INTRODUCTION
Chinese Wushu, or kung fu as called in the West (Wang, 2012) is part of martial arts. Recently, modern disciplines of wushu were shortlisted as one of the new sports for the Olympic Games in 2020. Although it was not finally chosen, the popularity of this sport discipline is rising.
Since wushu is originally Chinese, it bears certain heritage of the characteristic Chinese culture and philosophy (International Wushu Federation, n.d.). However the sport has expanded to the world and to different cultures as well as gained significant interest of researchers. Since 1960's the focus was directed towards the socio-psychological effects when practicing traditional martial arts. Accordingly, it was asked how traditional training could be used in therapies (Daniels & Thornton, 1992; Movahedi, Bahrami, Marandi, & Abedi, 2013; Lantz, 2002). Later, modern martial arts and combative sports were explored rather than traditional styles. Nowadays, martial arts are becoming a current topic again, with the interest of authors around the world in many different research areas (Daniels & Thornton, 1992; Heiny, 2012; Kuan and Roy, 2007; Layton et al., 1993; Najafi, 2003; Twemlow & Sacco, 1998).
Wushu as Chinese martial arts is a superior name for many styles. It can be compared to the term of "budo" in Japanese martial arts. Wushu is divided into two big groups: modern and traditional wushu (International Wushu Federation, n.d.). Modern wushu is a sport discipline where the athletes even practice the form or the full-contact fighting for the purpose of competitions. The forms (sets) are artificially created with referring to characteristics of certain traditional styles. On the other hand, traditional wushu has a long history and its purpose was primary a self-defense (Liang, 2010). Even nowadays the practitioners train both forms and fighting. The movements are not required to look nice, but the athlete needs to be able to apply them in a realistic situation. The training is considered life-long and contains certain cultural and philosophical aspects.
This is in congruence with the definition of traditional martial arts. In such, both external and internal aspects of training are present, those are practice of forms (sets) and fighting skills, together with recognition of the origin and some form of spiritual development (breathing exercise, meditation, philosophy) (Nonsanchuk and MacNeil, 1989; Kim and Back, 1984; Theeboom and Van Stiphout [as cited in Vertonghen, Theeboom & Cloes, 1993]).
In 1986 Trulson first suggested that traditional martial arts have very different outcomes than modern ones. In his study he conducted training sessions with two groups. In the first one, philosophy, meditation and moral code were taught. In the second one, modern approach without these values was highlighted. The training outcome was significantly different. The group trained in traditional way wanted to maintain training even after the experiment and experienced positive changes in their personal development. The hypothesis that traditional martial art can overreach its physical outcomes was also explored by those who found a positive impact on personality traits (Richman & Rehberg, 1986) or later by Najafi (2003). Najafi’s participants of traditional martial arts showed higher level of humility and hope than modern martial arts’ participants. Traditional martial arts became also a supporting background for dealing with delinquency (Zivin, Hassan, DePaula, Monti, Harlan, Hossain & Patterson, 2001) or coping aggressiveness (Nosanchuk & MacNeil, 1989).
Part of the studies contributed to exploring positive benefits in social sphere (Daniels & Thornton, 1992; Movahedi, Bahrami, Marandi, & Abedi, 2013). Researches got interested in the behavior and ethics during the training (Twemlow & Sacco, 1998) and cooperation rather than competition way of thinking (Layton, Higaonna, & Arneil, 1993; Vlachos, 2015). Recently, it was also considered as a possibility in family therapies (Lantz, 2002).
