Motivation. Confidence. Discipline. Perseverance. Respect. Community. Righteousness. Tolerance. These main tenets shape the characters of kung fu athletes into successful people.

In hopes of qualifying for the 5th Pan American Kung Fu Championships, freshmen Audrey Li and Aldric Tanzil and junior Austin Byun competed in the 2024 USA Shaolin Open & Traditional Team Trials on Oct. 25-27 hosted by the Shaolin Temple Cultural Center.

Byun and Tanzil both won four gold medals, qualifying them as grand champions. The event featured a diversity of forms. The Traditional Temple Form highlights the powerful, precise ancient techniques from Shaolin temple traditions. The Traditional Northern Kung Fu showcases high kicks and fluid, extensive movements, while Southern styles have grounded stances, shouting and explosive motions. The Modern Wushu integrates traditional martial arts with acrobatics and theatrical elements designed for performance and competition. This brought over martial arts athletes from around the world.

“The most memorable part was making new friends, especially from California, Florida and two guest competitors from Canada,” Byun said. “So it was pretty cool meeting a lot of new people.”

The first day of the trials brought the athletes to an opening ceremony, where schools from various countries performed in a master show – with most performers being group forms, with the exception of some individuals. For Li, who has been practicing kung fu for just two years, the ceremony was inspiring as the experienced competitors showcased their best skills.

“The opening ceremony was cool because you got to see a lot of different people performing and it makes you more motivated to do better,” Li said.

Despite starting at a later age than most kung fu athletes, as a seventh grader, Li began kung fu because her sister was also practicing it at the time.

“I think [I chose kung fu] because it’s more unique compared to other styles,” Li said.

Li performed the Wushu Long Fist, Traditional Broadsword, Shaolin Compulsory, Traditional Shaolin Bo Staff and Traditional Double Sword for her team at the Shaolin Temple Cultural Center. Tanzil, however, started kung fu at the age of 4.

“My parents put me in [kung fu] and I stayed for a couple of reasons,” Tanzil said. “First of all, it’s really good exercise and works out the whole body. And at least in my kung fu school, there’s a really strong community between parents, students and the teachers.”

Tanzil has competed in two team trials for the national USA team: the 2022 Traditional Kung Fu Team in Lubbock, Texas and the 2021 Contemporary Wushu Team in California. Although he didn’t make either team, Tanzil still continued to learn and practice in preparation for future competitions.

“It gave me an idea of how good you really need to be to get into those teams and how strong the competition was,” Tanzil said. “I can’t remember when, but at some point, I decided I wanted to go far with kung fu as an athlete. I wanted to be great.”

The second day was the heart of the competition where most athletes performed their events. For Byun, he arrived early, prepared his forms and waited until the afternoon to perform.

“The most challenging part was just enduring through the day, where I had to wait patiently before my event started,” Byun said. “It kind of takes a toll on your mentality.”

Byun finally performed his events, including the Traditional Shaolin Bo Staff, Traditional Shaolin Dao (broadsword), DaHong Quan and his monk spade routine. Afterward, his performances won him four gold medals.

“The most surprising [moment] for me was [when] I won four gold medals really easily; this competition was somewhat basic compared to other national team trial competitions,” Byun said.

Byun was 9 years old when he quickly immersed himself into the sport.

“I was in fourth grade. My friends from school were doing kung fu and came to a Chinese New Year festival, so that was really fascinating and I wanted to be like that,” Byun said.

He started training as a beginner and although he was “considerably too old to start,” Byun didn’t skip any level testings and built himself up from there. He competed in the World Star Competition in fifth, eighth and 10th grade, the 2023 USA Wushu Kung Fu Taolu National Team Trials in Lubbock, Texas and the 4th Pan American Kung Fu Championships 2023.

Likewise, Tanzil won four medals after performing three hand forms: Contemporary Wushu, Traditional Kung Fu and an animal form, specifically the praying mantis.

“I think kung fu is different in that it focuses on the actual forms because there are some real movies I can use for self-defense applications, but kung fu doesn’t really focus on that,” Tanzil said. “There’s no other martial art that really uses the animal forms, and I really grew to like the praying mantis form – I think it’s a cool one.”

Winning these awards, however, takes an extensive amount of physical and mental preparation. Byun and Tanzil attend the Houston Shaolin Kung Fu Academy, where classes are held three to four times a week in one-and-a-half to four-hour sessions, usually on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

“It took me around three to four weeks to figure out the forms I would compete in and practice them,” Byun said. “Mentally, all I prepared [with] was just focusing and trying to lock in.”

The final day was reserved for the grand championship ceremony. However, after announcing the grand champions, there was an ultimate competition between all of the grand champions to compete for a “‘grand grand’ champion,” which “not everyone expected,” according to Tanzil.

The wrap-up of this event highlighted the importance of strong support systems – for Byun, his biggest supporters are his instructor and Shifu (grand master) at his academy. Tanzil’s biggest supporters are his mom and his older brother, Avery Tanzil, who also practices kung fu but injured his ACL earlier in the year, and will take two to three more months to fully recover.

“My mom is really supportive, pushes me a lot and takes me to all of my classes,” Tanzil said. “[My brother] hasn’t been able to really participate, but he’s been doing his best to help me improve while he can.”

Through these motivations, Tanzil is focused on the dedication it takes to succeed and reflects on what drives him. As for the future, both Byun and Tanzil will advance to the 5th Pan American Kung Fu Championships in the summer of 2025 and will continue to compete in the Shaolin Open & Traditional Team Trials every year to continue their journeys.

“The difference between winning and losing might be one or two more classes,” Tanzil said.