Martial Arts NY now on Twitter

Now you can follow us on twitter. Our posts are also over on the right hand side of all blog pages - take a look!

34th Annual Zhang San Feng Festival

张三丰 Zhang San Feng

The 34th annual Zhang San Feng Festival will be held June 4th-7th, 2009 at the Nevele Grande Resort in the Catskills region of New York. Named for the mythical Daoist hermit regarded by many as the founder of tai chi (太极拳 tai ji quan), the annual Zhang San Feng Festival is a time honored event begun by the late tai chi Grandmaster Jou Tsung Hwa, and held for many years at his legendary 103-acre Tai Chi Farm.

In recent years the Festival has evolved into a world class event which brings together some of the best and brightest teachers and authors in tai chi, qigong and the related arts, to teach three days of incredible and informative workshops. Each night also includes exciting evening activities. This event will be a treasure trove of opportunity for all interested in Tai Chi & Qigong, from beginners to advanced.

World Tai Chi & Qigong Day founder, Bill Douglas, will be delivering this year's keynote address at the Festival on Friday evening, June 5th. Bill will also be adding his unique energies to the event by joining the other master instructors in teaching a few workshops throughout the weekend. WTCQD will have a table at the conference as well, where Bill will demonstrate his Sitting Qigong.

The early-bird discount for Festival registration ends May 15th - to register go to taichifest.com

Kickboxing Smoker on Saturday, June 13th

From David Ross of NY Sanda -

I've decided that in the interests of keeping everyone in the region active and building the community I will use the gym to hold a "smoker" event on Saturday, June 13th.

• ONLY KICKBOXING STYLES (Mauy Thai, San Da, International, American)
• ONLY AMATEURS
• FULL EQUIPMENT (head gear, shin pads, etc)

"Smokers" - 3 rounds with no decision. You may be able to fight more than once (ie if there are 4 people at 146.9 you can fight twice).

Since I will be insuring the event and have medical staff present, I am asking that everyone pay $10 towards the costs. That's $10 to fight at least once, upwards of three times. Spectators will also be $10.

Register at http://www.kingofsanda.net/
If that link is not working, try http://www.angelfire.com/sd2/kingofsanda/

Let's keep our students active and build our community ties!

David A Ross
New York San Da
www.NYSanDa.com
(212) 239 8619

New York Fighting Championship

The New York Fighting Championship is a new organization putting together... you guessed it, a fighting championship. Not exactly sure what rules they'll be using - clicking on the link for "Rules" give you a list of links to other organization's rules. Take a look.

Rest In Peace Shihan Angel Muniz

I received this email the other day. While Shihan Muniz was based in New Jersey, and we don't list schools in New Jersey (mainly due to time constraints), there are a lot of interconnections between all the martial artists in the tri-state area. Best wishes to Shihan Muniz and his school...

This touching tribute is from Sifu Ruben Torres of Kido-Ryu Martial Arts Center in Brooklyn.

To the artists out there who knew Shihan Angel "The Tiger" Muniz - World Kickboxing Champion - of Muniz SHOTOKAN KARATE & KICKBOXING ACADEMY

This afternoon 4/29/09 Angel passed away from a case of cancer. I visited him last month at the East Brunswick Hospital in New Jersey. I was fortunate enough to catch a ride with Professor Lou Ferrer and his Black Belts from the USA Kodokan in Brooklyn, New York. It would be the last time my daughter and I would see him. We had last taken photos with him at the 2007 World Karate Union Hall of Fame Banquet where he received Induction for "Outstanding Contributions to the Martial Arts" at the Le Chateau Resort & Hotel in Mt. Poconos, Pa. I think he was celebrating his 7th World Championship Title? I am going to miss him. He was a great champion, and excellent artist, a husband, a father, a teacher, a mentor, and a wonderful friend.

Martial Arts and Social Networking

Here's a good basic introduction to social networking for martial artists, gym owners, instructors, et cetera, from Ronin 2.0.

The only NYC martial arts school I know of on Twitter is CityWingTsun. Take a look at their twitter account to see how you can increase your connections with students, potential students, colleagues etc on the web. If you have a blog, facebook page, whatever, let me know and I'll post it up here to share.

Enjoy!