many many months of daily training to build-up the necessary strength to maintain a low stance for 6 minutes.  

Three of my male classmates won gold-medals (score over 7.75) in Chen tai-chi although this year none of them placed in the top six places.   One of my other classmates was 2nd runner-up in the women's section.  And our school won the prize for best overall result.   And amazingly, the other gweilo male placed 2nd in the Yang-style section!

So whats next?   Most of all I want to get back into a routine of training every day even if it is just for 20 min.  It is absolutely true that doing tai-chi every day makes you feel great!

I plan to enter competition early next year doing a Yang-style form, the combined 42-form, and the Chen-sword form with the goal of improving to a 'silver-medal' level by year-end.   This will require a lot more work on the basics like stepping-properly with the the right muscles and relaxation.   But with the exercises from my physio and corrections from sifu I feel Im finally on the right track in training my legs and kua (hips).

And I hope to keep working-away on Chen-style 56-form especially the fa-jin movements and hope to get a score of 7.5 or more in the HK Open next year.   We have also been learning a new shorter Chen competition-form (38-form?) which I'd also like to try-out in a different competition.   And we have just started learning on a version of the long 78-form (or 83) New Frame (xin jia yi lu).  This complex form the 'real deal' but at 15min long must be brutal on the legs and far too long for competition.

All of which will require diligent kung fu!