Promotion of Wushu has always been a concern of mine....practicing is fun but getting people involved in it is so important for it's future, and I enjoy watching students master the techniques and literally change their lives. From just my first three Taiji Classes for City College I already have over 100 students...still have one more class that has not started yet.......might reach 150 to 200 students this semester. Certainly having the College promote Taiji is so important as they are able to reach into many people's life. One can open a private school and perhaps reach some students...but you are not able to reach such a wide cross section of society...and make it literally available to anyone....as always Free is good!
To really promote wushu one needs money and the ability to bring it into the homes of people in America. Well, now wushu has a vehicle.....Disney and Tiger Claw are partnering with Martial Arts promoters......mainly Karate or TKD.........to hold Disney's Search for the Best of the Best.......there are qualifying tournaments thru out the country.......and 4 just in California! You cannot have a better sponsor than Disney......at the end of the year the finals will be broadcast on Disney's Wide World of Sports! More on this later.
Also, coming this year at the University of California in Berkeley, where I am the Wushu Coach, we will be hosting the 16th Annual Chinese Martial Arts Tournament....the biggest and best organized Wushu Competition in the United States......often attended by more than 500 competitors......and the judges are like a list of who's who in Wushu......while I haven't been able to get Jet Li himself...we had Coach Wu Bin attend last year.....he has already promised me he will attend this year. Mark April 5th,2008 for this event. Be there or be square!
OK gotta go, I have got to begin working on our San Francisco Wushu Team's Performance schedule.......every year the Team performs for many public and private events...and I need to make some contacts and I have maybe a sponsor for CMAT. Everyone have a nice day..it's not raining right now..so good! Bye.
Coming: Sept 14 Mid-Autumn Festival Sept 15 Dragon Boat Festival Oct 12 4th Annual Golden State Chinese Martial Arts Champions