Dear Friends,
亲爱的朋友们，
Happy Lunar New Year! CMAA looks forward to helping you achieve your martial arts goals this year. This month’s newsletter is packed full of info and interesting videos! From seminars, and special offers to competitions, sash tests and performances, we’ve got a lot going on. You won’t want to miss out on the action at CMAA!
新年快乐！从讲座，比赛，表演以及其他精彩活动，每一项您都不容错过！
School Closings
停课安排
The Spirit of CMAA!
中华武术院短片
Bring a Friend to Kungfu- Buddy Night!
以武会友
New Member SPECIAL OFFER! Join now!
新会员优惠大酬宾 - 现在加入吧！
CMAA’s 2020 Lunar New Year Performance!
中华武术院武术功夫春晚表演
CMAA on Instagram
关注中华武院Instagram
Kungfu Iron Palm Seminar
铁砂掌精品课程
Exciting Chinese New Year CCTV Martial Arts Performance!
CCTV春晚的精彩武术表演
NEW CMAA Black Belt Stars!
中华武术院的新晋黑带
School Closings
CMAA will be closed Monday, the 17th for Presidents Day!
The Spirit of CMAA!
All I can say is "WOW!" I think this truly captures the spirit of CMAA's Kids Kungfu Program! Unexpectedly, I was contacted by the SUNY Albany's Student Press who expressed doing a story about me and CMAA after watching one of our Tai Chi classes offered on campus through the Confucius Institute. I look forward to sharing the full story once its released but for now, please enjoy a little video put together by SUNY Albany Student Press Editor in Chief Jacquelyn Orchard!
New Member SPECIAL OFFER! Join now!
Bring a Friend to Kungfu!
Have a friend who you think would love Kungfu? Is there someone you know who you really want to see how awesome you are at martial arts? Bring them in to train with you on Friday the 14th! If they decide to do a trial program and then sign up as a member you will both get a FREE CMAA sweatshirt!
CMAA on Instagram
Kungfu Performances
We spent months preparing. Although no performance is every perfect, I can say in compete honestly, that this was certainly our best demo to date. Our team really prepared, and then brought the energy to the stage with some electric performances! Check out some of the highlights here!
For the Chinese New Year performance, all students ranked light brown and above are qualified to participate. It’s a special opportunity to work with your team to put on an exciting performance, showcasing a spectacular aspect of Chinese culture in our local community, with the amazing stage, backdrop and production at The Egg! If you’re interested in participating, speak with Shifu about which performance would be most appropriate. Aside, from The Egg’s Chinese New Year celebration, we do several other performances throughout the year, which may be appropriate for kids are different sash ranks.
Kungfu Iron Palm Seminar
Course: 6 Week Iron Palm Kungfu Development and Applications Class Series!
Description: Iron Palm (Hand) (Chinese: 铁掌功) is a body of training techniques in various Chinese martial arts. It is originally one of the 72 arts of the Shaolin temple. These conditioning techniques are typically meant to condition the hands to allow a practitioner to deliver very powerful blows without injury to his or her hands. This 6 week course will provide an overview of the progressive methods of Iron Palm development. Additionally, we will learn specific methods of application using Wing Chun kungfu techniques.
Instructor: Steve Juman
Who: This course is for you! Open to all (CMAA/Public) (ages 12+). All levels welcome. Please note students under 12 must have permission from the instructor in advance.
When: Thursday’s 6-7pm beginning 2/6 for 6 consecutive weeks.
Fee: $30
*No equipment required, but it is recommended you have your own Iron Palm training bag which can be purchased here: https://wle.com/products/shaolin-iron-palm-bag
or speak with course instructors for a DIY option!
This course is brought to you by UAlbany Confucius Institute and The Chinese Martial Arts Academy Please PM to register as we expect this seminar to fill up fast!
CMAA Black Belts!
Congratulations to the newest members to join CMAA elite Black Belt Club!
Emily:
Emily was one of my “first generation” students. She is one of the very first kids to join CMAA before we ever moved to Latham, when CMAA was in its infancy. I remember watching her watch her brother Jason in class. Her eyes glowed and I knew there was something special about her. Eventually, her parents brought her in and said she wanted to train too. I was elated. And for good reason.
It turned out Emily was an absolute prodigy. She was a focused worker, with supreme flexibility and explosive movements. She held herself to a high standard and it showed. However, it was not just these attributes that make Emily such a wonderful student but also her confidence and charisma. She was always quick to laugh, send a text message or if she saw my phone sitting out, even take some silly pictures with her CMAA classmates for me to find. As a teacher sometimes it’s just special to engage with students on a personal level.
Over nearly 10 years, many of my first generation students earned black belts, went off to college or just got absorbed into high school life, school and athletics. Emily too became focused on her academics and extracurricular activities. She would come to practice, but her attendance was intermittent at best. However, as they say “slow and steady wins the race”. Well, Emily is not slow, in fact she’s incredibly smart, athletic and talented but she was preoccupied. However, her talents and consistency won out and I am very proud to award her her black belt today! As Emily prepares for college I am very excited to see where she takes her talents. Keep us posed and visit come visit when you’re home! Jiayou Emily!
At just about seven years of teaching many of my first generation students earned black belts, went off to college or just got absorbed into high school life, school and athletics. It was this combined with a “seven year itch” that I was starting to feel tired. Teaching seven days a week can be tiring, and when you see your most advanced kids move on in life, it can be bitter sweet. However, just as natural as it was to see many students move on, there seemed to be a changing of the guard and a new group of hungry young martial artists entered the ranks at CMAA!
