Dampen ICMAC Spirits
SAN DIEGO—It wasn’t the turnout he’d hoped for, certainly not the turnout he expected, but that failed to dampen Nick Scrima’s enthusiasm as he surveyed a quiet ballroom at the Town & Country resort here.

He has said on more than one occasion that he’s in it for the long haul, and neither words nor weather will rain on his Chinese martial arts parade.
Image“You know,” he admitted during a break in his ICMAC tournament here, “there are people out there who don’t want us to succeed.” Now, just to be clear he wasn’t speaking of Mother Nature, which chose a horrible time to carve a rain-soaked swath through typically arid Southern California. The weeklong deluge all but destroyed walk-up pre-registration (5) and forced another 70 who paid early to sit in airports waiting for flights to nowhere.

Image Which is a shame, because once again Scrima, along with co-sponsor Su Zifang, staged a first-class event, at a first-rate venue with five-star judges.  When you can convince the likes of Daniel Wang, Lei Man Iam, Jose Johnson, Bryant Fong, Li Jing, David Dorian-Ross, Doria Cook-Nelson, and Liu Yiu to appear on the same carpet, you have history in the making. The 400 and change that braved hell and high water (in some cases literally) to attend the ICMAC 2010 National Kick-Off Tournament once again were treated to the type of we’ve excellence come to expect from a Nick Scrima traditional Chinese martial arts event.

ImageThe Master’s Demo once again was the highlight of the weekend. Those performing included: the Lohan School of Shaolin, lion dance; Andre Magnum, tiger; Jing Institute, performing group wushu, straight sword, group taiji and bagua; Punshak Tienvinboon, piqua dao; Rez Levinson, da baji; Wei Wei, taiji dao; Mark Purkeypile, ying jow great hero fist; Chris Luth, small frame Yang taiji; Ben Zhang Shaolin School, group demo; Fan Kam Hong and Fong Mei In, double fan; Kenny Perez, 3-section staff; Liu Yiu, taiji; Michael Desargo’s San Diego Fighting Arts Academy; Andrew Lengyel, leopard fist; Troy Dunwood, tian bao pai; Benson Lee, lohan kuen; master Bing, Wudang quan & horsetail wisk; Daniel Wang, combined taiji; Jason Tsou, piquazhang; Bryant Fong, Chen bagua fan; Lei Man Iam, Chen taji; and John Oliver, breaking.

Image The Orlando, Fla., promoter knows full well there are plenty of Chinese masters who are hoping disaster—man-made or natural—strikes Scrima at every turn. It’s the Chinese way of hoping someone fails even if it means you fail to.  

Image“Nothing anyone says or does will keep me from trying to help Chinese martial arts grow,” explained Scrima, who coaxed Johnson from Pennsylvania to serve as event coordinator. “We will push on and will make sure everyone knows we are in it for the long haul. We are committed to a full schedule of tournaments in 2010 (including stops in Italy) and have already booked the Town & Country for 2011.”