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I have been learning Wu-Shu for many years. I have been very lucky in
that I've met lots of great teachers and classmates. The big highlight
was training for 2 years in Beijing with a coach called Li Qiang. Also
I spent several months in Hefei with coach Sheng Guo who is an incredible
person. Not to mention Huang Xiaoxing in Shanghai and dozens of great
teachers back in the UK.
My main achievements (apart from the enjoyment and health benefits I
got from learning) in Wu-Shu were:
Competition |
Event |
Position |
Comment |
2004 Shanghai International Wu-Shu Festival |
Southern Broadsword |
3rd place |
This was my best achivement since I was competing against really
good athletes and even beat a guy from Hong Kong, I was also lucky
that a couple of other people pulled out of the event due to injury.
Still it was a really tough event with many full-time professionals
competing. |
| 2004 Shanghai International Wu-Shu Festival |
Traditional forms |
1st place |
This result was better on paper but the only opponents were other
Europeans and there were no really good people in the event. Also
it was an exhibition and therefore there were no medals or anything
awarded |
| 2003 Beijing Wu-Shu Invitational Championship |
Southern Fist |
4th Place |
Again this result looked good on paper but there were no really
good people in that catagory that year (apart from the three who beat
me). That year all the good people seemed to be in the "Long
Fist" event. |
Also I've won a few European and British competitions ranging in importance
and difficulty.
I've got a selection of videos below. My training mainly focuses on "Southern
Styles", which are quite different from the other main branch of
Chinese martial arts "Northern Styles". If you are interested
in Wu-Shu there are millions of great pages, just do a google.
| Style |
Video Details |
| This is my "Southern Broadsword". This is
the compulsary form for older Wu-Shu competitions. This is probably
my favourite weapon, it really helps me think about my stances and
mobility. If you are learning the Southern Broadsword I recommend
lots of practise on accuracy with the blade. It seems strange but
in the long run helps a lot with many of the movements. |
This video was recorded at Shichahai in Beijing in about 2005.
UPDATE - Video too big, go to this link to view it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9K0ZDwNLIw
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| This is my "Southern Stick". This is another
compulslary form for older Wu-Shu competitions. This weapon is nice
but I never had much luck with it at competitions, mainly because
they get broken easily on airplanes. For me the stick is a very personal
weapon and you need to get to know your stick very well. I recommend
training with a heavier stick, and then just in the run up to competition
(say 5-6 weeks), starting to use a lighter one and then use that in
the competition. |
This video was recorded again at Shichahai in Beijing, I think
it was either late 2004 or spring 2005.
UPDATE - This file is too big to host here, go to the link below
to watch it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyeWxsX4CIQ
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