Nail Yakapov, youth, passion and enthusiasm!

 

There has been lots of talk the day after Nail Yakapov scored the tying goal against the LA Kings.  The “celebration” has been getting a lot of attention from people who have no issue to quite the opposite.  For those who have not seen the celebration please take a few minutes to watch it, it’s pretty amazing.

Now why would I write about this?  What does this have to do with my Kung Fu?  It has everything to do with my Kung Fu in that this young man displayed pure and unbridled emotion.  You can clearly see that he is passionate about the game he loves.  He’s not afraid to show it, he’s not afraid to put himself out there for people to criticize him.  He absolutely loves and is passionate about the game of hockey! 

It is so refreshing to me to see this absolute passion; we seem to have in our culture reduced ourselves to hiding it.  How many of us would wear our passion for life on our sleeve like young Nail did last night?  I doubt many of us could say that we live our lives with this kind of passion or enthusiasm.  And if we did, how many people would notice, how many people could see just by looking at us that we love what we do as much as Nail does?  All too often we don’t allow ourselves to truly become passionate about what we really love about life.  We are more too often worried about what other people will think.  It is unfortunate that we have these sorts of beliefs and society seems to frown upon the outward display of emotion and absolute passion.

Many are going to criticize this young man for his “celebration”.  I commend him for it and hope that he doesn’t lose this passion and enthusiasm for the game he loves.  We could all learn just a little by looking at the face of this young man and seeing the genuine sparkle in his eyes.  He is living his life the way he wants too regardless of what others think, good on you Nail!

Ian Repay

Student Of Silent River Kung Fu

Stony Plain, Alberta.

Tiger Challenge - reflection

First off what a great event!  The quality of the event would not have been there but for the efforts of Master Brinker, Sifu Wonziak for all of her work organizing the event and all of the other Sifu's for judging the competitors.  The I Ho Chuan team must be commended for all of thier efforts as well with the organizing of the event as well as the set up and tear down.  With out all of these great people this tournament would not have been the success that it was and will continue to be in the future. 

Here I am right now contemplating how the tournament went for me personally and what I really got of it.  The tourney was a success in that I competed and won the adult grand champion trophy.  Having a goal of winning helped me focus my time and attention on improving my forms both hand and weapon.  I must admit that this was a personal goal of mine as soon as I heard that there was going to be a tournament this year.  I feel that I competed well and I did about as best as I could have expected.  Of the five events that I entered I came away with four gold medals and a 6^th place.  I am a little disappointed that I froze up during Lau Gar but this just tells me I need better focus and to work on clearing my mind and letting the form flow like I know it can. 

 

However I can’t shake this  feeling that I have been having since I won the trophy.

I think it comes down to one moment in the tournament when I was point sparing.  It was against a girl that is significantly younger and smaller than me.  I won the match but I didn’t feel good about it and it has been bothering me ever since.  When we squared off against each other I went into my competitive mode.  I competed the way I was taught and the way I have been training.  I came out fast as the objective in point sparring is to score the first strike to earn the point then reset and go again.  The competitor who gets to 5 points wins and moves on.  After the match I took stock of what just happened.  I won and this young girl was (looked to me) devastated.  I can imagine how I must have looked like coming at her.  I am much older, much bigger and much stronger.  I must have looked extremely intimidating to her.  Should I have allowed the match to drag out and allow her to score some points?  In retrospect that is something I think I would do in the future, but at the time all I could think about was winning the match and moving on.  After all this was a tournament not regular class right?  Let me be clear on the fact that I didn’t hit her hard when I did make contact and I was especially careful with my strikes in that I was in control.  However when a punch comes at your face and it gets pulled at the last minute, it can be scary regardless if it doesn’t make contact.

I did go and discuss how I felt with the young girl’s mother who assured me that everything was OK and that her daughter was fine.  She said that they discussed that this was a tournament and this was may happen.  I did feel a little better but still it bothered me.  I made a point of talking to the young girl about an hour after and asked her if she was OK?  She was, she smiled and said everything was good and appreciated me asking. 

