Wushu Retrospective (Part 6): 1996-2000: Sifu Video
I can remember the first time I saw a wushu video. I was at Mai Morgan’s house one day after an early wushu class on Sunday (she was a Cal Wushu student who was training at Wushu West) and I noticed she had a video tape labeled “Beijing Wushu Team” on it. My eyes bugged [...]
Wushu Retrospective (Part 5) – 1996-2000: Wushu Friends
Before getting back in to the experience of learning wushu itself, I thought I would take some time to talk about something that had a huge impact on my experience with wushu over the years. In fact, besides my coach, I would say that this is one of the two factors that contributed the most [...]
The Reason Chinese Wushu Athletes Are So Good – Part 3
So, we are almost there. But in my book there is one more ingredient that separates many great athletes from the rest of us common folk. Continued from Part 2 Raising the Bar And what is that final ingredient? Well, it has to do with one’s standards of excellence. The athletes in China don’t really [...]
The Reason Chinese Wushu Athletes Are So Good – Part 2
But it isn’t just that coaches in China tend to have those resources, but it is also the resources available to the athlete. No, not the latest Nike Shaolinquan shoes, or the coolest looking silks, but I’m speaking more about resources through which they can develop an understanding of high level skill. Continued from Part [...]
The Reason Chinese Wushu Athletes Are So Good
I used to hear (both from others and inside my own head) the question a lot: “Why are Chinese wushu athletes so freaking good??” The quick answer? In a cryptic nutshell: ((Ai/T) +((C*R)+M))(U+S) But let me start at the beginning … The Quest For Understanding When you first start wushu you are in a bit [...]
How to Maintain Your Motivation for Training
The other day I received an e-mail from a friend back in the U.S. They were discussing their increasing lack of motivation to train in wushu. Some of it was related to feeling they had started too late, or a lack of involvement in the school by other students or some other things. I wrote [...]
Wushu Retrospective (Part 4) – 1996-1998: An Introduction to Wushu Politics
When I first started training at Wushu West my focus was pretty much centered on the world inside my school. It took me a couple months just to get to know my fellow students and start bonding with them. But it became clear after a short time that there was a whole world of wushu [...]
Wushu Retrospective (Part 3) – 1995-1996: Competitions and Demonstrations
This is part 3 of my Wushu Retrospective, a look back at my personal history with the sport of wushu. Please note that there are syncing issues with the sound on the following videos that I didn’t have time to fix before posting them up. ———————————————- It was round-about the time I was 3/4 of [...]