Look for our next event in October/November, 2011

We had promised everyone real fireworks for the Inaugural "Golden Gate" Chinese Martial Arts Championship and we delivered!

Competitors line-up for the Opening Ceremonies at the Golden Gate Championship

On July 2-4, 2010 Master Tat-Mau Wong and Master Nick Scrima welcomed hundreds of competitors and guests from all over the Continental United States and as far away as China, Brazil, Chile, Spain, Italy, Canada and several other countries to the the City of San Francisco for the Inaugural "Golden Gate" Chinese Martial Arts Championship.

The tournament was hosted in the huge Yerba Buena Ballroom at magnificent Marriott Marquis which is located in the hearth of downtown San Francisco. The large venue provided plenty of space to accommodate 8 large rings and seating for 2000 spectators.

The championship begin promptly with the Opening Ceremonies getting underway at 9:30am.competitors were lead into the huge ballroom by 5 Lions. The ceremonies continued with the Traditional Lion Dance and was followed with opening remarks by Master Wong and Master Scrima. The competition got started as scheduled at 10:00am sharp!

All 8 Rings were busy with action and excitement as competitors tried their best in their respective categories. The competition continued none-stop until late afternoon with the Sport Sanda Ring drawing lots of attention from spectators.

The Sport Sanda Ring was filled with fast fighting action and was a big hit with the audience

Master Wong put together a dynamic and hard working team of volunteers who attended promptly to all the competitors and judges needs. This was a big factor in insuring the smooth operation of the tournament.

The VIP table featured many famous masters, movie stars and personalities

The Golden Gate tournament was attended and supported by numerous renowned masters and personalities of the Chinese martial arts community, among these was Grandmaster Poon Sing who made the trip all the way from Hong Kong to support Master Wong. Also in attendance in no particular order were: Stephen Chang, Eric Lee, David Leong, Gini Lau, Henry Look, Bryant Fong, Carlos Navarro, Douglas Wong, Carrie Wong, Antwione Alferos, Kan Gui Xiang, Men Kan Hong, Walter Lorini, Robert Ito, Dave Cater , John Olivier, Man Sing, Al Novack, Bill Owens, Clarence Lee, Daniel Leung, David Louie, Diana Chung, Dino Salvatera, Gary Low, James Wong, Joe Chu, Lee Xue, Lok Sang Lee, Michael Lau, Ming Lum, Nai Tam, Norman Chin, Patrick Au, Sam Deng, Sammy Louie, Shu Dong Li, Tim Alemany, Vince Lacey, William Cheung, Yung-Chi Chung.

The Masters Demonstration on Saturday evening was electrifying and featured several Masters in their 80's who astounded the audience with their skills. The show was filled with over two hours of exciting performances and the large crowd was thrilled as each performance was followed by yet more thrilling action. The Masters Demonstration alone was worth making the effort to attend the championship.

Sparring action on Sunday

On Sunday morning the competition resumed with all the Continuous Sparring, Push-Hands and Chi Sao. Soon all rings were busy with competitors vying for top placement in various categories and skill levels. There was a crescendo of action and anticipation as the finals neared. The judges did a marvelous job in controlling the fights and the audience, competitors and coaches demonstrated welcomed sportsmanship which enhanced the competition.

An overview of some of Saturday's competition

Every successful tournament is staffed with hard working and diligent judges and we want to recognize them and acknowledge here in alphabetical order: Emilio Alpanseque, Graham Baker, Peter Barbosa, Kyle Brown,Alex Cardenas, John Cho, Jeff Chow, Dennis Chu, Ken Chun,Joe Crandall, Michael De Alba, Francisco De Paula, William Der, Susan Deter, Bryant Fong, Glenn Gee, Filipe Godoy, Brent Hamby,Don Hamby, Isaac Hamilton, Tyler Hanamura, Thomas Horton,Johnny Jang, Scott Jensen, Marvin Jew, Victor Kim, Shane Lacey, Reggie Lamborn, Eddie Lane, Ron Lee, Herb Leong, Linda Leong, Gordon Lew, Robert Louie, Tom Louie, Sylvia Ma,Paul Mowrey, Victor Munoz, Joseph Ng, Enrique Ortega, Daniel Ostrow, Richard Ow, John Palmer, Lynn Palmer, Jody Perry, Anthony Ragbotra, Gerald Ronan, Angie Rouede, Patrick Schleeter, Bill Smith, Shoko Takegoshi, Joan Tay, Eliza Van, Richard Van, John Wang, Ron Willis, Matt Wong, Scott Yee.

We want to give special recognition to David Law for serving as coordinator, Jeff Chow for overseeing the Sport Sanda and Michele Harris for doing so much work behind the scenes.

We want to extend our gratitude and heartfelt appreciation to all the Vips, judges, competitors, volunteers, and spectators who helped make the Inaugural "Golden Gate" Chinese Martial Arts Championship a success. Your support and dedication has made all our efforts and hard work more than worthwhile and we have already begun work on next year's event to present you with a bigger and better tournament.

With gratitude and friendship,

Master Tat-Mau Wong and Master Nick Scrima

For additional information and to get involved in the ICMAC Worldwide Circuit please contact Nick Scrima at: Nick.Scrima@kungfuchampionship.com

Chinese speaking masters and competitors may contact Master Tat-Mau Wong at:

tatwongsf@yahoo.com