STARK STREET ACADEMY OF KUNG FU PRESENTS

THE CROPPER FRIENDSHIP TOURNAMENT 2006

Si-fu Rick Cropper opened the tournament for our younger classmates aged 12 and below at about 11:00 am on April 22, 2006. Mistymarie opened the event with the national anthem. She is a student in the Adult beginner’s class. She did an excellent job. Good luck on the belt test coming up Misty!

This was my first “Kids Only” tournament and it was a lot of fun. Everyone won! For 1^st through 7^th places they got a big trophy all the other winners got a medal with a red, white and blue ribbon that went around their neck.

For my family the school is our family activity, but my youngest is 17 now. Some of the very young ones were so cute in this competition that we had to stop in awe on a few occasions. We ran two rings and the place was packed. As near as I could tell everyone had a good time. Good sportsmanship was encouraged at every turn.

Some of the events that really caught some of us were one tiny girl in the younger division that really showed a lot of spirit with good technique. On the other side in the middle age group two competitors in sparing accidentally hurt each other and when they were teared up and apologizing to each other, many of us including those of us that did not have kids of our own were tearing up. No one wants to see anyone hurt in these competitions and thankfully there were no real injuries this day. I missed kick to the stomach or leg still smarts.

All of the judges were really good with the kids. One thing to note, this competition was open to many different schools and there was a good showing from many different schools. There were American, Chinese and Japanese styles in the forms. Among titles that I heard were Teacher, Master, Si-fu and Sensei just to name some. More than once I saw upper ranks from other schools step in and coach for competitors that did not have a coach on hand.

Many of us from Si-fu Cropper’s Kwoon as well as outside assisted with score keeping timing, clean up, registration and just being there to lend a hand where needed. As I new person to this Kwoon I am really impressed with the friendly environment. We may “compete” in forms and sparing, but each student takes an active interest in helping their classmates succeed with their goals as well. The friendliness that Si-fu Cropper fosters goes way out into the martial arts community as well.

I was both impressed and had a lot of fun at this event.

-One of Si-fu Cropper’s Students.