Known as “The Squad” a group of students joined CMAA within just a few months of each other. There was a synergy among the group and they have propelled one another to advance through the ranks at an incredible rate. They motivated one another to train hard, and train often, and even teach each other forms to continue advancing as fast as possible. Well, it was truly good fortunate that they have had each other, but honestly, I needed them as well. Having such a group has been greatly motivating and inspiring.
Let me introduce you to an elite member of The Squad:
Eddie:
Eddie is a prodigy. He says I taught him how to aerial, butterfly twist, back hand spring, back flip and more. However, I just remember him saying he wanted to try it and I said “OK” and sat back and watched him fly. It was a coach's dream come true.
However, this alone isn’t enough to plow through our curriculum and even go above and beyond the black belt to learn another weapons – one that I don’t know myself - double hook swords- in as short of a time as he did. No, to earn your black belt in such a short time you need to train multiple classes nearly every day and drill your routines relentlessly. To learn something I can’t teach you, you need ambition, focus and be self-aware. You need the discipline to sit down, be an active learner, and teach yourself. These are qualities I greatly admire.
Those are the qualities I admire and the reason he has been successful in martial arts. However, those are not even the things I like most about Eddie. In addition to his natural gifts and hard work, he's also kind, quick to laugh, and always says "thanks for class" and "have a good night Shifu" at the end of the day. To Eddie's mom and dad, I think you can congratulate yourselves for this. You have a winner.
Eddie, congratulations on earning your black belt. I am very excited to see all the greatness you will achieve in and out of Kungfu!
David:
Is it a blessing or a curse to have an older brother who is a prodigy? Not only are they older, bigger, stronger and faster than you by default but because you’re often side by side, you are frequently compared to one another as well. That sounds like it could be difficult. That is unless you’re David.
David is Eddie’s younger brother. Maybe it’s playing side by side with the phenom his whole life, he only has one standard to be compared to and it’s the highest. Because of his own natural abilities, and that push to reach his brother, Davey is second to none. Every bit the athlete, Davey’s own physical skill sets, speed of and coordination have allowed him to excel in the martial arts as well. However, it’s not his physical prowess that brought him to black belt in record time. It was his sheer determination. He was a man on a mission. He would study other students practicing their forms so much so that when I would begin teaching him a routine, he would demonstrate much of it to be before we even began. He would find higher ranked students and followed them, ask them to teach him. His appetite to learn was voracious and he devoured the patterns. I remember at time having to tell him to slow down! That is was not a race, that he should take his time learning and that there was no rush. But my advice fell of deaf ears. I was worried about the hare losing the race, but I was wrong and this rabbit sprinted all the way to the finish line, past it and is still going!
Again, it is not just Davey’s athleticism and determination which make him such a star. That’s only half of it. The other half is his self-deprecating humor, quick to make himself the butt of a joke which when paired with his excellence, endears him to all his classmates (and teacher).
They say you can judge a tree by its fruit. Again, I’d like to say “Great Job” to his parents. Davey is a stud, naturally talented and incredibly hard working. This paired with a great sense of humor, and the right balance of confidence and humility make him a teacher’s dream come true. Congratulations Davey on your blackbelt. I can’t wait to see where you take all that makes you awesome!
Andrew:
Andrew is not the most physically gifted student at CMAA. However, at under two years, he has received his black belt faster than any other student. It doesn’t seem possible, but here I am writing this tribute. How is this possible? Well, keep reading and maybe you’ll understand what makes Andrew so special.
Andrew has three superpowers: coordination, a desire to be original and a work ethic like none other. You’ll see with weapons like Bullwhip, or double chain whip in hand. These are weapons that I don’t know but he likes because he knows that if I don’t know them, no one at CMAA does. However, what makes him different is that he ambitious to believe that he can figure them out. That is easier said than done. However, he’s doing it, so who am I to say otherwise. Andrew often comes to practice, ready to work. Several hours later, drenched in sweat, he’s playing with double chain whip, or bullwhip and figuring out new spins and combinations with them.
In two short years I’ve seen a huge change in Andrew. When he first came in he was somewhat shy, though he would quietly ask to show me something after class. He would often demonstrate a weapon technique he had discovered, or one that he’d worked on and could now execute with precision. I would get instant messages from mom and dad, opening them up to see videos of him practicing forms or jump kicks at home in his pajamas. As time went by he grew more confident, but that manifested itself in ways that I was less happy about. It seemed he was in need of validation. Wanting recognition for his efforts and accomplishments, I saw a braggadocios tendency. Wanting to encourage him to achieve success, but remain humble and kind to others, his parents were quick to intervene. His success like, many of the others I have been fortunate to work with was truly a team effort. Another lesson for me as a new father.
Andrew then joined kickboxing. After his first few rounds of sparring, and having his leg brutalized with kicks. I saw him adapt his approach. He moved toward his strengths and would often shift the matches to emphasize his wrestling, where he could use his size as an advantage. As he found his stride, I would often hear him offer to handicap himself and say he wouldn’t use his favorite takedowns (utilizing headlocks). Something in his tone made it a clear and genuine show of compassion.
By the time I had the honor to award Andrew his black belt I had seen a big change in this young man. I had seen him transition from a shy boy, excited to show me his accomplishments, to a somewhat cocky young athlete who wanted to show off his new skills. Finally, I saw him in a new light, one with a newly gained confidence. This type of confidence is only attained through real achievement, working passed failure, overcoming obstacles, and the guidance and encouragement from his team of friends, his coach and loving parents. Andrew is a determined and compassionate young man. A powerful combination of attributes that will help him succeed in martial arts and in LIFE! Congratulations on your black belt Andrew!
Exciting Chinese New Year CCTV Martial Arts Performance!
Best-
祝好-
Shifu