Upon a significant amount of reflection over the past couple of days since the tournament I have come to realize that winning should not have been my ultimate goal.  It should have been a by product of the experience.  I look back and realize that the tournament was an opportunity to grow as a martial artists in more ways than just winning.  It was an opportunity to build self confidence in my abilities by being able to perform in front of my peers and our Sifu's.  It was an opportunity to grow together with my fellow competitors that were experiencing the same fears and the same anxiety that I was feeling.

One of the most rewarding things in my life is to being able to call my self a martial artist.  I continue on the path to becoming and growing into the best martial artist that I can be.  Opportunities like the tiger challenge are stepping stones on that path.  What I have learned upon reflection will help me become that martial artist that I so desire to become.

Ian Repay

Student of Silent River Kung Fu

Stony Plain, Alberta

To my 15 year old self.

If you could get the chance to go back just once, face your 15 your old self, what advice would you give yourself?  That is the question that has been posed to 15 of the most highly influential women of the world on “International day of the girl” So I say to everyone reading this blog, if you could what would you say to yourself?  Here is the advice that I would give myself if ever I was given the opportunity.

1.       Believe in yourself.  Believe that you can do whatever you want in life no matter what people have told you.  Have confidence in your abilities, think big, act big and be big!

2.       Don’t sweat the little things.  Life is too short to get caught up in things that are here today and gone as quickly as tomorrow.  Instead focus on what you can do today that will make your future better.

3.       Have fun!  Take the time to “smell the roses” and really enjoy your life.  Life is too short not to be happy.  It’s not always easy to find happiness and sometimes you need to make significant changes in your life to find that happiness.  Don’t be scared of the change.

4.       Be mindful of your actions and your thoughts.  Thoughts turn to actions so have a clear mind and be mindful of what you are thinking at all times.

5.       Be humble.  Take the time to really understand what it means to be humble.  This is such an important attribute that you need more of in your life.

6.       Last and not least, listen more and talk less.  For those of you who know me this will make total sense.

When I set out to write this blog it really hit home for me.  What an opportunity it gave me to really think back on the past 20 years of my life. 

It is amazing to me that when we think of it, we are the sum of all of our life’s experiences to this very moment.  We can’t change the past and most of us wouldn’t want to change it anyway.  But wouldn’t it be amazing to be able to stand in front of yourself at 15 years old, the world at your footsteps and you would be able to give yourself some advice that might make a difference in not only your life but those of others? 

Just think of that pool of water, you have a pebble and your drop it in.  Watch how the ripples move away and get bigger, most would call it the “ripple effect”.  Think what the “ripple effect” would be if you could go back and give yourself this advice?

Ian Repay

Student of Silent River Kung Fu

Stony Plain, Alberta

Mile a minute

During my testing on Monday night, Sifu Freitag made an interesting comment that really resonating with me.  She told me that I have a high level of intensity (which is good) but I need to relax and calm my mind.  Now I can't remember if these were her exact words, but that gist of what she told me.

Now why did that resonate so loudly with me?  Well I can tell you that I have a very active mind.  I tend to analyze everything all the time.  I have a difficult time "calming" my mind and truly relaxing.  I don't know why this is but I do know that this is how I have always been.  Now the older I get and the more that I train, the more that I realize that I can control (to a certain extent right now, work in progress) how active my mind is.  I have found that my Kung Fu training has helped me to realize and me more mindful of this.  I find that my breathing has a direct result n my mental state.  I find more and that when my mind is buzzing away, I take time to slow my breathing, take control of my heart rate and calm myself as much as I can.

The next evolution in my training not only as a martial artist but as a human being is to try and live in the moment.  I am going to work toward taking time for some mental rest every day.  I am going to find time to calm my mind and really take the time to live in the moment.  My realization over the past three years of training has been just how important true mental health and well being is.  My journey in Kung Fu has become more than just learning how to punch and kick, but rather it is a way of living my life as a Kung Fu martial artist.

