UTCMAC

Traditional Chinese martial arts encompasses a broad space of material which includes fighting ability, health, safety, cultivation, etc. The purpose of this page is to define how our club operates within this broad scope.

First, before starting any form of martial training, it is important to understand some key operating guidelines so that everyone in the club can keep safe and have fun. Thus, we begin this page with a description of these guidelines. Afterwards, we describe the core material that the club teaches. Lastly, we describe club practices and teaching methods.

Guidelines and Disclaimer

First and foremost, the club believes that all activities must be done with consent. So if you do not wish to participate or continue in a particular activity, feel free to stop. There is no obligation to follow what everyone else is doing. For example, suppose there is an exercise that you find very difficult to keep up with but everyone else is able to. It's okay to stop and take a breather instead of forcing yourself too hard and risk pulling a muscle. This is important because everyone has different comfort levels and what may be easy for one person may also be too difficult for another.

The club practices, as with any physical exercise, contains an element of risk of injury. We do our best to minimize the risk of injury but that risk is always present. So, it is important that you look out for your own safety and the safety of those you practice with. On our side, we will describe safety concerns and habits during practices where appropriate. If in doubt, consult with the instructor or with a qualified medical professional.

By attending our club practices, you agree that we are NOT LIABLE for any losses, damages, injuries, or death incurred from club activities.

Material

Our club is focused on the martial aspects of Tai Chi and traditional Chinese martial arts. The material that we teach is rooted in tradition and backed by science. This section describes that material in detail.

Beginners first start out with long fist training. Long fist is a traditional Chinese martial art developed in the Song dynasty. According to folklore, the long fist system is said to be a common martial art practiced by all Chinese martial artists before they specialize in their own system. Modern day wushu explicitly comes from long fist. The long fist system does a great job of teaching core foundations that include stances, footwork, striking, tripping, and joint-manipulations. 

Tai Chi is a martial art that evolved out of long fist during the Ming dynasty. It focuses on achieving balance in all its motions which we will show explicitly during practices. Tai Chi does a great job of teaching a student how to link movements together smoothly and develops very good body awareness and control. Yang style Tai Chi in particular is probably the most popular Tai Chi system practiced in the world today as it was the first Tai Chi system to go public (Chen style, the predecessor of Yang style, did not go public until much later). We teach the Yang style Tai Chi system. Subjectively, this system has a very wholesome feel to it and teaches a very unique flavour on how to calmly deal with adversity.

After the student gain an introductory grasp of Tai Chi, we then introduce the plum flower mantis system which teaches the quick springiness missing in the other systems. Now the student has a martial base and is classified as an advanced member and can begin specializing in their material of choice. Anyone who has had martial arts background before can skip the beginner stage altogether.

Advanced members can learn weaponplay (including lance, double-edged sword, and single-edged sabre), continue in long fist (primarily Cha family), tai chi (Chen and Yang styles), mantis (six harmony and plum flower styles), or learn a more complex system. Other systems that we teach include Songxi quan (a rare style from Sichuan province in China), Baguazhang, and more. The precise material available also depends on the members in the club who are willing to teach. So if you are proficient in a particular style and want to share it with the club, you are free to and we can add it to our list of material to available. Lastly, our club does do sparring and usually it's something that the advanced members do for safety reasons. If you are interested in trying it out one, among many other, sparring methods that our club employs, feel free to let us know and we'll figure out a way to do it safely.

Practices

Regular, dedicated practice is important in order to gain proficiency in martial arts. Practices are conducted twice a week. The first hour is devoted to teaching beginners the introductory materials and this material is often taught via forms (a codified set of movements that is analagous to a "formula sheet" for a martial arts system). Advanced members are free to join and brush up on basics. This is followed by the advanced session. The first hour is very structured because it is geared towards people who have no martial arts background and hence needs that structure to convey the material coherently. The second half is unstructured because after establishing a base, it is better to go about exploring martial arts on your own instead of being confined to a particular structure. Furthermore, as a university club, we have people of varying backgrounds and good things come about when material from diverse sources mingle and share so we prefer a relaxed and unstructured environment for advanced members.

Conclusion

Our club is a martial arts club that focuses on Tai Chi and traditional Chinese martial arts. We believe that safety is important and is something that everyone must be vigilant about. We split the class into beginner and advanced sections where beginners receive guided, structured practice and advanced members have a more free environment to explore. Practicing martial arts has been a very rewarding experience for us and we hope that you also find the same joy and fulfillment as we have in walking this path.