Saint Petersburg, Russia May 22-26, 2011

Despite the hardships of trying to get a US Kempo Team together on short notice, and the fact that people must deal with their "real" life, The US Kempo Team was able to participate in the 2011 World Kempo Championship Tournament in Saint Petersburg, Russia, this past May 22-26, 2011.

A Team Of "One", was our theme this year...mostly because we only had one member on the team this year.  Shihan Robert Zingg, of Ranson, West Virginia, the US Kempo Team Leader, was the only person who was able to pull it all together and make this years tournament.

Much of the hardship and trouble we have experienced this year has been due to the down economy and the short notice we received on the timing of this year's competition.  Preliminary notice was given in mid January 2011 that the tournament would be held in mid-May the same year, and not until mid-February did the team leader receive the exact itinerary and travel information from the tournament host.  Needless to say, mid-February to mid-May is not a lot of time to recruit team members and make travel plans for the everyday Americans that make up our team.  We all have regular jobs and need to make proper arrangements with our employers to take the time off, raise travel expenses, organize someone to take over the training at the dojos, etc,.  And unfortunately, some of our team members are unemployed, or newly employed, which puts a special burden on them.  

Additionally, sponsorships have been especially difficult to come by, and the donations from the local Mom and Pop stores that make up a large portion of any individual team member or general team fund raising did not materialize this year.  Everyone was keeping their money close to their vests this year. I got lots of offers to wear a sponsors t-shirt or board shorts with their logo on them, (for just the t-shirt mind you, no additional monetary donation), and when I explained that I actually needed real "money" to purchase airline tickets, hotel rooms, and food, for my fighters I got a: "We have already spent our sponsorship allowance for this year" response.

So, Shihan Zingg took the plunge and made the trip alone to keep a US presence in the World Championships.  Shihan Zingg arrived a few days early, as usual, thinking all the teams would be arriving early, like always, in order to conduct the normal board meetings and rules committee meeting, etc.., however, he discovered upon his arrival no other team was due to arrive for 2 more days!  So, he went sightseeing!  Saint Petersburg is a wonderful and beautiful city full of amazing art and architecture. The adventure of using a foreign cities subway and bus system, and trying to decipher maps and signs in Cyrillic, proved challenging, but not insurmountable.   

After a day or two, some of the teams started arriving and Shihan Zingg started renewing acquaintances with old friends from Tunisia and Algeria, unfortunately they don't speak a whole lot of English and Shihan's Arabic and French are non-existent.   But, with a lot of gesturing, talking loudly to each other, and laughing hysterically, they managed to communicate OK.

Finally, Shihan Zingg's old friend from the Netherlands, Cody Duyster, arrived (and he speaks excellent English), so Shihan finally had a buddy to pal around with until the event go started.  Shihan Zingg lamented the fact that he only studied Spanish in high school!

As the competition got started Shihan Zingg came up with two Silver medals right away in Men's Senior Masters Kata and Weapons Kata.  He came up short against his old rival Shihan Velin Hadjolov of Bulgaria. The last time Shihan Zingg won against Shihan Hadjolov was in Weapons in 2007 in Budapest, Hungary.  Since then, Shihan Hadjolov has been able to win out over Shihan Zingg each time they have gone against each other, with Shihan Zingg either winning the silver or Bronze to him.  It is a friendly rivalry and Shihan Zingg made a friendly promise to Shihan Hadjolov the NEXT he would beat him.  They both a had a good laugh and they shook hands. After Shihan Hadjolov's victory he said he would welcome the challenge from Shihan Zingg in 2012.

Shihan Robert Zingg Results:

Senior Masters Division - 36 years old and over

Gold - Weapons fighting

Silver - Full-contact K-1 Style Kickboxing +95 kilos

Silver - Senior Masters Kata

Silver - Senior masters Weapons Kata

Bronze - Full-contact Knockdown Fighting +95 kilos

4th Place - Grappling +95 kilos

 



 











So, you wanna

join the

TEAM,

huh? 

Do you have what it takes?

Just look below!

 ________________________________

1. Complete Name

2. Age, DOB,

3. Gender

4. Height, Weight

5. Rank, Experience level

6. Kempo training history

7. Categories in which you would like to compete, see under: Services -  Types of  Competitions.

8. Compelling biography or introduction.

9. Detailed contact info.

10. Please send to:           info@uskempoteam.com

11. Any hard copy or video/dvd of your abilities may be mailed to:

The US Kempo Team

111 W. 2nd Ave, Suite B

Ranson, WV 25438

 ATTN: Robert Zingg                         Team Tryouts 

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Thank you.