Mr. Repay

Student of Silent River Kung Fu

Stress, managment & new begginings

This is one thing that seems to be part of our lives every single day.  Some days are better than others and some days it seems that stress consumes us.  Other days I seem to have a much better handle on it.  These better days seem to me upon reflection are days that I am mindful of what’s causing the stress.  I feel that taking the time to really understand what is causing the stress is the first step in managing the solution.

            Recently I have been plagued by a tremendous amount of stress.  I had a pretty good idea what the main cause was but I couldn’t find a suitable solution until recently.  The decision I made is going to be a significant departure from what I know but not so different from where I came from.  However it is the right decision as it is what I truly want and by going down this path will bring me a renewed sense of happiness that I have not experienced for a long time.  There will no doubt be new sources of stress in my life and I will always have to address them and deal with them as soon as they come.  Being mindful of the causes will allow me to always address this stress head on and as soon as possible.

I am very excited for the future and I am looking forward to the new challenges that are going to come my way, always.

Ian Repay

Student of Silent River Kung Fu

Stony Plain, Alberta

Perfection Vs Excellence

Recently I came across a reference that said “perfection is in God’s hands and excellence is in yours”.  I took me some time to really comprehend what this meant to me.  As first blush I thought it meant that there was no way that I could reach “perfection”.  After some thought, I realized that none of us are ever going to be perfect but we can strive for excellence in our lives. 

Most of us tend to go through life like a video game, we feel that we have many "lives" or can press the "reset button" and start over.  Life is so not like that and the sooner that we come to realize that we only have one life, then the realization of how we live our life become that much more important.  When we realize that we have such a finite amount of time, life becomes much clearer and perspective comes into focus. What is truly amazing is when we get this moment of clarity, this moment of realization is what so many of us fail to do and that is act upon this realization.

As a martial artist I have come to realize that everything I do in my life has impact upon my excellence.  It starts with what I choose to put into my body every day, how much exercise I do, how much rest I provide my body and mind and most importantly to me is how much balance I can achieve.  All of these things and how well I perform them will have a direct impact on the level of excellence I achieved in my life.  As a martial artist, I am learning to be mindful of these things and I want to apply the highest level of excellence that I can in everything that I do.  Excellence is something I strive for everyday but is far from easy to achieve.  It reaquires attention to detail, it requires truth and honesty and it requires ongoing effort to truly acheive it.

I have a new found appreciation for excellence.  I am working every day to apply myself not to be perfect, but to live my life to the highest level of excellence that I can.

Ian Repay

Student of Silent River Kung Fu

Stony Plain, Alberta.

I have never been to a “boot camp” of any kind before and I have always wanted to participate in the one that Silent River Kung Fu put’s on.  Well this past weekend I finally participated in it and I am so glad that I did. 

Many people have asked me why would I put myself through almost 15 hours of Kung Fu in one day?  For most people this would seem so un fathomable.  How can you put your body through all of that hard work and find it enjoyable?  These were the questions people asked me when they found out what I was planning on doing this past weekend.  What can I say to these people that don’t understand?  There isn’t much I can think of saying other than it’s what is important to me in my life and who I am and who I want to become.

When we got to the boot camp, there was this sense in my mind that I was about to embark on a very special journey that few people have been on.  It was as much as physical journey for me as it was a spiritual journey.  I found that I enjoyed the physical aspect of the day but upon reflecting on the journey the day after I found the most benefit from the growth mentally and spiritually.  Master Brinker talked through out the day that he is going to push us past where we think our limit is.  He talked at great length about how important the mental training and how important it is to push past your limits push past where you think your limits are when we started the day.  I can say that at the end of the day, I pushed myself both physically and more importantly mentally past the point where I thought I could go no more.  When I reflect upon the day I found a quite sense of accomplishment, I find that I have a subdued sense of pride in what I accomplished and how I feel that I have grown in my Kung Fu and in my life in general.

Ian Repay

Student of Silent River Kung Fu.

Stony Plain, Alberta