Hello Everyone
It’s been a little bit since I wrote my last blog here. So hopefully this will be one of two blogs this week.
First topic of the day is what I did this weekend. Some of you may have known that I drove down to Hamden Connecticut and competed at the USBA/WBA Connecticut State Breaking Championships. It was a 9 hour drive down on Saturday after I finished teaching morning classes at the dojang. Followed by a short sleep at the hotel before competing on Sunday and then a 9 hour drive home back to Canada. Saw way too many McDonald’s traveling the highways down there. I think that was the only restaurants I saw along the highways. Poor truck drivers.
Anyway I got a 2nd place in Power Hand breaking, 2nd place in power elbow breaking, a 3rd in creative breaking, and a 1st place Connecticut State Championship in Power Kicking Breaking. I competed against familiar faces I have been competing against for the past few years down at the US OPEN. The competition was good in all the different rank divisions. I had a chance to take a first place in creative breaking division as I was the only Black Belt under 35 or I could have competed with the 35 year and older. I choose to compete with others as I didn’t want to take an easy win. I obviously took third in that division. I am cool with that. The winner, John Zurisk said he thought I should have won. That was awesome of him to say that but I thought he deserved his win. At the end it doesn’t really matter as it is up to the judges to decide.
John is a good guy as he helped me set up my creative breaking routine and held boards for me. He said he could feel how powerful my 180 Hook Kicks were when he was hanging onto the boards. I respect his comments and thoughts as he is the 2010 US OPEN heavyweight power kicking champion where as I am the US OPEN lightweight power kicking champion. I also helped him set up his creative breaking routine. Even though we were keeping against each other. That is the true spirit of competition.
Drew Serrano and Ralph Bergamo, the co-founders of the United Stated and World Breaking Association (USBA/WBA) ran a fantastic tournament. The tournament ran smooth and on time. Judging was completely fair. That is why I like competing in the USBA/WBA. Breaking is one of the fairest types of martial arts competitions. Either you break the material in front of you or you don’t. It is pretty much cut and dry.
The USBA/WBA is a good tournament circuit for breakers. Once again they are fair. Rules are the same for all their tournaments. Members get material rebates and a ranking system for the year and lifetime. They have local all the way up to world championship level competitions. They work with many other martial arts organizations without bias. And we all know that is rare. They sanction world records and competition records. They have also been features on many shows like Time Warp, Jay Leno, Xtreme Martial Arts, and various other shows. If you are interested in breaking and the USBA/WBA, let me know as I am a proud member.
Okay second thing for today is last week’s word of the week. And that is SYNERGY. Synergy is when two or more people get together and create something that is far bigger than what they could accomplish on their own. Meaning that if we all worked together we could accomplish so much more as if we just did everything by ourselves. Everything mankind has ever creative as always been by working together. So I want everyone to work more together to create a better tomorrow for the future generations and for us in the now.
Okay, that was enough for today. Catcha Later 🙂
Master Jonathan Field
Jonathan, Thank you for the kind words. We do try to make the events as consistent and fair as possible. I think that is one reason why so many different poromoters are willing to work with us, regardless of style or politics. Just this year we have been involved with open, Tang Soo Do, Tae Kwon Do, and Hapkido events.
Concerning your creative division, believe me the judging was difficult. The judges there (Clint, Ron, and Paul) were very experienced and took a great deal of time discussing the various pros and cons of each routine presented. I was really impressed with the thought they put into their decisions. As far as I was concerned, you and the other competitors in your division displayed some of the best creative routines I have seen in a while.
You are a great competitor and, from what I have seen through your students, a great instructor as well. We are proud to have you as a member and hope we can continue to build a relationship with you. As we grow you will be on the leading edge of growing the USBA/WBA in Canada.
Thank you for making the long trip and know that you are appreciated. See you soon,
USBA/WBA Co-Founder Drew Serrano