We held our in-school Chinese new year celebration on Saturday February 16th this year. I was worried this year that it would not be as good as it has been in the previous few years. This year we were doing so many shows that we really did not have time to plan the event. Every year the local school and the outlying clubs from other regions all try to get together as a family. We have lunch together, do some demonstrations and lion dancing for the public, and then have a private internal tournament so that we may challenge our skills against our peers. We spent the previous week cleaning the school and decorating in preparation for the event. Usually we spend time also making repairs and attempting to improve our facility, but with all of the lion dances scheduled this season there just was not any time.
This year we were very appreciative to have a local restaurant cater our event, which made things easier on our budget. We did not have much in the way of demonstrations planned, but a few students stepped up to fill in with some demonstration of forms. We also did a lion dance to bless the school and had a friendly internal lion dance competition between some of the regions. This allowed us to have a nice performance for the family, friends, and other guests that stopped by to join us in our celebration.
After the public demonstration we held our in school tournament consisting of empty handed forms, weapons forms, sparring, and weapons sparring of various levels of ability. We even had an instructors division to allow the Shi Xiong (師兄) to showcase some of their abilities. I was a little disappointed in some of the student’s abilities, but I do tend to be very hard on them since I hold them to a very high standard of ability. I hope to see a great deal of improvement from all of the students by this time next year.
Some of the students got together this year and gave me a wonderful surprise. The students at the school here got together and all chipped in to buy me a large fish tank. I have been thinking of starting an aquarium in my home but had not decided on exactly what kind of aquarium I wanted to set up. They gave me this gift in appreciation of the amount of time and energy that I put into the school. I was completely surprised and very grateful for their thoughtfulness.
I was worried this year that the students would not have a good time at our celebration, but everyone seemed to have a good time. This holiday is about families and we all came together as a kung fu family. It did not matter that it was not as extravagant as it had been in previous years. The students all came together with their families and friends and enjoyed the day, the activities, and each others company. That is what is really important.
