“Dear Friend and Students at the Shaolin Warriors Meet. Greetings from Shaolin Temple of China! This year, we are holding the Shaolin Warriors Meet Intramural Games online. I hereby sincerely wish the Games a great success! Through these Games we get to know Shaolin culture and Shaolin Kung Fu. Through Shaolin culture and Shaolin Kung Fu everyone is elevated, purified, and benefits both physically and spiritually. During the pandemic, please wash your hands frequently, mask up and stay home. We sincerely pray for the imminent ending of the pandemic. We also pray for all of you a healthier body and mind to embrace life and the future. With the advent of Christmas and New Year. I wish you all a very happy holiday season, a happy family and good health. Be auspicious always! Amituofo!”

 

Honored guest Bryant Fong, Founder of the Chinese Martial Arts Tournament (CMAT) at UC Berkeley, Director & Chief Instructor of the UC Chinese Martial Arts Program spoke to his cloud audiences and emphasized the significance of this event.

“Thank you for inviting me. I am happy to be here. On behalf of UC Berkeley, the Chinese Martial Arts Tournament and CAL Wushu Team, we send you our greetings. We wish you a very good day of competition. Of course we want to praise all the young warriors for attending this event. It’s one way to keep our community together, to be both spiritually as well as physically healthy, and it’s very important at these times, because it’s not very easy for anyone, so for you to keep up your practice and take up competition, that’s a great way to meet the challenges of COVID. So the most important thing right now, keep healthy, wash your hands, wear your mask, stay at home. We’ll get over this, and I’ll see you again at CMAT, I hope in a short time. Thank you very much. Thank you for attending this event. Thank you.”

Master Yanran, Executive Director of Shaolin Temple USA

Message from Master Yanran

“Good morning everyone. This has been a very challenging year. In early March, the government issued a stay at home order the closed all non-essential businesses. Our schools’ regular classes were affected and came to a screeching halt. Out of concern that the interruption will cause the students’ Kung Fu skills to regress, I immediately call a staff meeting to discuss ways to offer classes online in a speedy fashion. Thanks to everybody’s hard work, we pulled off the online classes within 3 days. During the past nine months, while the whole world was faced with layer upon layer of difficulties, we demonstrated the Shaolin Warrior’s courageous and tenacious spirit. We never stop improving the class quality and trying new offerings. We cultivate our mind with Chan, or Zen, and exercise our body with Kung Fu. Good physical and mental health helps boost our immunity to fend off the pandemic. I must commend the students and parents for their perseverance in their training online. Your wise choice not only helps with your own health but also supports our school. In today’s games, we are about to witness the students’ performance and the result of our collective efforts. Finally I want to once again express my sincere gratitude to our supportive students and families. Let’s hope for a speedy return to normalcy in 2021. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I hereby declare the 2020 Shaolin Warriors Meet officially open!”

Team placard bearers:
San Francisco: Stephen T Delaney; Fremont, CA: Rishitha Sivaprabhu
Herndon, VA: Eugene Ho; Stanford: Allis Chien

Vitality, Energy and Spirit

As the competition videos played one after another online, the vitality, agility and spirit of Shaolin disciples were vividly displayed. Competition was fierce in every event, and the overall results revealed that the students have reached a higher level of achievement in their Kung Fu training than previous years.

There were more than 60 individual events, as well as group events such as "Happy Shaolin Family Cup" parent-child performance, school team competition, etc., in this year's Meet, as well as contests for the Advanced Division 5-Event All-Around scholarships, Intermediate and Beginner Divisions 3-Event All-Around scholarships.

Participating videos were required to meet strict rules and video specifications to ensure a fair competition.

Individual events scoring were based on the assessment of the participant's Kung Fu basics and performance of traditional fist and weapon forms in Shaolin Temple USA's 18-level curriculum. Group events scoring criteria included program design, creativity, team spirit and performance. In both individual and group events, the unique characteristics, essence and spirit of Shaolin Kung Fu are emphasized.

Individual Kung Fu and Wellness Qigong competitions were held concurrently at Rings 1 and 2, while other traditional fist and weapon events, Shaolin Family Cup, and school team competition were held at Ring 3. The judges watched and scored the participating videos live online.

The judges scoring Alan Tong’s “Double Hammers” video online live
during the Other Traditional Weapons event.

Participants recorded their videos in their homes, backyards, parks
and the outdoor area of the Fremont Center.

Grand Champions of the Advanced, Intermediate and Beginner Divisions were born based on their aggregate scores of individual events. Students from all three culture centers shared the top three places in these contests. The nine all-around champions were each awarded a scholarship to advance their Kung Fu studies, with the top prize at $1,500 in the Advanced Division.

• School Team Competition •

The highly anticipated school team competition was especially exciting. Undaunted by the challenges and constraints posed by the pandemic, the team members found creative ways to choreograph and produce their programs. Segments of their videos were recorded online or in open spaces, mixing in music and employing special effects that enhanced the rhythm and mood without overtaking the essence of martial arts. The audience and judges alike were amazed by the results.

