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24 + WATERLOO CHRONICLE + Wednesday, October 17, 2007 e once received his martial Hans instruction from one of the true Chinese Kungâ€"Fu masters who also taught Bruce Yes, that Bruce Lee from Enter the Dragon fame who popularized martial arts in much of the western world before his untimely death. Local black belt takes martial arts to the big screen And while all the attention has turned to mixedâ€"martial arts these days, and the carnage found in the ring with the Ultimate Fighting Challenge series, Waterloo‘s Wernâ€" er Leuschner, a local developer, thought it was time to unite the martial arts and to demonstrate to audiences the power and the beauty of the sport. The only problem was finding a way to do it. _ _ _ "I started in the sport after watching Bruce Lee movies ," said Leuschner. "This has been a pasâ€" sion of mine for the last 30 years. That‘s when the 44â€"yearâ€"old Waterloo grandmaster, who holds a seventhâ€"degree black belt, came up with the idea to hold the first Open Black Belt World Champiâ€" onships in Toronto this past Aug. 18â€"19. "There‘s a saying in the Chinese martial arts that you learn first to use people before you hit people," en most people hear the phrase Was‘tesl game on ice," they think of hockey. But local high school students Carleigh Griffiths and Sara Armstrong have a different answer â€"ringette. The girls, who will be representing Waterloo as members of the Western Region AAA ringette team at the Ontario Winter Games early next year, are veterans of the game. Both have played for nearly a decade. They are among 18 players chosen from 130 girls who tried out for the regional team. If the team emerges victorious from the Ontario tournament, it will move on to repâ€" resent the province at the Canada Winter Griffiths, a 17â€"yearâ€"old Grade 12 student at Resurrection Catholic secondary school, is in her second stint playing defence on the Western region squad, while Armstrong, Local girls suiting up to play at Ontario Winter Games By Bos VRBANAC Chronicle Staff â€" By Grec MacDonaLp Chronicle Staff said Werner. "Today they‘re all thinking punching, punching, punching. â€" "There‘s much more to martial art than to use it this way â€" this is a whole lifestyle." _ _ The event itself was a success, bringing some of martial arts biggest names to the competition World record holder Dan Netherland breaks a row of bricks during a martial arts demonstration at the Open Black Belt World Championships that will be shown at Waterloo‘s Galaxy cinemas this Saturday. Local high school students Sara Armstrong, 16, left and Carleigh Griffiths, 17, will represent Waterloo on the Western Region Ringette team that will compete at the Ontario Winter Games. SPORTS including Don "The Dragon" Wilâ€" son an 11â€"time world champion, Bill "Superfoot" Wallace, a kickboxâ€" ing legend, and Dan and Chad Netherland, the holders of multiâ€" ple Guinness World Records for breaking bricks and performing feats of strength. There was also a Hollywood facâ€" _ rTo CouRTesY Of OBBWC tor involved with the appearance of Michael Jai White, a multipleâ€" black belt holder who starred in Spawn and Exit Wounds, and Cynâ€" thia Rothrock, who has appeared in more than 30 martial arts movies. The event was such a success that Leuschner and his son Alex al6â€"yearâ€"old Grade 11 student at St. David Catholic secondary school, is a firstâ€"time forward. Though hockey and ringette seem simiâ€" lar, the speed, agility and finesse needed for the latter is far beyond the skill set required for hockey, Armstrong said. "There‘s really no comparison," she said. Ringette is similar to hockey in many ways. It‘s played by on ice by two teams who attempt to score goals on the other‘s net. But instead of pucks and blades, ringette players use long sticks to guide a ring across the ice. There are only twa periods in ringette and instead of having faceoffs, possession is determined by "free rings." At the beginning of the first period, the away team gets the rings and at the start of the second, the home team gets it. Similar to the start of a soccer game, a player must pass the ring to a teammate to begin a possession. And like basketball, there is a shot clock that, in this case 30 secâ€" are already planning next year‘s event hoping to attract some other Hollywood heavyweights like Jackâ€" ie Chan, Jet Li and Chuck Norris. More importantly, the general public is going to get a chance to see the competition on the big screen with a special screening this Saturday, 1 p.m., at the Galaxy Cinâ€" emas in Waterloo. The whole event was shot on highâ€"definition video and will be broadcast this Saturâ€" day. There have been other major payâ€"perâ€"view events successfully held on the 50â€"foot screens in Waterloo like boxing and wrestling matches. And Werner thought it would be a great fit to bring the Open Black Belt World Champiâ€" onships to the big screen. And it‘s not strictly Waterloo that‘s signed on for this special screening. Leuschner said 30 other theatres from across the country are participating in the oneâ€"day showing from British Columbia to Quebec. "Cineplex agreed to show it in most of the major cities," said Alex, who is handling most of the proâ€" motion of the event. "It has a live feel to it. "The goal was to capture the energy of it. We wanted people to get excited about martial arts to make it even more popular." Continued on page 27 Continued on page 27