In a phenomenology research of Partikova (2014) specific issue was uncovered. Teachers of traditional wushu experienced a certain shift in understanding one's role in community (from individualism towards collectivism), which was unexpected, because they were all of Czech nationality (which tends to be rather individualistic) (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005). This assumption needs to be indeed further explored. However, individual level of collectivism (psychological collectivism) may differ from the society level. It was proved by Trafimow, Triandis and Goto (1991), that individualistic and collectivistic attributes of self are sampled in two cognitive structure, which means one can possibly be collectivistic or individualistic in any culture, due to the situation. Therefore, the researches started to use the term psychological collectivism, to clearly distinguish their personality oriented approach from the previously society oriented (Hui and Triandis, 1986; Hui, Triandis & Yee, 1991; Jackson, Colquitt, Wesson & Zapata-Phelan, 2006). So called psychological collectivism actually gained attention in the sport field too, when Evans, Eys and Bruner (2012) proposed a model of interdependence in the individual sport and recognize its three sources: task interdependence, group outcome or individual outcome. Donkers (2015) found a relation between enjoyment and intention to return with psychological collectivism, moderated significantly by interdependence. In addition, Wolf (2013) stated that "elite individual sport athletes indicate that teammates are a primary source of motivation, social facilitation, social comparison, and teamwork" (as cited in Donkers, 2015, p. 24).
Exploring psychological benefits of training martial arts recently led to measure mental toughness. Studies of mental toughness in wushu are however limited. Kuan and Roy (2007) looked for a correlation with task and ego orientation and found positive relation of high task and moderate ego and negative energy control. It was assumed that martial arts could be a unique environment in the terms of mental toughness (Heiny, 2012). The aspects of full-contact practice, body to body, dealing with violence and negative energy make martial arts a fruitful area for testing the mental toughness, its development and also for applying a mental skills training and exploring its influences. Mental toughness in martial arts (not only Chinese wushu) is a current topic of sport research (Rais Ahmad Itoo & Naik, 2013; Mînjină, 2014; Bhardwaj, Singh, & Rathee, 2014; Singh & Solanki, 2015; Azaiez, Chalghaf, Cherif, & Achour, 2013).
As it is assumed there are different kinds of mental toughness (Bull, Shambrook, James, & Brooks, 2005). Minnix (2010) has conducted a research to get known specific components for setting mental toughness in wushu. These components are anticipation, learning attitude and ethics. However, this still needs to be validated in the future.
Chinese Wushu, or kung fu as called in the West (Wang, 2012) is part of martial arts. Recently, modern disciplines of wushu were shortlisted as one of the new sports for the Olympic Games in 2020. Although it was not finally chosen, the popularity of this sport discipline is rising.
Since wushu is originally Chinese, it bears certain heritage of the characteristic Chinese culture and philosophy (International Wushu Federation, n.d.). However the sport has expanded to the world and to different cultures as well as gained significant interest of researchers. Since 1960's the focus was directed towards the socio-psychological effects when practicing traditional martial arts. Accordingly, it was asked how traditional training could be used in therapies (Daniels & Thornton, 1992; Movahedi, Bahrami, Marandi, & Abedi, 2013; Lantz, 2002). Later, modern martial arts and combative sports were explored rather than traditional styles. Nowadays, martial arts are becoming a current topic again, with the interest of authors around the world in many different research areas (Daniels & Thornton, 1992; Heiny, 2012; Kuan and Roy, 2007; Layton et al., 1993; Najafi, 2003; Twemlow & Sacco, 1998).
Wushu as Chinese martial arts is a superior name for many styles. It can be compared to the term of "budo" in Japanese martial arts. Wushu is divided into two big groups: modern and traditional wushu (International Wushu Federation, n.d.). Modern wushu is a sport discipline where the athletes even practice the form or the full-contact fighting for the purpose of competitions. The forms (sets) are artificially created with referring to characteristics of certain traditional styles. On the other hand, traditional wushu has a long history and its purpose was primary a self-defense (Liang, 2010). Even nowadays the practitioners train both forms and fighting. The movements are not required to look nice, but the athlete needs to be able to apply them in a realistic situation. The training is considered life-long and contains certain cultural and philosophical aspects.
