Sanda weekend 25 / 26th of January, 2003

When Earl called me with the request to write something about the past weekend, I though "Where should I start?". With the enthused William Nouchet who managed to combine Sanda theory (referee course) and practice. Or with the Sunday afternoon that I spent with the best ring fighter in the world, Ernesto Hoost. We watched the competition together and had a fascinating talk about various subjects (more about this later). I should start at the beginning.

On Saturday, Januari 25th, the French main referee William Nouchet walked in the Bao Trieu Sportcentre. William Nouchet (an international top referee) had come to hold a trainingscourse for Sanda referees. It is obvious that this man has not only theoretical knowledge as he has been training Wushu since 1980 and became national champion of France in 1987. The course started with a practical lesson in which William dealt with various Sanda techniques. An interesting detail was that William demonstrated the throws and leg techniques simply on the gymnasium floor …! During the class, he instructed us in a few effective basic techniques for both scoring whilst standing up and for a "take down". After this practical lesson, we were taught different aspects of the theory of Sanda. In particular the part about scoring with throws opened up discussions. The experienced referee took all the time needed to respond to the questions in detail. A conclusion that can be drawn is that scoring well in a Sanda competition requires experience and training. Whilst boxers score a point for every strike to the head, this is different in Sanda.

The "bodyguard" of Ernesto Hoost
Sunday, January, 26th

The reunion with some of the 'old boys' was warm and various phone numbers were exchanged immediately. It was amazing to see how Marcel (Westerdiep) instantly lend himself as coach of the new generation of Bao Trieu members. Upon the request for him to give up his job and do this full-time, he nodded in agreement. 'Big Ben' contributed, as always, with the necessary constructive criticism. Unifying forces, the last preparations for the afternoon were completed. This afternoon was all about the Sanda competition. Suddenly he was there … an impressive appearance in the opening of the door of the ALO gymnasium. Quadruple K1 winner 'Mr Perfect' Ernesto Hoost. In order to explain Sanda to Ernesto and to make sure that he could watch the competition in peace, Earl pronounced me Ernesto Hoost's "bodyguard". This made all three of us laugh. We still knew each other from a guest lecture Ernesto had given before for Bao Trieu. We looked for a space at the front of the podium where he admitted not to be very familiar with Sanda yet. Therefore, we went through the scores for each technique.

Sanda / Sanshou is the full contact system of Wushu. Nowadays, it is fought on a platform of 60 cm height and 8x8 metres surface. The fighters try to get each other to fall off this podium. In so doing, they can use different techniques, punches, kicks, throws and sweeps. Targets are the head, the body and the legs. A fight consists of two rounds. If the result is undetermined, another round is fought. A fighter who throws his opponent off the podium twice in a round, wins that round. Furthermore, points can be scored using different techniques.
The origin of this podium lies in the mountains of China. In the old days, one fought in the mountains. As a consequence, the opponent wasn't thrown off the podium but off a mountain and into a ravine. To use the words of Ernesto: "It would appear that the fight is over then." One also fought on elevations such as rooftops whereby spears were placed around the elevation. The fighters risked to fall into these spears when they lost.

In the Netherlands, the level of Sanda fighters is rising quickly. The fight between the Dutch champion Tobias Eijgelshoven (Bao Trieu) against Danny Hoyer (Wushu
Institute Hoyer) showed us that technical skills are good in the Netherlands. It seems but a question of time before the Netherlands (where many good fighters have already come from) will play an important role at the international level.

The first fight was between Jente Schaap and Eugene Hodens. They began very motivated. In the first phase they attacked each other strongly with hooks and kicks to the body. They fought at close range which made it hard to score with clearly visible techniques. None of the two attempted to make space and get an overview. Finally, Jente Schaap gained in this intensive competition and won. It was not the best fight of this afternoon but both fighters gave all they had.

