A short video from my visit of the Beijing wushu team during their training. Enjoy!

Read the article about their training here.

Wushu as study major is a dream come true for some foreigners coming to China. Big cities offer this possibility and so it guided my steps (or rather railways) to Shanghai and Beijing. Here I got to see two universities: Beijing Sport University and Beijing Capital University of Physical Education. However, in Beijing I still did not join any training, so the further text is a kind of observation/description; training experience came later during my other stops of the field trip.

In the Beijing Sport University the space for wushu is huge. Actually the biggest I have seen so far. They have one building for sanda and the other one for taolu; inside there are two gyms, each holding four carpets. When I was there, there was a different lesson on each of the carpet.
I could watch a training of a group of foreigners. This group are not students of the university, working on their degree, but they pay for the wushu training, as one of my informant explained. They have practice every day, but the wushu major students practice three times a week.

In Beijing I visited three places connected with the modern wushu: the Sport University, the Capital University and the Beijing wushu team.
Thanks to a big help (thank you again!) I could contact one of the coaches of the Beijing wushu team. He said he cannot speak English much, but he was fluent when we met. That was really good, because I could ask questions, and I did. I watched one of the morning trainings, amazed that I witness the Beijing wushu team. Even when you practice traditional styles, which is something completely different, you must have heard about them. The coach proudly announced they believe to be the best in the world, and I guess many would agree.
The Beijing wushu team is not inside any university, but a sports school. The institution is new, fancy, very well equipped. Inside the wushu gym, there are three carpets. They have eight teams. A and B in both junior and senior age groups. Juniors are kids who still attend schools, so they practice usually only in the evening/afternoon. Adults are professional; it is their job.

Each team has several coaches. The one I was watching had three. The friendly coach who was talking to me, once an athlete himself, is now in his almost 30 years working as a coach. He seemed to be very proud about the power training. Learning from other sports, such as golf of basketball and studying some coaching techniques abroad, he said: “We need to look for the new way of coaching”.