The CURRENT State of Collegiate WUSHU

[@WushuAdventures]

Did you compete at the 25th collegiates at UCLA? What do you think of the current state of collegiate wushu? Am I totally off base? Let me know in the comments below! Thanks for watching!

[@williamvo2362]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I definitely agree with many of the things you said. The diversity in terms of skills and experience can feel like a double-edged sword sometimes, but I do think it varies depending on the ways each school is coaching the beginner/intermediate athletes. There’s so much diversity amongst schools and even within schools! Each individual has different goals in the sport and ultimately it’s up to them to dictate where they want to take this journey. During my first year, I remember one of our coaches saying “we can help you get on the USA team or help you learn some cool new skills, it all depends on your goals.” Having never competed wushu before college that really stood out to me and I honestly didn’t think I would still be this invested in the sport two years later. We will also be working on those shoulders for the rest of the year 😅.

[@WushuAdventures]

Thanks for your comments! I totally agree. In a video like this it's hard to say something without it being a major generalization and probably not apply to half of the people out there. lol. And definitely a lot depends on the coaching, curriculum, and focus for each athlete. At the end of the day, I'm just so happy that there are more people each year doing wushu and competing/sharing it with others. And, I wasn't really talking about YOUR shoulders. lol. Just another general comment. But ... I mean ... we can ALL work on our shoulders relaxing more, I guess. So maybe it applies to everyone, myself included. :-) Jiayou!!

[@yinglong999]

It's always a spicy moment when Will leaves a comment on KZbin

[@RebeccaChinn]

Great vlog!! Thanks for sharing. I will always have so much love for collegiate wushu. The diversity of experience was actually key to the environment that made me fall in love with wushu. As a beginner, I saw a lot of higher level athletes, and didn't really understand that it took years upon years to develop their mastery of movement. I always had this sense of being like "oh I'm so close to being able to do what they do". Years of training later realize that I had such unrealistic expectations of what I could achieve, but because of that, I went much farther than I would have, had I known how hard it was from the start. A big downside though, is the prevalence of injury. I got really lucky early on to cross paths with some folks who knew a lot about strength + conditioning + mobility, which really saved my "Wushu life" from the get go. I really wish ideas like you mentioned - rhythm, relaxation, whip vs stick, etc, were better documented so that they're easier to learn without coaching. A lot of clubs dont have consistent coaching, and its much easier to pick up on the big picture movements of wushu than its subtleties. Learning these qualities is a huge challenge of learning wushu, not only because they're hard, but because its rare to find an environment that teaches them well and consistently.

[@WushuAdventures]

So true and well said! Sometimes not knowing how hard something is ends up making it easier to forge ahead. But having someone who can show you both the big picture, and the small subtleties of how to get from A to Z (or whatever letter you're trying to reach) can make the journey so much easier! Thanks for sharing! :-)

[@vanceliu6887]

Hey Mark, thanks for helping us judge this year! Your insights in the video were very interesting and helpful, and I appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts with the wider wushu community on the state of collegiate wushu. Your words on the competitors made me realize I need to start training better haha One thing I will say, the skill level issue is something that came up even before the competition while we were dealing with registration. Levels can be super hard to determine, since there are so many nuances when everyone has different backgrounds and experiences. The rules we currently have determines skill level by years of experience, which tends to mitigate the majority of the potential issues that may come up. However, these guidelines are not perfect. The collegiate wushu committee members even had a long debate about skill level after the competition, but ultimately we all collectively came to the conclusion that there's no perfect way of preventing all skill level conflicts and that what we had is the best we can do at this time. Especially with athletes that started in college, there are many who do not have the wushu knowledge and experience to know the difference between the levels, so unfortunately there were some cases were we didn't realize levels were mismatched until we saw them compete live. I'll link the rules here if you would like to take a look: collegiatewushu.org/tournament/rules.php Overall, it really excites me to see the collegiate wushu community thriving, as I feel that the majority of us are in it out of pure passion and love for this sport, rather than for other reasons. It was also great seeing so many OG wushu people coming to support our competition (finally got to meet Alfred Hsing in person! and Li Jing!) Again, really appreciate you making the trip out to support us and I hope you enjoyed your time in LA. Also, you didn't miss the Longhorns, they just weren't there :(

[@WushuAdventures]

