[Kit] – You are very well known in the Wushu community and have achieved a lot, but for those folks who are jumping into the Wushu community for the first time or are outside looking in, can you tell me a little about yourself?
[Winnie] – Sure, my name is Winnie Cai and I started Wushu when I was five years old and I’m currently 22, so it’s been a solid 17 years now. I have received quite a few titles and medals along the way starting from my junior years where I’ve gotten 7 medals in total at the World junior championships from 2010 to 2018 where 3 of them have been gold, 2 silver, and 2 bronze.And during my senior years I’ve had the opportunity to go to so many high level competitions like the Wushu world championships, the Cheng-ju World Masterships, and the World Games and place at these events as well. What’s kept me here throughout these 17 years is pretty much the community.
Every single time I compete, train, or go to the international world stage, the community is just so nice, humble and willing to give me advice on how to improve. It’s been very motivating and inspiring to talk to and get to know role models that I have looked up to all these years. I really do love it here and I hope to bring the future generations into this world of Wushu as well.
[Kit] I know you have had a lot of success in all three of your main events of QiangShu (Spear), JianShu (Straightsword) and ChangQuan (Longfist), but which one would you say is your favorite?
[Winnie] Well, that’s a hard question. There’s unique little aspects in each event so there’s a lot that I like about all three of them. However, if I were to choose, I think it would probably be QiangShu. When I started out competing at the Junior Worlds, the first event that I placed in was actually spear, ao it’s always had a special place in my heart.
People say spear is the hardest weapon, but it’s also the most fun. There’s so many different movements you can do with the weapon including throwing it and jumping with it. It requires your upper and lower body coordinating everything to make it move the way that you want. The spear is also so long, allowing the movements to be very versatile. It’s just really fun to do!
[Kit] And you are clearly very good at it! When I watch your competition videos, you look calm and collected, which is difficult. Wushu is a sport that requires months of dedicated training and boils down to a minute and a half of executing perfectly, very much like other performance sports. How do you prepare yourself heading into these competitions? What things do you consider the months, weeks and days ahead of competing?
[Winnie] We start preparing a few months prior to the competition doing full forms, often doing many of them within each training session. So basically that one minute and a half of our routine is filled with intense continuous movement with little to no time to rest. Sometimes it’s not even just one and a half minutes, but we’ll do some suicides in between two full forms. It is very intense. We’ll do a lot of core and a lot of jumps just to make sure that those are solid. And to know that we can land difficult jumps even in stressful competition environments.
There’s also a lot of planning and organization in terms of how your body is going to adjust. If the competition is local, then it’s easier but for international competitions, you have to account for jet lag and time differences. If you have a competition that is a week long and your events are the second day and the fourth day, usually the day before the event, you’re going to take it slow and not exhaust your body too much. But the day before the rest day, it’s going to be quite intense because you’re going to push your limits a little bit and then allow your body to recover. That’s when you can bring all of your potential out for competition.
There’s also testing out the mats to consider, because usually the organizers only give you 30 to 45 minutes so you have to know exactly what you want to do during that time. If you really want to push yourself and you have time before then, you could do full forms, but if not, then it’s usually jumps and balances and going through difficult sections of your form.
When thinking about the night before competing, I’m lucky I’ve always been a really good sleeper. What I found helpful: for example, I went to China a few years ago, and decided on the plane either I’m going to sleep the entire time or I’m just going to stay awake the entire time. If I stay awake the entire time, I get to China and it’s like daytime, I’ll just go to sleep very easily. Usually the night before, I’ll do a little bit of light conditioning also if I’m not completely worn out.
[Kit] That’s awesome. Thanks for sharing that! You mentioned starting Wushu when you were 5 years old and having been in this sport for 17 years. There is undoubtedly a time when Wushu was just for fun. Somewhere along the way, the purpose transitions from having fun to wanting to achieve. Then further still, the purpose evolves to imparting Wushu to somebody else. When did the transitions happen for you and what insights did you have during these transitions?
