It is 3am and I just arrived 12 hours ago. At this moment I wish that USA athletes would have responded to this invitation because it was a great experience. I want to congratulate Reynaldo Rosario and Emily Katy Burgos students of Shifu Hector Santiago of Puerto Rico Wu Shu Society. I am very proud that with only 2 months to prepare since my seminar last december they decided to go and Win! Reynaldo competed in 3 events agains 15-18 athletes and emerged with a 2nd Place in Nanquan with a total score of 9.483 and a 2nd Place in Gun Shu with a total of 9.566, his third event he came in 7th Place with 9.3. Emily Katy took 2nd Place in Nan Dao with a total score of 9.133 in her Nanquan she took 7th Place with a total of 8.933 and her Nangun she took 5th place with 9.083. Since Puerto Rico is considered part of the USA they represented the American Wu Shu Society but the credit should go to Puerto Rico. Congratulations once again for your courage and sacrifices, imagine two caribbean people in Russia against powerful and serious athletes from many regions of Russia and East Europe.

I want to thank our most gracious host Ms. Eleonora Volokontseva. She impressed me more then anyone in my Wu Shu life. This lady is not only serious about Wu Shu but in every aspect super professional. She said we are the first group of Wu Shu athletes that has set foot in Russia for competition. If the IWuF Championship last year been in Moscow as the original plan then we would have been the 2nd group.....

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We were greated at the airport by Ms. Eleonora and 3 of her dedicated students: Alexander Ivanov, Reingold, and another Alexander. The weather was expected at 40F below 0. I thought New York was colder before I left. We had a nice dinner before going to the Athletes hotel. First 2 days Ms Eleonora wanted us to have a city tour and a tour of the famous Hermitage Museum. We had guides who gave us the history of everything we saw. I believe there are about 13 bridges in St Petersburg that separate all the districts. All the man made canals were frozen solid in ice. Cool to see people walking across but I would not dare. At this moment I also want to give my gratitude to Reingold who made time to go with us and help us with everything we asked, he was very busy with the responsibility to greet all teams and check them in and deal with problems that may occur. This man never rested and always with a smile. Ms Eleonora took me to a fancy Russian Restaurant beautifully decorated about 45 minutes away from the hotel. It was in the middle of a forest covered in snow, the food was delicious and I tried their Russian caviar, baked salmon and small potatoes and a glass of hot red wine. For the people who know me I do not drink. But as the old saying goes "when in rome do as the romans do". I really enjoyed the huge man made ice skating rink right outside the restaurant. I thought of snoopy skating figure eights there. There were children rides that spin around so Ms Eleonora sat on one side and Alexander started to make it spin and she told me to jump in. I enjoyed that evening.

The VI International Wu Shu Championship took place in the Military Space Academy of Mojaisky. The place was nicely decorated and very professional. The judges all dressed up and marched in. The scoring system was computerized. Ms. Eleonora conducted seminars 2 days before the event and I was invited to sit and share views and make comments, so I did. Ms. Eleonora is President of Wu Shu Association of Baltic and Nordic Countries as well as St Petersburg Sporting Wu Shu Federation. She had success in inviting 6 athletes from the Professional Shanghai Wu Shu team to her event last November. Shanghai leaders pay her respect and offer their support. Her students are incredible. They all competed in 13 events. How many athletes in the USA are prepared for 5 events? I saw her athletes go from one event to the next without any signs of fatigue. They train 6 days a week and one day outdoors they run almost naked in the cold to toughen up. These people are super human yet the girls stay pretty and the males handsome, all respectful and serious.

I met many team leaders and spent many nights till 3am chatting, eating and watching them drink. It was funny because after a few hours of Russian I could understand what they were saying. HAHA! I was very happy to see my brother Master Oleg Chukanov from Brovary region of Kiev in Ukraine. With him went the Miami USA Champions Andrey "Valentino" Koval and Aleksey "Don Juan" Nosach. He brought several of his students I met when I was visiting them last year. I saw them competing and WOW they all do acrobatics no matter how big they are. Andrey Koval took the Men's All around event after having high fever the week before the competition. The women's Champion was Ms. Eleonora student Ekaterina Iordanidi. I enjoyed the optional routines, fightting sets and group demos. I have some great photos you can see in the Photo Gallery.

While I am out dealing with leaders Rey and Katy are chatting with the athletes and during meals they are making friends with the 400 girls that work in the Athletes hotel called Yunost Hotel. It is a place where young people go to train and learn all aspects of running a hotel from Staff, Administrators to cooks. I guess for young men it would have been heaven. All the girls were pretty and loved to giggle when they saw us Americans Pansies. At times I wondered when I saw people flocking to Rey and Katy, what are they saying to each other. I had a little boy named Vyacheslav Zemskov who followed me everywhere trying to talk to me in his best English. I was so proud of him when he won 1st place in Traditional fist representing the Flying Tiger sports club.

Ms. Eleonora bombarded me with tons of CD's of her pupils in training and their methods. Since Shanghai leaders respect her she has new rules and changes for judging and the new difficulty level in taolu competition. When the event was over the ceremony was first focused on the team leaders and coaches then the athletes. Television coveraged was aired on the last day of competition. In closing I will say that for Rey and Katy this was an adventure of a lifetime and for me a heart felt meeting having united with someone who has the same passion I have for this art and who will let nothing stop the goals set forth. I am an inovator, I sponsored the professional Wu Shu team in the early 90's which made all other martial arts respect Wu Shu. In 2002 and 2005 I hosted the first and second Wu Shu and Hip Hop competitions in the USA and now I brought the first USA athletes into Russian soil.... Thank you and God bless Ms. Eleonora Volokontseva.