The wushu club is living out a lot of sports’ worst nightmares. Its members have a dedicated team ready to train, but no coach.
And that’s just the way they like it.
Oregon’s club team is the largest and oldest collegiate wushu club in the nation without a coach. Instead of a coach, the team has student captains who use the members’ collective knowledge to improve. When the club doesn’t know how to do something, they turn to YouTube or reach out to friends and masters at other schools for help. That, or they’ll ask UO wushu alumni who continued to train after graduating.
“I personally think (not having a coach) is a positive thing because it gives us a lot of connections,” social events coordinator Brenda Heng said. “Yes, we’re a team and we compete against other schools, but it doesn’t mean we can’t be friends with those other schools. It really expands our knowledge base. We learn so much more from different people.”
With most members coming into the club without prior martial arts experience, captain Kenney Hersch recognizes that the club’s knowledge base may not be as extensive as a team’s with a coach. However, he believes inexperience is the only major disadvantage to their structure.
“We can’t go too in-depth in knowledge because we don’t have it,” Hersch said. “Everything else — like a standard for perfection or the will to do wushu — it’s all there. Each of us helps each other out to push each other to the max or to our limits.”
The collaboration between members is what makes the group strong, but it comes with a small drawback. Sometimes advice or corrections with form come down to stylistic preferences that differ between members of the club.
“The best thing to do in those kinds of situations is do what feels most comfortable to you,” Heng said. “But if it’s something like your horse stance needs to be lower, that’s something you need to take to heart.”
It’s the freedom to take or leave stylistic critiques that truly differentiates this team from one with a coach.
“Ever since I started training here and without my coaches, I’m beginning to find my own style,” said freshman Elirissa Hui, who previously trained with Phillip Dang, a national team member and UO wushu alumni. “I’m really glad that I’m able to do that instead of having my coach’s style. A lot of people see me do wushu and say, ‘that’s totally Phil’s wushu.’ That’s totally awesome, but I also want to have my own style — my own wushu — instead of someone else’s.”
Overall, it isn’t the freedom from an instructor or the ability to choose how to practice that keeps the group strong and passionate. It’s the people.
“At the end of the day, we’re a competitive club,” Hersch said. “But we wouldn’t have a club if people didn’t come for the sake of each other and to do a little bit of wushu.”
Follow Anne Yilmaz on Twitter @anneyilmaz
[Originally published here by the Daily Emerald on April 2, 2014]