Reflecting On The 2025 USKSF Kuo Shu Tournament

Hey y’all! Chris Santoro here, hijacking the EP Blog on a Friday.

It’s been a week since Mark Dennen and I competed in the 2025 USKSF Kuo Shu Tournament, and, well, that was a hell of an experience for both of us. I swear, every year, that tournament reminds me of why I love it more than any other local competition or circuit, and why every student in our Sanda Kickboxing, Wing Chun Kung Fu, and MMA programs should aspire to at least try it once.

For folks who don’t know, I competed in the Super Heavy Weight class of the Full-Contact Lei Tai competition, and Mark Dennen competed in the Adult Point-Fighting, Short-Weapon Light Contact, and Long-Weapon Light Contact competitions. Mark Dennen brought home gold for each of his competitions while I brought home a bronze.

We also had our very good friend, Yan Li, compete in the Women’s Advanced Tai Chi Form and 60+ Women’s Empty-Handed Forms competitions, for which she placed 2nd and 4th respectively.

It goes without saying, but a huge congratulations to her and Mark for their achievements this year, and I’m looking forward to competing alongside them again next year.

For my part, this year marked my third time competing in Full-Contact Lei Tai for this tournament. Folks at the gym who know me well enough know that I look forward to this tournament every year. It’s partially why I constantly wear MMA sparring gloves in Sanda Kickboxing class instead of boxing gloves (sorry Ty! 😅).

Videography by Matthew Lee

As hard as it is in the thick of the fights, there’s no denying it: It’s just too damn fun. The people you meet, the friends you end up making, the overall competitor experience, and the professionalism of the referees and the staff; I’ve yet to find another competition or local circuit that meets their level across the board. I know that I speak mainly as a Lei Tai competitor, but there are so many other competitions within that tournament—from forms, to weapon fighting, point fighting, and the list goes on. Whether you want to fight or not, there’s something there for everyone, and the experience is extremely unique.

I’ll close this out by give a huge thank you to Ty for coaching me throughout the course of the past five months. Sorry it wasn’t a gold, but we’ll always have that first round 🥹. Thanks to Ray, Joe, and Jaden for being awesome sparring partners for me, especially on days in which I was rusty as hell (and boy there were a ton of them!). Thanks to James Chervitch for the impromptu weekend burnout coaching and sparring—you’re the shit and I’m beeeeeegging you to join us next year. Special thanks to Ariel, Tyra, and Wendy Wesley for being awesome and supportive throughout the weekend; whether it was taking photo and video of our competitions, being in our corners, or just cheering us on. Thanks again to Mark and Yan Li for being my teammates this year, and congratulations on your successes.

My sincere hope is that we get more folks to come down with us next year and the years afterwards. So if you’ve read this and found yourself interested in potentially competing next year, feel free to talk with me, Ty, Bart, or Mark. No doubt we’d love to have you with us.

Until then, I’ll just be here, waiting for next year.