End of an Era, New Beginnings

Thursday this last week, marked my last class at the Chinatown YMCA........I have been teaching there since 1984........the SF Wushu Team was based there for many years...some of the top Martial Artist and Hollywood personages took classes there as it use to be the only place in the United States to have a Wushu carpet and to give instuction in Wushu.  Ernie Reyes Senior and Junior, Mark Decascos, Cynthia Rothrock, Jeff Falcon, Anthony Houk, Kenny Perez, Eric Chen, Shane Lacey, Andrew Hartono, Amy Chow, and even Jet Li all worked out at this YMCA.........the first generation of SF Wushu Team was trained here by the Beijing Wushu Team in 1984.......we competed at the Ist US Wushu Nationals that year in LA, the event was hosted by Kajikenpo Master Gary Forbach........we did quite well as our team won over 22 medals, and took home the Women's All Around Champion Award.  We also, hosted the Beijing Wushu Team in1984,85 and 95 at this same site.  So lots of history there, the YMCA however, will be closed for the next two years as they work on renovation of the site and build new facilities.  Good for me though, is that I will now move the Chinatown Classes to the Japantown YMCA......easy to park, and a very large gym to train in.  Farewell, Chinatown YMCA!!

Saturday, had a meeting with Professor Daniel Weng, we talked about the new program to offer a degree in Taiji at the East West University of Chinese Medicine in Cupertino.  It will offer a Master Degree in Taiji with one year of Full Time Study, or 3 years with part time studies.  Our first Semester will start in May.  This is an accredited program costing about $9,000 a semester. This is the first such program in the world....as far as we know. So if you need a change in career.....or just a career.....this might be an interesting focus!!  Cya!