Category: KungFu

Saturday afternoon I showed up to my Kung Fu academy about a half hour before my test was scheduled to start. Nervously pacing the hallways as the preceding class came to its conclusion, I stretched lightly with soft kicks and long arm techniques.

Heart racing, I walked into the classroom just after 2pm while the instructors busily rearranged the room, pulling the mats out of the way and arranging themselves behind an observing table. Clipboards, pencils, and formal attire helped establish a thick air of intimidation.

We began abruptly.

I worked the 10 performance forms first taking a short break in the middle for kicking sequences. After each activity, the table would pause, quietly conferring with one another, taking detailed notes on areas where I should focus my efforts before the final black-belt test. Mostly, I was proud of my performance with my forms. I screwed up a few parts here and there, and I’m certain that I have plenty of things to improve – but I didn’t freeze up and didn’t forget any major component. My speed and power felt appropriate. I even got a few nods of approval after my final sword form.

After the forms, we pulled the mats back out and I started in on my self-defenses. I feel very confident with my self-defenses so I approached them rigorously with targeted forceful attacks. As one instructor noted, I could have defended in a more direct, less artistic manner, as self-defense is far more results oriented than typical form work, but I’m still proud.

Then came the conditioning. I didn’t have too much difficulty with the 50 panther push-ups. My wrist rolled at one point (gah!), but I pulled it back in and kept going. The ab work went smoothly as expected. But that horse stance. Oh that dreaded horse stance! For the test, I was required to do 150 seconds of horse stance. Admittedly, during my regular practice I’ve never really been able to get over a minute and fifteen seconds. But this time was different. This time I had my instructors watching me intently.

I began strongly. I was in the game. I was mentally prepared.

Nay.

There was no amount of mental preparation that could have made me ready for the pain. I kept my form in check for a minute and a half. Then I began to falter. At two minutes the staff which rested across my quads rolled off. But I stayed down as low in my stance as I could, my quads burning with remarkable discomfort. Think Gom Jabbar, except for legs.

As the clock ticked off those final seconds I crumbled a bit, legs screaming for mercy.

The first thing my head instructor said:

“You were in pain, clearly trying as hard as you could. That’s what we’re looking for.”

The second thing my head instructor said:

“Can you walk?”

After a little recoup time, I got back up and continued with my test breaking some trial boards and passing my oral test. For the final test, I’m going to have to keep training hard so that I can outperform my pre-test and hopefully make that horse stance less crippling.

I’m very pleased this first step is complete.

Right now it’s a few hours before my black belt pre-test. The worst part about today is the fact that the test is at 2:00pm. It’s a long wait this morning. I had some cracked rice and some eggs for breakfast and will be eating a small tuna sandwich around 11:30. I think that’ll put me in the right place from a nutrition standpoint.

The biggest challenges for me today will be the conditioning and the stress of performing in front of the kung fu big wigs. Because my pre-test needed to be rescheduled because of my China trip, I’ll be taking this test alone. And anytime I have a lot of watchful eyes focused on me I’m prone to error.

I’ll report back post-test.

This Saturday is my new Kung Fu black belt pre-test date. I’m pretty nervous and will likely spend much of this week trying to nail down specific elusive maneuvers. It’s kind of exciting that 5 years of efforts are nearing their culmination. I still have a lot of work to do before the final test. After this test I will be presented with a lengthy list of things I need to touch up and improve. Some things I’m already aware of: I lack horse stance endurance and I need to improve some of my sparring techniques.

I’m not sure how much time will pass between my pre-test and the final test. Usually it’s 3-6 months, though I want to make sure that I feel personally confident with my skills so I may ask for more time if I think I need it. I want to make sure that this black belt has a lot of meaning behind it.

At least for now, the real test still seems far enough away so that I can still make dramatic improvements to my fitness and my finesse.

On Saturday night my Kung Fu academy came together to celebrate the promotion of my instructor from Sihing to Sifu. This promotion is a huge achievement (think sous-chef to head chef.) To become a Sifu one must have a fourth degree black belt or higher and make notable contributions to our academy and our art. Above all this, you have to be specifically tapped by Master Tat Mau Wong as worthy of the title.

To celebrate his achievement, a banquet was held in my Sifu’s honor. A few days prior, an instructor approached asking for participants to aid in a kung fu demonstration. I get scared stiff when performing in front of people, but realizing it’d be great practice for my black belt pre-test, I agreed to participate.

When it came to my turn on Saturday, I stood in front of the 75 people or so in attendance and vigorously began the five animal form.

The five animal form is really fun. It progresses between crane, tiger, panther, dragon, and snake. The most challenging aspect of the form is that it has very distinct sections that all seem to start in a similar manner. As such, it’s easy to skip a section. During my practice before hand ,as my adrenaline rushed, I kept screwing up two moves after a sweep. I practiced what I could, but in no time at all I was called out to do my part.

Amazingly, I proceeded through my two most problematic locations without a hitch and as I swung around for the last section I applauded my memory… only to find that I had distracted myself enough to completely forget that last section. I froze for a moment and then made up my own ending of the form.

Those who weren’t black belts didn’t know that anything truly went awry. Those who were black belts sat puzzled. It was humbling, intimidating, and great practice for my test down the road. I’m pleased that I didn’t show the error, though disappointed that I caved under pressure.

The rest of the night went great. Our instructors gave speeches commending Sifu Ostrow. It was heartwarming to hear the devotion and pride in their words. Our oldest student, Bert, spoke especially well as he talked about his experience at a number of different academies. In Bert’s 40 years of training in various martial arts, Sifu Ostrow stood as the single most impressive teacher he had encountered. While I don’t have Bert’s experience, I know it’s true that Sifu Ostrow has unparalleled patience in the classroom, a “tough-empathy” outlook on training, and great appreciation and grasp of Choy Li Fut Kung Fu.

For those in Connecticut interested in pursuing a martial art, I strongly recommend the Tat Wong Kung Fu Academy in Middletown. Sifu Ostrow and rest of the head instructors at the school are wonderful to train with and excellent at teaching.

Congratulations Sifu!