The third fight was between Aissa Allaui and Remy de Ligny. Aissa Allaui needs no introduction in Groningen and its surrounding area anymore. This allround Wushu'er has been a member of Bao Trieu/ Blijd since 1985 and has been a part of Bao Trieu's demoteam for years. Aissa has been fighting both semi- and full contact competitions for years. In 2002, he achieved the second place at the Dutch Championship Sanda up until 70 kilos. He was to take on Remy de Ligny this afternoon. Remy won the Dutch Championship Sanda up until 75 kilos and is a member of the Allied Wing Chun Federation. Aissa's skills in techniques won him the first round but Remy excelled in the second round. He made good use of the fact that Aissa had used much energy during the first round trying to throw Remy. In this second round, it was clear that Remy was stronger. Aissa, tired from the fight, had to give up this party to Remy. Ernesto indicated that he regretted this. A decisive last round would have been worth the effort.

The fourth fight was between Tobias Eijgelshoven and Danny Hoyer up to 65 kilos. This final competition was one between two fighters that know each other very well. The last fight between Danny Hoyer (Wushu Institute Hoyer, 1st Sanda Gala Brabant Cup) and Tobias Eijgelshoven (Bao Trieu/Blijd, 1st Dutch Championships Sanda -65 kg) was won by Danny. Tobias wanted a return match after this competition. Tobias put Danny under pressure by using a lot of boxing techniques and low kicks. When Danny found himself at the edge of the podium, it was easy for Tobias to get him off the podium. Tobias thus gained three points. This time, Danny did not succeed in getting Tobias to the floor with his usually strong 'take downs'. Danny was able, though, to come through with his left hooks to the head. After a skilful competition, Tobias made up for the previous loss. Hopefully, these two fighters will be able to compete with each other and connect with the European top. Ernesto was fascinated by this fight and thought both Tobias and Danny to be good fighters.

Aside from Sanda, we also talked about Ernesto's latest K1 appearance. Ernesto himself is diminishing this appearance in Japan somewhat without downgrading himself, though. "It's my job", Ernesto said. "The fans buy a ticket for my fights. They are an important factor in my success, even though I have to do everything on my own in the ring, of course. That is the reason why I am here today."

I couldn't abstain from it, [in the fight against] Bob Sap 'the beast' about 170 kg -- Mark Horton (co-organisor) already asked this question: "How could anyone make Ernesto look small?". We revisited this fight. Ernesto indicated that after the blow to the body (which took Sap down) he never expected he would get up again. But the previous American football player did get up. "This is when I had it all wrong", Ernesto said, "I tried to force it, to take him down and that didn't happen." "But you see", Ernesto explained, "to win the K1, you have to succeed more than once in one night. At this moment, he cannot do it, he's too much muscle for that." (Sab couldn't continue after his fight with Hoost because he was exhausted). Ernesto indicated that he was the first to fight the American. "Many people tell me how I should have handled that fight. I then think, go fight him yourself, if you win, fine, you might have been right." Once in a while, I look at his hands that hit so many, that took down so many fighters….

But K1 was not the only thing we talked about. We have both worked with young boys who had been in touch with the police. This experience led to a fascinating conversation. (Ernesto goes back to his old workplace once in a while.) We both use martial arts and sports in general as a means to get the boys back onto the right path. Teaching them how to fight and raising champions is not the focus of this work. Martial arts is not the aim but the means to achieve something with these boys. The 'knock out' has to be avoided both literally and figuratively speaking. The results of these projects are promising. We agreed to meet and do something with a few boys of the 'Vechtsport Project Zwolle Zuid' (martial arts project Zwolle South). We grinned when discussing taxes but well… we won't mention it anymore.

In between the fights, there was a moment where Ernesto was given our appreciation. He was given a beautiful handcrafted wooden dragon for his achievements in martial arts. This dragon symbolises wisdom. The French main referee William Nouchet could not have summarised it better but by saying that Ernesto Hoost is a man who fights with his heart, but gains respect wherever he goes.


Translation: Bettina van Hoven