Thank you so much for your comment! And, I totally sympathize with the challenge you all must face trying to put something like this together. Its easy for someone who is there as a spectator or judge to give their two cents after-the-fact, but organizing a competition like this takes a lot of work from a lot of people, so congratulations to all of you for doing all this for the whole wushu community. It is an amazing undertaking! I think the skill level issue has been around since the beginning and probably not something that will get resolved in the near future. But, imo, it is just a small issue in what is overall a great opportunity for people to share and demonstrate their art for others. It takes a lot of courage to get out on the carpet and perform in front of so many people. That in itself is worthy of major kudos. I had an amazing time, so thanks for inviting me out. I hope I can help out again next year wherever/whenever it may be. Jiayou! :-)

[@jackaqui7259]

Great video as always! Collegiates was kind of a mixed bag for me. My team doesn’t have a coach or anything. I’m the closest thing they have to one. So I was pleasantly surprised that my teammates did pretty well in their events. As for myself, not so much. I knew that going into my first Nandu event I was probably gonna place last, but it ended up being last by a long margin. I do still feel kind of aimless right now because I’m stuck just guessing what I need to focus on. Also yes, still working on shoulders :)

[@bryangao979]

That's alright! As someone who also competed in a Nandu event, I'm also disappointed in my performances in many of my events, for reasons that were completely in my control. As was said in the video, everyone can work on their basics to improve, no matter if you've been around for 1 year or 10+ years. In my experience, getting a second pair of eyes to watch you, no matter if they're from a coach, another athlete, or a camera, will help you improve with their feedback. Also +1 on the shoulders lol

[@WushuAdventures]

Thanks for your comments, Jack! Y'know, one thing I used to do when I was competing was go around to all the judges after a competition and ask what things they felt I could improve upon. I found it really valuable, even though I was nervous to approach them. So, when I became a judge, for some reason I assumed that I'd get athletes coming up to me to ask me what they could work on. (I mean, I'm not anyone's coach, but I'm always happy to share my thoughts.) But surprisingly, in the 2 years since I got my judging certification, and across the 9 competitions I've served as a judge, I've only had 2 people ask me. I used to take copious notes on each athlete in case they did, but now I don't as much because the odds of being asked are pretty close to nill. lol. lt's ironic, because a lot of the time as I'm watching an athlete, as an impartial 3rd party, it feels easier to spot the 3 or 4 specific things that need to be worked on with an athlete that would help them get to that next level. Or at least point them in the right direction. Maybe this is the universe telling me I should open a school. hahaha. Anyway, I say all this just to recommend that, the next time you compete, feel free to ask the judges what they thought of your form. It might take them a moment or three to dig it out of their memory banks and separate it from the other 50+ athletes they just watched, but I think you might find it worth while. Especially if you're not really able to get any substantive coaching at the moment. (I've definitely been there!) Back when I was living in China I would regularly get people sending me videos of their wushu to critique. Which is ironic, because I'm much better able to do it now that I've gone through the judging certification than I was back then, even though I was training with professional athletes all the time. But, now no one ever asks me to look at their stuff. Which I guess is good since they should really check with their coach before contacting some rando wushu vlogger on KZbin. lol. Wow .. I'm very rambly this evening. Thanks for your comments and jiayou with your training!

[@WushuAdventures]

Agreed!

[@wushubear1]

Thanks for your thoughts, and it was great to see you again after all this time!

[@WushuAdventures]

Thank you! It was amazing to see so many familiar faces. :-) Thanks for all your help with the competition! I really need to come visit Cal Wushu the next time I'm in town.

[@JayJieRS]

Nice video, Mark! What a long day of judging! Happy you got to see friends and visit your Dad. I did get teary-eyed when you had to leave your Dad's place.😢 One thing I wanted to put out there about your insight on having athletes compete at the appropriate level is actually a negative that I've seen, not in Wushu, but in other sports that even goes back to high school sporting events. Sometimes, an athletic program gets pressured to "fill the card" with athletes in order to collect as many awards/trophies in order to keep the program going, financially and popularity speaking. So, for instance, a program that has too many beginners and not enough true intermediate level competitors, may have the higher beginner athletes being pushed into the intermediate levels as a way of gambling on a good outcome for those athletes, and the program. Anyways, I enjoyed your video, insights, musings, and, boy, is your sister smart about the Long Beach Airport terminals! 😂

[@WushuAdventures]

that's a good point. Fortunately there is no money in wushu yet so winning at competitions doesn't really have too much impact on college club status at most of the schools I've been around. lol. but, maybe someday when wushu is bringing in the bucks, that will change. :-) and, yeah. my sister is a smart cookie. :-)

