Striving for strength

Linda Chen Mandarin Teacher (Years 5–8 )

The Year 8 boys have been incredibly excited about learning new skills with their martial arts teacher, Chris Tao from the Confucius Institute. Within two weeks, Chris had built a positive relationship with the boys via his sense of humour and open-minded teaching style.

Chris explained how martial arts training has been beneficial to his own life and why he believes martial arts is the greatest platform to unleashing your potential. The practice, he said, is not about being better than someone else; rather, it is about bettering oneself and developing one’s own mind and body.

He also emphasised that a truly strong martial arts figure is actually a character with shortcomings and weaknesses. He hopes that through learning martial arts, the boys will learn to accept their imperfections, become more courageous, and set their minds to strive for their personal bests. This mindset helped those boys who are perhaps a little shy, as well as those prone to hyperactivity during the classes, to have better focus while having fun.

Learning martial arts together with such an inspiring coach is increasing the boys’ sense of self-esteem and self-respect. This is encouraging them to build deeper friendships with one another.