i had a blast working as annoucer for Cal’s UC Open. I also got my groove on with the Recess gang at the Chi Chi club.
Well, last week, I woke up early almost every day, including my Sat. I showed up at Haas Pavilion to report for annoucing duty at the 33rd Annual UC Open TKD Championships.
“Inside the arena, the announcer called out, “Competitors, it’s time to rumble! It’s time to fight.” On blue mats, fighters began the sparring competition in a frenzy of controlled spins, punches and kicks, punctuated by sharp “kiyahs!” “huhs!” or the occasional “arrrrs!”
Ok – for the record, that was Percy, from wu-shu….The tournament director told him afterwards to tone down the attiude….it was still funny. As a side note, some of the elementary school aged kids heard the announcement and told each other – “Did you hear what he said? It’s time to fight…” ah…the influence we wielded up there over such impressionable minds.
Before the sparring – we saw George doing push-ups on the mat. We got his attention and showed him we wanted push-ups with three fingers (just like our Hankido practice!) he protested because of a hurt wrist, I think, and he did one-armed push-ups instead. Cool.
From the VIP section, were we did our annoucing gig – we could see all seven rings – where the competitors first completed their forms – “poomse” and then later did their sparring matches. Pomse had as much of the kiyups and grunting as the sparring matches. It’s wonderful to see how much control some folks had on their kicks – some demonstrated the ablity to suspend their kick in mid-air – holding high a beautiful extend leg and bring it down with control. Some also had this cool rotating thing – kicking in a circle, without touching the ground.
Only black belts, over the age of 12 were allowed points for head contact during the sparring matches.
Our annoucing duties included paging competitors to their rings and to the awards table. Occasionally some competitors take a pretty hard hit to the head and we have to call the medic over, along with a request for bucket to sponge off the blood. For folks with misfortune of getting in the crotch – they get a count down to orient themselves. (men and women – honest, I saw one female black belt taking a hard hit to the lower regions and it looked painful – I don’t want to be on the recieving end of that blow – who would?). My experience is with Hankido and I don’t know much about TKD – from the sparring matches, it didn’t look like blocking was a major concern for anybody. One guy had this wierd hip thrusting move and I guess it was to pysch out his opponent – to make him think he was going for one move, but “pysch!”
The little upper-ranked kids were awsome! So much energy and they kept coming at each other without fear and hestitation. It’s amazing to be that young and courageous, I suppose before they learn how to fear the pain. I remember what it’s like to feel invinclible for skating, as child. To rip it up on the ice without thinking about bruises or smacking my head into the ground. Before the sparring matches, I saw some kids over at ring 1 – using their long belts to whip each other – they were just playing. It was cute.
Later that evening – Wes and I hit Chi Chi, in north beach, for a private party with the Recess gang. Wes filed this story for the e-zine. Roger said he had 700 people on the guest list – after 10pm – the club looked like it had at least 2/3 of that number on the dance floor. It was hot and crazy and I couldn’t feel any ventilation. It was nice to get to the club early, grab a table and chill with the trip hop in the air. I also saw Kenny, from my first year in the dorms – sixth floor, spens black…
And here’s Scott’s t-shirt design for our Hall:
