The 4th Nottingham Open
by Betty Sutherland
On Sunday 2nd March, I attended the Nottingham Open held by Practical Tai Chi Chuan, Nottingham. I was not competing, but being a "cheer leader" for two of my Tai Chi Brothers from the Five Winds School in Edinburgh, Craig MacDonald and Andrew Cavanagh. Craig and Andrew also competed in the European Tai Chi and Internal Martial Arts Competition in Vejle, Denmark in October 2002.
Craig has substantial experience in Tai Chi, after having practiced for many years, in fact he was in familiar surroundings, because he had been a student of Practical Tai Chi Chuan, Nottingham, before moving back to Scotland, and the Five Winds School.
Andrew is a relative newcomer to Tai Chi but obviously taking to it like a "duck to water".
The event was organised by Peter Ellis, and when we arrived in Nottingham we were greeted warmly by some students of the School.
Before long, the competition was under way.
There were several categories of Tui Shou (Pushing Hands), fixed step, restricted step, and moving step, in weight categories; hand forms and weapon forms. Events ranged from beginners to senior students and a panel of judges awarded points up to a maximum of 10 points in respect of 10 criteria (forms only). I was pleased to be asked to judge some of the forms classes and impressed with the level of abilities and range of styles.
During lunch Peter, some of his students and guests demonstrated their abilities.
|
Craig had a very successful competition, entering all categories, the "ubiquitous" Craig hauled 1 Gold for moving step Tui Shou under 80kg, and a Silver in the fixed step Tui Shou in the same weight category. He also took a Silver for the open style hand form, and in the open style weapons he won Silver for his sabre and a Bronze for the sword. By the end of the day he was so tired that he could not string a sentence together. However, we can excuse him due to the effort that he put in on the day (not to mention his training regime prior to the competition). |
|
Andrew had a great day, winning a Gold for hand form, exceptional, as he has only been training for 1½ years! He also improved greatly on his personal best in Tui Shou and felt very satisfied with his "day out".
Personally I thoroughly enjoyed the day and was pleased to meet up with some established Tai Chi brothers and make some new ones. I was impressed with the organisation, the level of skills, the relaxed atmosphere of the event, but in particular the extremely fair judging in the Tui Shou classes, something of a rarity!!
Peter would like to make this an annual event, attracting competitors from all around, I would seriously recommend the event on all levels.
Hats Off to Peter Ellis and the Nottingham Practical Tai Chi School.
|
|