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The 9th Shanghai World Grand Wushu Festival was hosted on May 1-4, 2008. I was invited to compete in this annual event, and I signed up to demonstrate three forms. The first would be a Taiji form that I learned from Zhou Laoshi, my Taiji teacher here in China. The second two were to be representative of my true love, Chen Jia Wushu, which I have learned back in America. I signed up for a Gun Fa and a Nanquan, respectively meaning a staff form and a southern first form. I was invited only one month before the competition, so in the end I did not perform the staff form, as I have only learned one and I could not remember it well enough to make it look good.
I trained every morning at LuXun Gong Yuan, a nearby park named after the famous scholar LuXun. The class met around 6:30 or so and we would practice a long form one or two times. Then it was time for Ti Tui (I'm not sure of the spelling). This consists of mostly kicking drills, performed in a moving line. I will always remember this, because even so early in morning, the park would be crowded with so many people. And it only got worse on the weekends. What I found very cool though, is that we had a territory which was understood by all who come on a regular basis. We started in one are, then moved to a larger area for the Ti Tui, where we would stay and do the long form once again. Then we would move back to our first spot to continue learning and working. Whenever another group's people would stray into our area, our teacher would go and yell at them, and all would be corrected.
Over the course of a month, I learned this Chen Shi Taiji Quan (Chen Style Taiji Form) very well. What I found mildly frustrating was that it was not to be the form I used at competition. The competition form was shown to me only one week before the event. It shared many of the concepts I was learning from the first form, so it was not terribly difficult to remember. Within a few days I was able to work my way through the form and from there Zhou Laoshi worked on corrections and modifications.
Over the same period I was to be working on my Chen Jia Nanquan. I decided to use my home school's form basic created by Shifu Tom Akers, and taught to me by Da Si Hing Robert Sheffield. This extensive form is very difficult, and with my bad memory I tried to piece it together. I attempted to retrieve videos from home to supplement my memory, but due to problems with the internet, the videos arrived too late to be of any use. I was distraught that I would only be able to use an incomplete form until the day before my competition when I went back and read the rules again. Apparently I only had two minutes for my Nanquan! I timed myself and even my incomplete form was around 4-5 minutes, depending on my rush. So from there I got creative.
I spent about an hour figuring out which moves to keep for my final form. Again, this is the day before my competition. I pieced together something that I liked and decided to give it my all. I wish that I had more time to practice, because as anyone who watches the video will see, I choked a little.
On Saturday, 2 May 2008 at around 2:45pm, I stepped onto the blue carpet. I was on display in front of 6 judge, behind whom sat an entire grandstand of people. I had been mildly overwhelmed by watching the other competitors and when I stepped up, my nerves began to kick in. This is not the best performance I could have given, and I wish I would have prepared more. None-the-less, I am proud of myself because I do not like crowds and it was very difficult for me to compete, but I stepped up anyways and had a good time. My score in the end was 7.9, which put me 5th out of 5.
The Chen Style Taiji competition was mildly easier for me. It was on Sunday and things are easier the second time around, right? I had prepared this form more extensively and it was more programed into my muscle memory. I stepped up and turned my brain off. I finished before the other two competitors (Taiji is much slower and has less movement, so we compete 3 at a time) and stepped off the mat to watch. I scored an 8.3 which still won me last place, but I had improved my score at least!
Today I have been looking over the videos that Marina, my girlfriend, took of the other competitors. While there were traditional categories, most of these were in them mornings, which we did not see. The majority of the videos are of modern wushu events, and as I watch them today, I am very glad for my Chen Jia Wushu! Shifu Akers and Da Si Hing Sheffield do not stress forms and techniques. We work hard on foundation and concepts. Our art is martial in nature, whereas many of the Modern Wuhsu demonstrations more closely resemble gymnastics. I watch these high-scoring competitors and see so many fundamental mistakes in their work. They concentrate on pretty, whereas we concentrate on correctness and real-world application. Thanks to this experience, I am even more convinced that I am studying a powerful and traditional Chinese martial art. Modern Wushu may be the way of the future for the mainstream masses, but I know that I am lucky for finding my niche which teaches truly powerful gung fu concepts.
I think in the future I would like to compete again. It was certainly an experience that pushed me to work harder. Next time I would like more than a month to prepare, both physically and psychologically! Although I am mildly disappointed in my performances, I am very happy that I took this opportunity while studying in Shanghai. Not only have I made new friends, but I have a very cool brochure with my Chinese name in it, and yet another cool story to bring home from Shanghai!
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Khilid Najjar
non-member comment
Awesome..
this might sound hella gay but.. Im proud of you man.. that shit took some balls and your forms looked awesome!!!!