Tat Wong Kung Fu Instructor will fight for USA at 10th World Championship

On Saturday, July 25,2009, Tat Wong Kung Fu Academy instructor, Mike Lee, fought his way on to the U.S.A National Sanshou (Chinese-style Full Contact Fighting) Team to compete in the World Championships this October.  Only ten men and women from around the country are chosen every other year to represent the United States at the World Championship

The USA Team Trials took place in Lubbock, Texas.  Mike fought in Lubbock to make the US team for Sanshou.  SanShou or Chinese Free Fighting, allows the combatants to punch, kick, and throw one another through various techniques.  Mike tko’d his first opponent in the 65 kilo (143lbs) and below weight category with a punishing round house kick to the ribs that dropped his opponent and didn’t allow his opponent to continue.  Mike then went on to fight an opponent out of Boston.  The first round went back and forth but by the second round Mike lifted and slammed his opponent into the platform which gave his opponent a standing 8 count and then another clearly placed side kick to the rib cage ended the fight.

The World Sanshou Wushu Championships occurs every two years and brings together the top martial artists from around the world. It is an event of International caliber that unites more than 1500 athletes, coaches and participants; all of who are competing for the honor of becoming “World Champions”.  This years Championship will take place on October 24th – 29th and will be held in Toronto, Canada.

The World Championship was also the competition that was used to select the athletes for last years Olympics in Beijing for which Master Tat-Mau Wong was the US team coach.  This was the historic first team of athletes that ever competed in Chinese Martial Arts in conjunction with the Olympics.

Mike was born and raised in Concord, California.  He started his martial arts training at the age of 13, at the Tat Wong Kung Fu Academy in Concord. After graduating from UC Berkley, Mike’s fondness for teaching took him to the East Coast where he worked with Teach For America; but his love for martial arts brought him back to the San Francisco Bay Area.  Mike is home now and again teaching and training at the Tat Wong Kung Fu Academy in Concord and San Francisco.

Mr. Lee says, “When I first started on this martial arts journey, I could have never envisioned that my training would take me to competitions at a national level, let alone an international stage. This experience has taught me that if your heart is fully invested, time will take you to destinations you've dreamt of and beyond. This is a belief I hope I pass on to the students I teach”.

We wish Sihing Mike Lee the best of luck in the upcoming World Championship!

Below is a letter of thanks & inspiration written by Sihing Mike Lee that he would like to share with Master Wong, his instructors, students, classmates & families & friends of the Tat Wong Kung Fu Academy

Dear Students & Classmates,

    In my experience as a student and instructor, I have had the great pleasure of meeting a diversity of people within the martial arts community.  Some, I have met through the academy and others through competitions across the globe. I have found within each martial arts school lies a tradition of respect, dedication, and community.  On some unspoken level, students of a particular school have a shared sense of pride and family.  Perhaps, it is the sharing of sweat that went into their efforts.  Maybe it is a feeling of competition amongst peers that drives them to be their personal best, simultaneously making ‘success stories’ out of all them because they’re better than they were before.  They share what they know with those that do not in hopes that someday others will harvest the same satisfaction from their training as they have. 
    Our own Tat Wong Kung Fu Academy does not simply exhibit this sense of community, but embraces it.  In my decade of training, this notion has remained constant throughout the years.  It is a sentiment you can feel whether you are competing locally at our in-house tournaments, across the country at Disneyworld, or internationally in Brazil or China.  Sometimes it is the entire schools cheering for you, other times it is just a handful that has accompanied you on your journey.  Regardless, it is the same sense of school pride we all share regardless of how many miles between us.  It is a global community that is there to cheer and support you, and more importantly pick you up when you fall down. 
    It is in this collective logic that my obstacles and victories are also your obstacles and victories.  My accomplishment in making the National Sanshou Team is an achievement I share with all of you.  It might be my name that is called at the World Sanshou Championship in Toronto, but it’s the school’s name that is called in my heart.  Without you, I would lack some sense of pride in my efforts and reassurance in my limitations.  In conclusion, I want to express my deepest gratitude to all of you for your support in my most recent endeavor.  I hope that my efforts can provide you with as much inspiration in your training, as your dedication and respect has inspired mine.
 
Sincerely,

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