Martial arts of course! But, what comes to mind when you think of martial arts? Jumping? Kicking? Men with superhuman powers? Well, some of that's true. However, martial arts teaches you so much more! With practice and determination, martial arts can develop self-confidence, physical strength, mental endurance,leadership skills, and discipline. Grades as well as physical fitness can increase as your lifestyle changes.

Check out what martial arts has for this club member:

Nancy VanderBrink: Martial Arts has done more for me in one semester than years of physical therapy...could have done. I have learned how to ‘sense’ where my body is. Because I am a visually impaired person, I sometimes will get lost and will stumble around, or, completely miss my mouth with the water fountain and shoot it up my nose or into my eyes. When you’re unable to sense yourself in space, you have to rely on others to help you do things. Since I’ve been doing martial arts, I am learning to balance myself. I had resigned myself to being a stumbling around blind person, but two things happened: one I got my guide dog and two I found martial arts.

My guide dog Cole is my rock. He’s a stable being that walks next to me who always walks in straight lines and who also doesn’t fall over; unless you try really hard. The same is now true for martial arts. I am still not able to stand for long periods of time on one foot, but I am more able to balance myself while doing other things. In the beginning, all you had to do was push me and I would stumble over. Now if you push me, I may stumble a few steps, but, the most important part is that I now have the ability to stop myself! I never had that before! Another big part of martial arts that keeps me coming back is the social aspect. These people are great people! They’re willing to stop the explanation of a move to answer a simple question like “so if I’m at this point and my feet are here, how do they get there?" ...I’m sure the instructors had just as many fears I did about martial arts, but they understand my limitations and are like artists, they work with what they have. I can never express the gratitude to these people enough for what they’ve done for me, both health wise and socially. They made the college experience easier to adjust to. If I had a bad week, I knew I could depend on going to martial arts on Mondays and Wednesdays. Besides having a guide dog and learning martial arts, anyone with bad intentions would be stupid to mess with me!

Winthrop's Chinese Martial Arts Association (CMA) teaches both internal and external forms of martial arts. Internal arts focus on developing the mind and spirit, as well as controlling the energy within the body. Internal arts, are usually slower and more fluid in movement, but don’t be decieved by its simplistic beauty,internal forms of martial arts are still an effective form of self-defense. CMA teaches two internal styles: Tai Chi and Baguazhang.

External styles tend to be more physically-oriented, meaning harder blocks, punches and kicks. External styles focus on intense conditioning and strength training. These exercises helps the practitioner withstand fearsome strikes and perform athletic physical acrobatics. As of now, CMA teaches two external styles, Meihuazhuang and Shaolin. Shaolin has many subdivisions which include animal styles. Styles like Praying Mantis, Snake and Tiger are still Shaolin. Each style has it's own particular techniques and philosophies based on the style.

Martial Arts will help you maximize your strengths and minimize your weaknesses. So if you are looking for philosophy, art, culture, physical fitness, and friendship: Winthrop Chinese Martial Arts is where it's at!