The West Coast Martial Arts Championships are coming this weekend to the BCIT Campus.

This year we will again be a two day event. Friday night will be Modified Muay Thai action. Saturday will include Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Submission Grappling and SKIL rules Sport Karate forms and fighting.

More Info:

Website: http://wcmac.ca/

Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=150089221734025

The folks at Stand Up Muay Thai put up a nice video of one of their fighters at WCMAC 2010, Paul ‘The Fury’ Kim, who is in his first tournament after only 3 months of training. Way to go Paul, Kru, and Tony with your new fighter.

Here is the submission grappling novice finals:

And Apex Martial Arts provided this video, JP’s gold medal match:

Meanwhile on Saturday, you might have been wondering what the other people were doing, you know, those folks who arent really interested in martial arts. I managed to find a video documenting what people got up to on the fine October day:

This proves my point, if you arent into martial arts, you are some kind of zombie.

Martial Arts Nomad was back at the 2010 Western Canadian Martial Arts Championships on day 2 to cover Brazilian Jiu-jitsu and Submission Grappling action on the mats.  There are some damn good wrestlers out there, even in the 1 year and under divisions. I have been doing BJJ for about 4 months now myself and when I watch these guys, I wonder how I am ever going to get as good as any of these guys… But Sensei Ali told me not to worry, its all about mat time, just keep going to class.

While my blog does focus a bit more on wrestling and kickboxing, I also took a few shots of the kung fu, karate, and kata at the tournament. When so many diverse disciplines come together at a tournament, I begin to see martial arts as a social movement, where people of all ages and walks of life come together to challenge themselves and each other.

Flickr Link.

Victor Wang from Posners and Trevor Dueck of MMAsucka.com.

Rear naked choke

Division winners Kiarash Moghaddam and Victor Wang

Karate high kick

WCMAC 2010 Tournament

Flickr Link.

Friday night action at WCMAC 2010 on Friday night included modified Muay Thai and Junior MMA Tournament fighting. Here are some of the shots I took.The full set is on my flickr pool (link).

The full set is on my flickr pool (link).

Saturday at the 2009 Western Canadian Martial Arts Championships featured Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and Submission Wrestling. The event was as well attended as the night before at the big gymnasium at BCIT. Even MMA fighter Kalib Starnes came by to cheer on his friends. There were also a couple of entries from the gym where I train, Versus21.

Full Flickr set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/superwebdeveloper/sets/72157622532152799/

Full Flickr set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/superwebdeveloper/sets/72157622532152799/

Here are some shots of the Karate and Tae Kwon Do action at the 2009 Western Canadian Martial Arts Championships on Saturday.

Full Flickr set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/superwebdeveloper/sets/72157622656455388/

Full Flickr set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/superwebdeveloper/sets/72157622656455388/

Friday night for the 2009 Western Canadian Martial Arts Championships was well attended, with lots of action. I’m still getting to know my new D90 and shooting action photography is a good place to give a new camera a real workout. Its also a good chance for me to watch fighters up close and seeing what really works. You can bet that its always things like good combinations, staying on your opponent, speed, aggression, and conditioning that work here just like anywhere else.So while I am there to shoot photos, I am also there for a bit of an education.

I would also mention that the Modified Muay Thai event was also paired with Kung Fu on the North side of the arena. While the crowd was focused on the fights, there were Kung Fu demonstrations, with Tai-chi, and competitors performing routines with staff, sword, and other weapons. Although I dont focus much on those events in this photoset, I have always found the art of Kung Fu remarkable to watch.

Enjoy the photos below, or dive into the whole photo set at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/superwebdeveloper/sets/72157622650374528/

The stands were packed for fight night at BCIT

Kung Fu demonstration

As I mentioned above, This full photoset is available on my flickr site