[Winnie] I thought Wushu was fun only after just a few years. A big part of it is because I started Wushu with a good group of friends. We’re all doing rolls and cartwheels and everything, doing bridge. I’d say that the second stage would probably be when I actually hit my first World Championship in Indonesia in 2017. I was one of the youngest competitors there, but I was lucky enough to place third for Straightsword. Seeing all those athletes and seeing how good they are, I stood at the podium and definitely felt some imposter syndrome. I don’t really don’t know how I got here, but everybody is so good it made me want to perfect my craft and try to be better. I really wanted to work harder so I can compete again and know that I’m at the same level as them and not just feel the imposter syndrome again.
The imparting Wushu part has been pretty consistent for me for many years now. Ever since I went to Junior Worlds and World Championships and Masterships and the Games, I’ve always wanted to try to help out the younger generation and my peers as well. If there’s anybody struggling to do a movement, then I try to provide my input and see if that would help them in any way. Also, I am usually helping out with the many classes at my Wushu school to teach the younger generation as well so teaching has always been a part of my Wushu journey.
[Kit] You are 22 today and have significant international and national success. You live and breathe Wushu. However, there will come a time, as it does to all athletes, where it is time to hand the reins off to the next generation. What does life look like for you after competitive Wushu?
[Winnie] Yeah, I’ve definitely thought about that. I think right now in Calgary, the next generation is pretty good. There’s a group of kids that are pretty well off. They understand the Chinese culture and principles within Wushu that we like to really hone in on. They’re also helping to teach the younger ones as well about that in turn, which is really good.
In terms of life outside of Wushu after retirement? Oh my gosh. That sounded really weird coming out of my mouth! But I guess after I retire from Wushu, I do want to pursue higher education and try to get into Architecture. Currently I’m in urban planning and based on my background, I would like to do something based around sports. Urban environments can impact the way we interact within sports. Same thing with architecture. The different ways we can manipulate space to be able to have both a communal space where people are able to go and socialize and learn, but also a private space as well, and just how to navigate and organize these functional spaces.
[Kit] I’m really impressed! Urban planning and architecture is not a usually traveled path for Wushu athletes. What led you down this path?
[Winnie] Ever since I was young, I’ve always been pretty artistic. My parents wanted to put me into art class, but because we were so busy with training and everything, we couldn’t take the time out to. On the side, I’ve always been doodling and drawing. When I got to high school, I wanted to go more into art because I really enjoyed it. I took an art IB course and really did enjoyed the community and the friends that I made, seeing how the design making and the process really is. Going into university, I was headed towards visual arts until my friend noticed I was into cities and architecture, suggesting urban planning as a potential path. I ended up applying and getting in! I really enjoyed my urban planning courses and the stuff that we learn, and it’s really interesting to understand how multidimensional the city really is and how the next generation of city planners are able to change the way that we build cities and how our citizens are able to interact with the built environment, green space, and just other people as well.
[Kit] You’ve been to many international cities. Has there been one that has really stuck out to you through your urban planning lens, or do you have a favorite city that you’ve been to in your Wushu journey?
[Winnie] My first competition was in Singapore, I really liked the city though I think it’s also very biased as it’s based on where the organizers place us and where we go. During competitions, there’s often not too much time to actually visit the city. In the case of Singapore, we had some time and I found it really nice and extremely walkable.
There was a recent project called the Blank Space where it was underneath the apartment complexes and it was just a blank open space, but people within the complex would go down and create organic events by themselves that would invite the entire complex or people around. And it was kind of its own community gathering and their own little hub, their space, their events. We don’t really have that here in North America.
[Kit] Community is a recurring theme and I feel like this is an important aspect for you in Wushu. If there was something you could do to improve the community of Wushu, what would that be?
[Winnie] Alberta is just so big and Edmonton and Calgary and Lethbridge are all so far apart. It’s a three hour drive each way to get anywhere so physical distance has always been a challenge but I would really like to see us all together at some point just because I have a few friends in Edmonton and I only get to see them once a year. I would love to see a gathering. It doesn’t even have to be a competition, like a gathering of some sort where everybody can come and celebrate and just talk and have fun.
I also hope that more people are able to come into this Wushu community because currently I do feel like it is a little bit segregated and hard to get into, especially at the provincial and national level. I’d love for the Wushu community to open itself up a little bit and for us to promote ourselves because Wushu is still not very well known. Maybe do a bunch of TikTok trends. It would be fun!
[Kit] Well, I am leaning on you younger folks to do the TikTok! This is an excellent final thought, and again, thank you I appreciate your time!
