VS Wushu Team: Beijing Training Trip (Dinner with China Wushu Coaches)

Tonight, we had the honour of meeting up with esteemed members of the Chinese Wushu fraternity.



Seated in the centre is Wu Bin. Presently, Wu Bin is the president of the Beijing Wushu Institute, the director of the Beijing Wushu Team, as well as holding top positions in the Chinese Wushu Association, Asian Wushu Federation, and the International Wushu Federation. He was responsible for discovering Jet Li and developing him into the champion athelete that he claimed 5 consecutives All-Round Men's titles in Wushu.

Standing on the extreme left is Xu Xiangdong, famous for his Eagle Claw.
In the in-flight movie, Champions that we saw on the way here, it was him that acted as the 'villian' in the movie.

Second from left is Dr Wang Man Cheng, Chinese Physician. He spent several years in Singapore and has helped in the rehab and treatment of several wushu athletes.

Standing in the centre is Coach Loh Poh Swee, next to him is me and Coach Di.

It certainly was a fruitful trip for us all to meet and exchange views with esteemed members of the Wushu fraternity in Beijing, China.

VS Wushu Team: Beijing Training Trip (Visit to Great Wall)

Today, we are at the mid-point of our training trip to Beijing. Another couple of days and we will be back home.

But no trip to Beijing, China would be complete without visiting the Great Wall.


It was a long and difficult climb with inclines of close to 80 degrees on some slopes but our boys pushed on gamely





At the top of our climb:


Here we see, Coach Loh and Coach Di fighting it out to reach the top of our climb :)


Here you see Master and student, fighting for tradition and our heritage


I'm also getting some pointers here from Big Brother, Di Guangwen:


All 3 Coaches at the end of our climb (there is more to go but if we continue to climb, by tommorrow also cannot finish)




Through the entire climb, due respect must go to Coach Loh, our oldest member. He's close pushing to 60 and yet he was ahead of all of us on the climb up and the climb down. Shows that the hard work training he put in in his youth to perfect his art and skill has been kept with him till now.



So to all the boys, now that you have finished your climb up the Great Wall, you are considered 'Heroes' 好汉

So B-Division older boys, lead your juniors to greater heights of excellence:


C-Div boys, strive to keep the tradition alive and to match up to the example set by your seniors, always seeking to surpass them.


Train hard, work hard and perservere
but before that I will allow you all to take a short nap on our way back:)

VS Wushu Team: Beijing Training Trip (Day 6)

UPDATED
Today morning, we woke up bright and early at 6.30am
Yup 6.30am
Yes, it's not a typo. All our cheeky VS boys woke up right on time at 6.30am to go for morning jog here in the cold morning.


The boys are starting to push themselves more independently now. Yesterday, we put in an extra one hour after dinner and some of them even stayed back to train on their own as well as coming to my room to work with me and Coach Loh.

They were equally ready to wake up early this morning for an early run. We did a few laps around the track and worked on some basic warm-up exercises.
We also wanted them to work on team-work and co-operation. Here they are doing jumping jacks without counting so that they can build team-awareness.


After our morning run today, we had a hardy breakfast and proceeded for training.
We have been working hard on our Group Routines, today we all focused on our Individual Routines.

We can see great improvement from all the boys- even those who are not competing in Individual routines are pushing themselves by revising their own material and forms.


We are now halfway through our training journey and the boys are doing well.
Some minor blisters and discomfort, some have sore throat and slight fever but between me and Coach Loh, our certified Chinese Physician, all are doing fine now.

VS Wushu Team: Beijing Training Trip (Student Interaction and Interviews)

Today after our noon training session, Coach Yang gave us some time to interact with his students after training.

Although, the boys were shy initially, they soon started talking and started sharing their experiences with each other.


We ended the session with a group photo of all our students.
The boys are starting to pick up the pace- although we still need to give them constant reminders and the occasional reprimand.

But as long as we can keep our eyes on the final goal, we know that all this hardship is worth it