On paper, the Collegiate Wushu Tournament looked like a bust for the three University of Oregon students who traveled to the University of Maryland on Saturday to participate.
They kept getting lost. There were fallen sashes and forgotten moves during forms. None of them placed.
However, for freshman Elirissa Hui and sophomores Wing Ng and Kevin Lai, the trip was anything but a failure. Despite their rankings, they all found reasons to consider it a success.
Collegiate Wushu Tournament’s existence is a success of its own. 18 years ago, UO wushu alum and former US Wushu Team member Brandon Sugiyama created the tournament with the UO serving as the first host.
For the club, continuing to compete at the tournament — even with only three people — is continuing the legacy and tradition that Sugiyama created.
“(Sugiyama) called us out (at the competition) actually. ‘Where are the UO people?’” Ng said. “It was daunting to yell out in front of all of those people, but it makes me proud to go to the school that started this event.”
History aside, the tournament holds another important role for the the club. Without a coach, the team uses these annual competitions as a way to check their performance and skill in comparison to others.
“One thing that’s really great about wushu and individual events is that, no matter who’s competing, everyone will always cheer you on,” Lai said. “The point about wushu isn’t necessarily winning. It’s about showing off your practice and hard work as well as camaraderie … It’s not about hating each other or trying to personally best each other, but watching everyone do the best they can.”
For all three of the members of the club, watching others perform and seeing the wide variety of wushu is what makes these trips special. Being able to watch more experienced competitors gives them the motivation and inspiration to better themselves and their skills.
“Seeing the different levels of people is really cool,” Hui said. “You’re like, I’m not alone. We’re all on this journey together even though we’re competing against each other.”
“Every time you come back from competition, there’s this kind of wushu high that you’re on for a while,” Hui said. “You’re like, ‘Oh, man. I want to train hard and do all these things,’ but you can’t rush it. You kinda just have to take it step-by-step.”
Even though they can’t jump into more complicated movements right away, everyone brought back things they plan to work on. Lai believes working on the basics will make his entire form better. Ng left Maryland eager to work on his flexibility and snappiness so he can rival his competition. Hui plans to refine and change her form as her injuries heal.
For the three club members, it’s coming away with ways to improve that makes a competition successful.
Follow Anne Yilmaz on Twitter @anneyilmaz
[Originally published here by the Daily Emerald on April 23, 2014]