Once again, I’m impressed by so many things at our tournament on Saturday, 11/3. Students and instructors from Chalfont, Ambler, Harleysville, Chester Springs, Mechanicsburg and Montgomery County Community College came to compete and have fun, and the event and the people did NOT disappoint!
Unlike what many may think or assume about Martial Arts tournaments because of TV and movies, our tournaments are fun and competitive. There are no “Cobra Kai” schools out to be bullies and must be defeated to insure a happy ending. (Though there WERE a few “Crane Kicks” that I saw happen in sparring!)
Students compete in Forms (Pre-arranged moves that look like fights against imaginary opponents), Sparring (Fighting to score points under a specific set of rules) and Self Defense (Doing short self defense techniques against an attacking partner).
The instructors, judges, staff, assistants, Leadership Students and Masters are there to help the event go as smoothly as possible. There’s usually at least one hiccup that throws things off a little (for instance, this year, it was a slight change from last year on the schedule that had unintended conflict problems and threw off the events schedule.)
Over all, knowing how many things are going on at once, and how many people are involved both from the organizational side and from the participant side, a couple of mild “glitches” don’t come close to having any negative impact on the event.
A few shout outs:
To the competitors who won trophies: Congratulations! You earned your trophies because of your hard work. Don’t think for a minute that other students won’t work even harder to try to win their own trophy next time! Keep up that hard work!
To the competitors who did not win a trophy: Congratulations! You impressed me by getting out there and doing a performance in front of a large crowd of family and strangers. You were better than every single person who didn’t compete at all that day! You make your family and your instructors proud because getting out there and doing what you did is NOT EASY! Congratulations again!
To the parents and family of students: Thank you for taking the time out of your increasingly busy schedules to come and be a part. The Martial Arts is a truly fantastic activity for students to be a part of. The benefits gained from these events do benefit the students, and you are a part of that! Thank you!
To the Staff who helped out “behind the scenes”: Front desk, set up, clean up, and everything in between. Without the Staff, this event is a WHOLE lot more difficult, maybe even impossible!
To the Leadership Students: Often times the “judges” and “instructors” get all of the credit for the tournament, but how much the Leadership students pitch in is well known. Getting the trophies unpacked, organized and set up with the right divisions, setting up tables and chairs, running around to clean and cheer for people you don’t even know, helping with sparring gear, on and on. It doesn’t go unnoticed. And on top of all the above, you all competed, and many even were a part of the demo team performance. Many people won’t know how hard you worked, but we do!
To the Demo Teams from Chalfont and Chester Springs: Thank you for taking time out of your own lives (They don’t practice in their regular class times, they come in EXTRA!) to put on a show that entertains many. You should all be proud that your hard work and dedication pays off in such a fantastic way. I have watched the demo team performance video more than once and still get goose bumps each time! The Chester Springs demo team is fairly new, but the Chalfont team has been performing 2-4 times a year for over 10 years now. Originally started by Tori Williams and Brian Kissig as teenagers, it’s grown and shrunk over the years as we see our members get older (This performance lost Ashleigh and Kevin (Now the team’s coaches), Kylin, Pooja, Likhit and Henry to college, from the performers! That’s a BIG hit to take) but the new members step up every year and keep the team and the performances strong! Keep on Rocking!
To the instructors and judges: How hard you prepared your students for this event and then got to see your hard work (and theirs of course) pay off with their performance is a reward in itself. Seeing the judges keep the crowd engaged, the students performing their best (even while nervous, scared, overwhelmed, etc.) and lots of laughter and cheering is the bonus you all get to actually see. Thank you all!
Thank you all for such a great event, in so many ways. Please post your pictures and video of the event to social media. Friend and tag “Villaris Chalfont” on Facebook or VillarisChalfont on Instagram.
Have a great weekend!
Master Pfister
p.s. Personal shout out to my own family, who give up one of their days off from their own lives to do whatever is needed to help make this tournament happen. THANK YOU!