[@bryangao979]

Thanks for the great vlog and insights! I agree with many of the points you brought up about the current state of collegiate wushu, as I have already encountered most of the things you brought up in my 2 years with my college's wushu club. I've always seen the skill diversity as a positive aspect of collegiate wushu, as more often than not, it gives the lower experienced athletes a target that they can shoot for, while also receiving the mentorship from the higher experienced athletes. It also gives the more experienced athletes the chance to practice leadership skills and get more experience with teaching college kids as opposed to the younger children that they are more used to teaching at their wushu schools. All of the critiques of the actual wushu you saw at the competition are all things I can work on, especially relaxing my shoulders and working on my pacing and rhythm. I find it amazing that literally everyone has something they can work on, no matter how experienced they are. Collegiates was a great experience for me and the club as a whole! It was great going head to head with other collegiate wushu athletes, as well as seeing what I could improve on for my future wushu endeavors.

[@WushuAdventures]

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and experiences. And yes, the diversity of experience has pros for sure. A double-edged sword as Will (@williamvo2362) said, and I usually try to focus on the positives more than the challenges. In fact, I never really thought of the diversity as any sort of challenge before this competition since, as I mentioned, I haven't really been around the collegiate wushu scene in a couple decades and it all sort of slipped my mind. I remember training at one school in Orange County where one carpet was beginners and the other carpet were advanced. And the beginners were able to watch the advanced people training next to them and it provided a lot of motivation and inspiration for their own training. And, as you said, those advanced students who had a tendency towards leadership and coaching, had opportunities to practice those skills too. Win-win! :-) I didn't mention it in the video, but watching collegiates was very inspiring for me. It reminded me of the days when I would train with Cal Wushu or other clubs, and how much fun and camaraderie there is in that environment. I really miss it now that I'm not in that sort of environment. Okay, now I'm just rambling. lol. Thanks again for the comments and for sharing your thoughts!

[@yinglong999]

Nice video! Didn’t compete but I was there for the opening. Regarding the current state of collegiate wushu, it is clearly bouncing back from the pandemic. Many clubs struggled and some even essentially died during the lockdown, but many of them built back up, even exceeding where they were pre Covid. I do agree with your brief analysis on the differences of wushu quality or focuses in training, but that’s a whole other conversation I don’t want to write here cause it takes too long 🙃

[@WushuAdventures]

Yeah, I had heard about the challenges during the last 4 years from some of the other judges who have been around the scene. So happy things are picking back up. And, yeah. I might have opened a can of worms talking about the wushu training stuff. lol. But I'm sure there will be more to share with that in the future. :-)

[@yinglong999]

@@WushuAdventuresedited my comment for more info just in case you wanted to reply to something

[@WushuAdventures]

haha! Thanks for the edit. I edited my reply as well. :-)

[@entermartialarts2792]

Great video! I agree with your comments. One more thing to add that Li Jing and I agree on: I would really like to see competitors' eyes lock in on their targets. Many competitors even at the top level had trouble driving their performances forward with their gaze.

[@WushuAdventures]

Oh! Yes! I totally forgot to mention that one! I remember it came up during nandu division, and I saw it throughout the day. Thanks for the reminder! :-)

[@NexusJunisBlue]

Collegiates was so fun! It will be 10 years to the day tomorrow since I competed at my first Collegiates! 🙂 Also, the irony of "new school" Wushu being called more "flashy" when everyone outside of Wushu has always had that impression is hilarious 😂

[@WushuAdventures]

10 years! Happy Decade-versary! :-) And, yeah. Old school feeling that way about new school is one of the constant truisms of wushu, it seems. lol. :-)

[@wushuwerehere]

No longhorns this year? sadge. I don't keep up with them much anymore but from what I hear their membership is thriving! -S

[@WushuAdventures]

Yeah, they definitely have a strong club last time I dropped by ... which was 6 months ago now. Might have been a bit far for them all to go. Or, they might have been there and I just didn't see them where I was. :-)

[@EFFRRt]

Wish I could’ve gone, but hopefully as some of LVMKF’s students age out of HS and move to college, we can make a club at UNLV so we can compete to represent Vegas 🫡

[@WushuAdventures]

For sure! I was thinking specifically about you guys (among other schools) when I was talking about younger athletes coming up in the ranks with their skills. Collegiate wushu in 5-10 years is going to be crazy. :-)