Jake returns to China for martial art action

JACK MILNER

Jake can thank a school bully for his love of this form of sport. Tired of her nine-year-old boy getting beaten up at school, his mother decided to enrol him in a self-defence course with a friend of hers. 

He became so engrossed and proficient in the martial arts that in time he beat up the bully and then enrolled to train with the coach who trained his mother’s friend.

Jake was doing so well that his new coach took him to China to earn his first Dan.

“That changed my life forever,” said Jake. “While practising new techniques with one of their masters, out of the corner of my eye I saw a 14-year-old-boy, the same age as I was, flying through the air doing what I learned later was a flying front kick.

“He seemed to stay in the air for what felt like minutes. His movements were so powerful and quick. It was if he was doing a deadly dance.”

Jake learned that this was called wushu, which translates as “Chinese martial arts”.

Said Jake: “When I came back to South Africa I enrolled myself in wushu classes and began to prepare for my first national trials where I won four gold medals.”

Prior to the Beijing Olympics in 2008, Jake went back to China and trained with their Olympic first team and was placed with 18-year-olds. “I was now living my dream, flying through the air alongside my heroes. I competed in Bali at the Second Junior World Wushu Champs and placed in the top 10.

“At this stage I realised I should actually say thank you to my childhood bully because without him I would never have realised I had such a passion and talent for Chinese martial arts.”

After finishing school, Jake went to train with Israel’s national team for a year. “Their coach is Russian, so training was tough.”

To train with the team he had to be an Israeli citizen, physically fit and better than anyone else in his category.

“I arrived in January 2011 at what I thought would be my first training session. I was not greeted or noticed by the coach or athletes, even though we had spoken via e-mail. I figured the coach was busy, so I remained seated and watched the team train vigorously.

“By the end of the session I was still stone-walled and no one had said a word to me. This continued for three weeks, until eventually one team member came up to me while the coach was outside on a phone call. She said: ‘Continue what you are doing; he wants to see whether you are committed’.

“So, for the next two weeks I would do my own training at the back of the hall and he would give a peep every now and then.”

Eventually the coach approached him and told him he needed to have a medical before he could train with the team.

“I was put through a bunch of tests, stuck in a giant fish tank to test lung capacity, made to jog on a treadmill and cycle until the incline/effort level and speed are at the highest level. Then I had to sprint for three minutes while hooked up to an ECG.

“In the end I managed to pass the test with flying colours… somehow.”

Jake returned to the coach, excited to begin his training, but all the coach said in a heavy Russian accent was: “Good, now you jump and touch basketball hoop.”

“So, eagerly I run and jump and touch the rim. He chuckles and says: ‘No, no, no.’ He brings out this massive, high jump matt designed to take away your impact during a fall. He tells me I have to jump off the mat and touch the hoop 100 times. This seemed near impossible as the matt takes away all the ground’s rigidity. Three weeks later I finally completed my tedious task and began my year of training with the team.”

But China was such a great experience for Jake that the 25-year-old will now be taking a group of trainees and anyone else interested, to Beijing to train among some of the top athletes in the world.”

“The group has the option to actually do the physical training at the Olympic school or just enjoy the spectacle and witness in awe. We will also have a group training session every night in the gym, run by me,” said Jake.

Food is provided at the hotel, but for people who keep kosher, Chabad House in Beijing will provide meals and accommodation on Shabbat.