Sifu Slaughter’s Students Compete at Master Zang’s Tournament

Sifu Slaughter’s Chinese Martial Arts school competed in the Zang Invitational Martial Arts Championship on Saturday November 13, 2021.  The school was represented in individual competition by 4 of Sifu’s senior black belt students, joined by 8 color belt students competing for the first time as part of Sifu Slaughter’s demo team.

Sifu Slaughter's students that competed (left to right): Ryan Barnes, Celia Bauer, Susan Cruz, and Barb Dakin

The black belts competed in individual open hand forms (called “patterns” in tae kwon-do tradition), individual weapons forms, and as part of the demo team with the color belts. They did well against fierce competition, winning 2 gold medals and 3 bronze medals in the individual competitions, with the 2 gold medalists competing in the Grand Championship finals.

Sifu Slaughter's Demo Team

Brilliant competitive demonstrations were performed by the attending schools’ demo teams in between black-belt competition in the morning and color-belt competition in the afternoon, with trophies awarded for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place.  The ZANG TKD and Master Gorino demo teams performed impressive group synchronized taekwondo patterns, realistic self-defense dramatizations, Chinese dragon ceremony, and board-breaking demonstrations with amazing flying kicks! Sifu Slaughter’s demo team performed open hand and weapons synchronization, two-person weapons fighting forms, and double-weapon forms, taking 3rd place in the competition. A big congratulations to the color belts who performed flawlessly in their first tournament competition!

It was wonderful to see all our friends from the taekwondo community again, and we are grateful to be included. Watching the intensity, control, and power of their performances always inspires us to work harder at our own art and gives us a greater appreciation for the beauty and variety of other martial arts disciplines.

Many thanks to Sifu Slaughter for all his hard work and patience in working with his students to prepare them for this tournament, and many thanks to Master Zang, Master Gorino, the many judges and scorekeepers who volunteered their time, and all the folks who help organize and help make these tournaments a reality.

And a big thank you to all who performed!

For more information on Master Zang and Zang TKD see https://www.zangtkd.com/