My blog
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The Most Senior Wushu West Student
Monday, Jun 16, 2008 8:01AM / Standard Entry
After 15 months since his last visit, it's nice to have Mark back at Wushu West, visiting the Bay Area while on his way to Seattle for his sister's wedding. After his flight from Hong Kong he came to Wushu West from the airport, bags still in hand, and with not much sleep helped out with class, teaching Pierre a first section for his new individual nanquan form.
James, Mark, Pierre and Jinzi
I was impressed that he was able to come up with a form for Pierre so quickly and it speaks to his many years of experience with wushu and nanquan. After 13 years he still is dedicated to helping others who are studying wushu and the students seemed to appreciate his time and effort.
On Sunday I asked him to lead class and he put everyone through their paces. There was a lot of focus on basics and fundamentals and he also introduced some good nanquan basics to the routine. Different combinations emphasizing different fundamentals from the experience he's picked up in his 3 years in China and Hong Kong with different wushu teams, athletes and coaches. It's great that he is able to come back and share his knowledge and understanding with his old classmates at Wushu West.
The students seemed to enjoy the workout. Again he taught Pierre another section of his individual nanquan form. It is difficult to create a form for someone and keep in mind the specific requirements and needs of that student, but he's done a good job creating a form for Pierre.
I must say that, even though he's my student, I think he is one of the top nanquan people in the U.S. He has a deep understanding of the style that a lot of other students don't pick up, and certainly being involved in wushu for 13 years is a big part of that. Many other athletes have long since lost their fire for wushu by 10 years, but he is still very passionate about it and I think that is admirable.
We also had a good time hanging out outside of class. We took a trip to Fenton's for ice cream and ate way too much! Right now I have a girl named Jinzi staying with me for 3 weeks of intensive wushu training. Everyday we are training and during the first week she was very sore, but now she has done a good job dealing with the pressure and now is acclimating to the situation. We are focusing on lots of basics, double broadsword and eagle claw.
Jinzi, Mark and Me
Even though June is a very busy month, it is very enjoyable to have students, both old and new, visiting me and showing their dedication to wushu. Over the years I've been lucky to have so many students who take their training seriously, but also are good people on the inside. As an instructor and coach it makes me very proud to see my students doing well. It makes me proud of what I have been able to do, and proud of them to see what they have accomplished.
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Happy New Year!
Wednesday, Feb 27, 2008 7:22AM / Standard Entry
Thanks you everyone for welcoming me to AnD!
For those of you who don't know me, my name is Hao ZhiHua. I am a wushu athlete from the original Beijing Wushu Team, and I have a martial arts school in Berkeley, CA USA called Wushu West. You can find us at www.wushuwest.com
I will try to keep a somewhat regular blog talking about wushu and travel and teaching and my experiences in the US (which has been my home for 19 years) and China, where I was born and raised.
It's been a great new year with wushu demonstrations all week. The best by far was a party at the Claremont Hotel, with nice, high ceilings and even carpet, instead of the usual wooden stage. We also had a large warm-up room with a good ceiling and space to run and practice weapons beforehand. Those of you who have done wushu demos in the US know thats rare to happen. Usually you have a very small area, maybe nowhere to change or warm up either. It was an early afternoon booking so only my advanced students were able to be there for it (most of the kids were still in school at that hour).
I was so inspired by the students I came out at the end and did an improvised bagua set, something I haven't done in a long time. I am proud that I am still in good shape so I can come out and do bagua even without choreographing my form before the Demo . Maybe I will enter CMAT this year too!
My former student Bryant Yu brought his lion dance team to do the show with us and did a great job! They got the crowd very excited before the wushu demo, and the drumming got us pumped up too!
After the Claremont demo we had a few days rest, and the weekend shows...
I'm very proud of the kid's beginner class, who got up and did a group set on a Saturday night in San Rafael, and then the next day in the early afternoon during an outside perforamce on Solano Ave. in Albany. The Albany festival was the first of what they hope will be an annual Chinese new year celebration rivaling San Francisco's. Performing on stage is a great way for everyone to get feedback on their practice, and show off their hard training. Most of them had never performed in front of people before, and here they are in front of over 600 people! What a great way to inspire yourself and test your self under pressure. With CMAT, the biggest chinese martial arts tournament in the US coming up, this is very important.
The advanced class came up with a great demo of individual and group sets that spanned over 15 minutes of non stop action, and they did it in 2 practice sessions! Shahaub's leadership and experience was a big asset to making a solid performance and keeping a good tempo throughout the whole show.
Here's James helping Michael stretch before the San Rafael demo
Everyone stretching for the San Rafael show
the kids' group handset
Kenny Leu's dao set
I hope you enjoy...
Xin nian kwai le!
Stats
- Master Hao Zhihua started her wushu training at the age of nine at the Beijing Sports Academy under the instruction of Wu Bin, director of the Beijing Institute for Wushu Research and a pioneer of mod...
- Occupation: Martial arts
- Gender: Female
- Total visits: 12,849
