Prom Coast Martial Arts Club at International Martial Art Games .
The 5th IMGC games were recently held for the first time in Australia at the Victorian State Netball Centre. These games are held every 2 years, the governing body being the International Martial Arts Games Committee (IMGC), for the Melbourne games Karate Alliance Australia had responsibility of running the event. The aim of the IMGC is to have the various martial art disciplines included into the Olympic program. Over 650 people from 22 countries competed in Melbourne, many of these countries sent their national squads with elite competitors.
Prom Coast Martial Arts Club (PCMA) were invited by Grandmaster Chor of the Celestial tai Chi College to enter teams for Chen Style Tai Chi competition and to participate in a Tai Chi demonstration at the games closing ceremony. PCMA students under the guidance of senior instructors Andy and Karen Law put in great effort over several months of extra training sessions in preparation for the games, with the original intention being to perform at the closing ceremony only, a late request for PCMA to compete saw the focus shift and some very nervous students. However adopting the Tai Chi principles of Yin Yang (the continuing change of all things in the natural world) this nervousness was overcome to such an extent that the 3 competing teams comprising, Team 1 – Andy & Karen Law, Terry and Ros Noyes, Team 2- Simone Cicero, Rhonda Cousens, Kyle Robinson and John Mathews, Team 3 – Micheal Adamek, Janyce Mathews, Wendy Wright and Nicole Cooper excelled with Gold medals awarded to team 1 , Silver medals to team 2 and Bronze medals to team 3. The medals not as important as the fact that all involved put on a great exhibition of Chen style Tai Chi for the crowd and judging panel. Andy and Karen joined with 3 instructors from the Celestial Tai Chi College for Competition in Yang style Tai Chi and were successful in winning silver medals in this division to go along with earlier success. The closing ceremony was held late in the evening with a variety of martial art styles on show for all to see, Andy & Karen Law, Nicole Cooper and Terry Noyes joined with other instructors from Celestial Tai Chi College to form a group of 20 people to perform Yang style Beijing 24, after so many demonstrations of hard style martial arts it was noted by many in the crowd of the calming effect that came over the stadium during this performance.
This was great experience for Prom Coast Martial Arts Club students. All competitors had a great sense of achievement and also the realisation that with a clear mind and open/relaxed body things like better health are certainly more achievable through properly instructed Tai Chi practice.
The next 2015 IMGC games will most likely be held in India, Andy and Karen look forward to the Indian games, hopefully attending with a group of students from PCMA club. Andy has previously performed demonstrations at the 2009 IMGC games in Pyongyang, DPRK and the 2011 IMGC games in Taillin, Estonia.
Competition and performing demonstrations are not the goal of PCMA club, but it is a good way to test how your training is progressing, the focus for PCMA club is to give accurate instruction so as students adhere to the principles of this ancient art as passed on by the true Tai Chi masters.
Anyone interested in Tai Chi or Qigong practice whether a beginner or advanced is welcome to come along to PCMA training in Foster or Inverloch.
For further information see website www.promcoastmartialartsclub.com.au or phone Andy on 0409871305 (AH) or Karen on 0438871188
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