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Leitai competition for TCMA

PostPosted: Sun Dec 10, 2017 11:59 am
by .Q.
Seems like a genuine attempt to revive applicability for TCMA. Unfortunately only showed snippets of the matches but looks like there were some TCMA techniques used. I suspect the editing made it look more common. I've seen some clips of the baji team's teacher and he looked pretty good.

Re: Leitai competition for TCMA

PostPosted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 2:48 am
by C.J.W.
I like the Baji teacher's stuff as well.

In the video, his students point out a couple of things about the rules and format that he thinks should be improved. The helmet threw their distancing off, and prevented effective head strikes from landing and stopping an aggressively advancing opponent. And since whoever goes out of bounds automatically loses the match, it favors "pushers" who simply tries to push and shove the opponent back once initial contact is made.

Re: Leitai competition for TCMA

PostPosted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 5:27 am
by cloudz
Did someone steal it?

Re: Leitai competition for TCMA

PostPosted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 6:46 am
by nicklinjm
Totally in support of these kinds of efforts, give TCMA practitioners a platform in which to test their skills. Obviously from a technical and fitness standpoint the level of the contestants is not high, but at least they are genuinely trying to use traditional techniques and training in a Leitai format. Agree that the rules probably need to be tweaked to prevent people from just winning by pushing, for example.

Re: Leitai competition for TCMA

PostPosted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 7:55 am
by cloudz
This just looks like the Kuoshu format, which has been seen for some time: Taiwan, US, UK. Also if you're going to say Letei, it would be good to actually see one.

Re: Leitai competition for TCMA

PostPosted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 9:21 am
by yeniseri
Though I am a simpleton, I would imagine that if one considered himself with some degree of expertise and needed to test himself, I would think that an MMA format would be perfect. Nothing to make up or invent as all one needed to do was show up per weight class and do one invisible qi conquest of the opponent who will be allegedly training 'hard'. as opposed to the oft repeated taijiquan only is great if it is 'soft or internal, whatever that may mean or infer.

Re: Leitai competition for TCMA

PostPosted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 9:52 am
by Bill
Fighting on a raised platform is just stupid. Sport fighting should be done in a ring or on flat ground.

Re: Leitai competition for TCMA

PostPosted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 12:44 pm
by .Q.
Bill wrote:Fighting on a raised platform is just stupid. Sport fighting should be done in a ring or on flat ground.

Totally agree. Do not understand the need to increase chance of injury. I think the helmet is a bit lame for competition but they allow you to strike hard and not worry about hurting your opponent too much. Probably a good trade off when you're doing this as a hobby. Also boxing helmets that protect the cheeks tend to hinder views from kicks, so this at least avoids that. The company that started those helmets have a 2nd generation that has a slimmer profile. Too bad they're in Japan and hard to get here. Never answered my email when I tried contacting them.
This is pretty much the Kuoshu fighting format, but I think the selection of specific schools "probably" makes it more likely for traditional techniques come out, judging from the video. However, since the video is edited I can't tell if they just purposely picked a few random good parts or if it was consistent. The baji teacher's clips demoed some of their training that would work well in this format, so I assume other schools picked for this are probably similar.

Re: Leitai competition for TCMA

PostPosted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 4:49 pm
by origami_itto
They probably fought on a raised platform the same reason boxers and everybody else does, so the audience can see the fight.

Re: Leitai competition for TCMA

PostPosted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 5:08 pm
by fuga
Sumo has a long tradition of fighting on a raised platform. And, yes, folks can get injured when they are thrown or pushed off the platform.

But sumo in a ring would turn into WWE wrestling, right?

Re: Leitai competition for TCMA

PostPosted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 5:29 pm
by Peacedog
Traditionally the Chinese didn't make much use of bleachers and the raised platform, as others mentioned, allowed people sitting on the ground to see.

It also allowed for a fair amount of portability as to where you could host the event.

Frankly, I never saw many auditoriums in traditional Chinese culture. Entertainment was largely performed for the emperor, or other high status individuals, with little concern for the views of others. So that person would sit on a platform and everyone else just had to glimpse what they could.

Entertainment for the masses would have been much more informal and would have probably lacked a stand alone venue.

The size of the middle and upper classes was always significantly larger as a percentage of the population in the West than it ever was in the East. Additionally, the pooling of resources at the very top occurred to a much greater degree in the East than in the West.

Versailles, while impressive, is absolutely nothing compared to the fact that the old city in Beijing belonged entirely to the emperor.

The West always had some check on royal power that, prior to the rise of the communists, never happened in the East. In the East only the state mattered in terms of the economy and societal structure with some, limited, counterbalancing by the Buddhist and Taoist religious organizations.

The merchant class was always an important power in Western societies and became increasingly important after 1100 AD. With the Industrial Revolution it rose to prominence over all other sections of society where it remains in the West.

I suspect communism's takeover of power happened the way it did in peasant based societies as they only had to overcome the power of one main group, the monarchy, which in the case of China was in total disarray.

Re: Leitai competition for TCMA

PostPosted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 6:38 pm
by origami_itto
The obvious question, then, is why no ropes?

According to wikipedia there were no ropes on even western rings until 1838. I think the chinese adopted them as a pretty good idea at some point, going by the old white crane v taichi and taichi v wrestling videos which happened in the 1900s.

At some point, perhaps it is, some folks decided it would market better as more distinct from the "western" MMA and more authentically traditional to go back to a lei tai, even though it's inherently more dangerous for the fighters. Because fight promoters make these calls and they care fuck all for the safety of fighters if they can put a few more butts in seats.

Re: Leitai competition for TCMA

PostPosted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 7:34 pm
by Peacedog
For one, if you are viewing the fight from the ground, the ropes will interfere with your view of the fight.

If you are elevated in a set of bleachers, it really doesn’t make much of a difference.

Although I agree that their later deletion was probably due to a desire to make it look different than a boxing venue.

Re: Leitai competition for TCMA

PostPosted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 9:10 pm
by Trick
A hole in the ground?...saw that in a Conan movie

Re: Leitai competition for TCMA

PostPosted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 10:12 pm
by origami_itto
Not very mobile