This is in congruence with the definition of traditional martial arts. In such, both external and internal aspects of training are present, those are practice of forms (sets) and fighting skills, together with recognition of the origin and some form of spiritual development (breathing exercise, meditation, philosophy) (Nonsanchuk and MacNeil, 1989; Kim and Back, 1984; Theeboom and Van Stiphout [as cited in Vertonghen, Theeboom & Cloes, 1993]).
In 1986 Trulson first suggested that traditional martial arts have very different outcomes than modern ones. In his study he conducted training sessions with two groups. In the first one, philosophy, meditation and moral code were taught. In the second one, modern approach without these values was highlighted. The training outcome was significantly different. The group trained in traditional way wanted to maintain training even after the experiment and experienced positive changes in their personal development. The hypothesis that traditional martial art can overreach its physical outcomes was also explored by those who found a positive impact on personality traits (Richman & Rehberg, 1986) or later by Najafi (2003). Najafi’s participants of traditional martial arts showed higher level of humility and hope than modern martial arts’ participants. Traditional martial arts became also a supporting background for dealing with delinquency (Zivin, Hassan, DePaula, Monti, Harlan, Hossain & Patterson, 2001) or coping aggressiveness (Nosanchuk & MacNeil, 1989).
Part of the studies contributed to exploring positive benefits in social sphere (Daniels & Thornton, 1992; Movahedi, Bahrami, Marandi, & Abedi, 2013). Researches got interested in the behavior and ethics during the training (Twemlow & Sacco, 1998) and cooperation rather than competition way of thinking (Layton, Higaonna, & Arneil, 1993; Vlachos, 2015). Recently, it was also considered as a possibility in family therapies (Lantz, 2002).
In a phenomenology research of Partikova (2014) specific issue was uncovered. Teachers of traditional wushu experienced a certain shift in understanding one's role in community (from individualism towards collectivism), which was unexpected, because they were all of Czech nationality (which tends to be rather individualistic) (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005). This assumption needs to be indeed further explored. However, individual level of collectivism (psychological collectivism) may differ from the society level. It was proved by Trafimow, Triandis and Goto (1991), that individualistic and collectivistic attributes of self are sampled in two cognitive structure, which means one can possibly be collectivistic or individualistic in any culture, due to the situation. Therefore, the researches started to use the term psychological collectivism, to clearly distinguish their personality oriented approach from the previously society oriented (Hui and Triandis, 1986; Hui, Triandis & Yee, 1991; Jackson, Colquitt, Wesson & Zapata-Phelan, 2006). So called psychological collectivism actually gained attention in the sport field too, when Evans, Eys and Bruner (2012) proposed a model of interdependence in the individual sport and recognize its three sources: task interdependence, group outcome or individual outcome. Donkers (2015) found a relation between enjoyment and intention to return with psychological collectivism, moderated significantly by interdependence. In addition, Wolf (2013) stated that "elite individual sport athletes indicate that teammates are a primary source of motivation, social facilitation, social comparison, and teamwork" (as cited in Donkers, 2015, p. 24).
Exploring psychological benefits of training martial arts recently led to measure mental toughness. Studies of mental toughness in wushu are however limited. Kuan and Roy (2007) looked for a correlation with task and ego orientation and found positive relation of high task and moderate ego and negative energy control. It was assumed that martial arts could be a unique environment in the terms of mental toughness (Heiny, 2012). The aspects of full-contact practice, body to body, dealing with violence and negative energy make martial arts a fruitful area for testing the mental toughness, its development and also for applying a mental skills training and exploring its influences. Mental toughness in martial arts (not only Chinese wushu) is a current topic of sport research (Rais Ahmad Itoo & Naik, 2013; Mînjină, 2014; Bhardwaj, Singh, & Rathee, 2014; Singh & Solanki, 2015; Azaiez, Chalghaf, Cherif, & Achour, 2013).
As it is assumed there are different kinds of mental toughness (Bull, Shambrook, James, & Brooks, 2005). Minnix (2010) has conducted a research to get known specific components for setting mental toughness in wushu. These components are anticipation, learning attitude and ethics. However, this still needs to be validated in the future.