Competition results:
The Fremont and San Francisco School Teams tied for first place and was each awarded a $500 team building scholarship; The Fremont Junior Team also received high marks and a $500 scholarship. When the new school year starts in 2021, the teams can apply these scholarships to enhance their training and strengthen teamwork.

Each team member also received a trophy with a personalized plate to record the results.

San Francisco School Team produced part of its competition video online.

Fremont Youth Team (Team 1) & Fremont Junior Team (Team 2) recorded parts of their competition videos at the outdoor area of the Fremont Center.

The "Shaolin Family Cup" event was created at the 2014 Shaolin Warriors Meet to encourage families to partake in activities that benefit their bodies and mind. It has since become a popular event and a heart-warming highlight of the Meet. This year, seven families—parents, children and siblings, demonstrated the fun and spirit of a harmonious Kung Fu family in self-produced videos. Their performances brought warmth, smiles and joy to everyone. All participating families each received a scholarship of US$200 to recognize their efforts and as models of family members pursuing good health together.

Concise, Versatile and Efficient:
The Wisdom of Shaolin Kung Fu

The success of the 2020 Shaolin Warriors Meet, and the students' overall achievements in the competition was an inevitable result when Shaolin disciples carried forward the Shaolin Warrior spirit to bravely overcome adversity. With positive energy, they have created a virtuous cycle of wellness for themselves, their families, friends and community.

Since the Shaolin Temple USA's Kung Fu classes went online in March 2020, the students' response to the new class format quickly changed from "can't get used to it," "don't like it," "no room at home to do it," to finding the knack for martial arts distance learning, having adapted to it and really liking it. They have become more focused in class and practice harder at home. They actively participate in special training programs, take belt tests more frequently and advance more quickly to higher levels and new syllabus. Their hard work combined with the Shifus' tireless efforts in improving the techniques of teaching Shaolin Kung Fu online all paid off.

These results attest to the wisdom, flexibility and unique characteristics of Shaolin Kung Fu to overcome constraints and maximize impact. The Shifus and students successfully applied the principles of Shaolin Kung Fu and the spirit of Chan in liberating their own potentials to bravely overcome the challenges with tenacity and ingenuity.

Shaolin Temple USA'S online lessons have garnered high marks from the students. Srinivas Kadaba of the Fremont Center offered his kudos: "The quality of online Kung Fu classes far exceeded my expectations. I feel that I am learning more from the Shifus, and my Kung Fu has really improved. We are lucky to have the best instructors teaching us. They adapt quickly from teaching in-person classes to online classes, and the methods are becoming more and more sophisticated and thorough. I look forward to taking classes again in-person at the culture center. I believe that the experience and techniques they have accumulated from online teaching can be well applied to physical classes."

On the first virtual Shaolin Warriors Meet in which Srini was a top contenders in the 5-event all-around championship contest, "It was great! Everything was well planned and well executed. Instructions for this new competition format are thorough and well presented. This Meet gives students a goal and motivates them to be more focused on their training and do well in the competition. I'm glad this annual tradition prevailed over the pandemic, thanks to everyone's hard work at Shaolin Temple USA."

• Award Ceremony •

Virtual presentation of trophies, medals and certificates online.

The grand finale of this special Shaolin Warriors Meet was a carefully designed, creative and formal virtual award ceremony. The Shifus presented medals, trophies and scholarship certificates virtually to every single winner, while the prizes could be picked up at the culture centers in the following week. After the ceremony, many students and families stayed behind to rejoice at their experience at this extraordinary occasion.

Advanced Division 5-Event All-Around Grand Champions:
1st Place: Richard Chin ($1,500 Scholarship)
2nd Place: Sahil Puranik ($800 Scholarship)
3rd Place: Alan Tong ($600 Scholarship)

Intermediate Division 3-Event All-Around Grand Champions:
1st Place: Jason Lewis ($800 Scholarship)
2nd Place: Eugene Ho ($500 Scholarship)
3rd Place: Arya Brooke ($400 Scholarship)
Beginner Division 3-Event All-Around Grand Champions:
1st Place: Aurora Le ($500 Scholarship)
2nd Place: Rui Bing Zheng ($300 Scholarship)
3rd Place: Perry Zemblidge ($200 Scholarship)

More Individual Event Winners

The 2020 Shaolin Warriors Meet successfully concluded after a day of lively real-time interaction online. The Kung Fu family performances were especially touching. There are many ways to experience culture and different perspectives from which to interpret it. An environment that is open, inclusive and diverse is essential for all these to happen. This special Shaolin Warriors Meet has offered such a milieu and perfectly reflected the role of Shaolin culture in today's world. Shaolin culture embodies universal values that cross all borders. The tolerant and inclusive nature of the Dharma, and the practice of Chan and Kung Fu as a unified form of personal cultivation, empower us to meet challenges and embrace the future with courage and ease in the midst of a ferocious pandemic.