Five months (October 1st, 2007-March 1st, 2008)

Matt Erbele

I attended the Kunyu Mountain Shaolin Martial Arts Academy from October 2007 through February 2008. It was one of the most enjoyable five months in my life. The training is challenging and the living condition might seem a little bit Spartan to the average westerner, but the opportunity to train with masters who have dedicated their lives to martial arts is invaluable. They are passionate about what they do and enjoy sharing their knowledge with others. Almost everyone has seen a Kungfu show and thought it was really cool, but few people spend much time think about all the work and the years of dedication it took to get that good, but the masters here have lived that.

The training is challenging but it isn’t excessive. The masters do a good job of tailoring it to meet the needs of the students like anything else in life, you will get out of it however much you put into it, you will definitely leave here in better shape than when you arrived. There are people here of various abilities and ages. When I arrived, I had no martial arts experience. I have greatly improved my strength, flexibility and balance while I still will never be a threat to anyone in a real fight (I haven’t had enough time practicing the moves for them to become instinctive), I feel that I have an excellent base from which to build further martial arts skills. I had and met a lot of great people here and made many memories that I will treasures for a lifetime. If you are unsure if this is for you, I say give it a try. Life is too short not to spend it doing cool things. It is better to fail daring to do great things than to succeed at something you find mind numbingly boring.

Happy training,
Matt Erbele Age 34

Matt and the Academy's translator , Joy