Team Canada Shuai-Chaio team prepare for China

by Alice Hewitt

Team Canada’s Shuai-Chaio team better start packing their bags.

The team held a fundraiser at Bowlero to raise the necessary funds to compete in the upcoming world Shuai-Chaio championships in China.

Eleven competitors from the Wu-Shen Temple Kung-Fu Association will be traveling to Shanghai March 20. To prepare for the championships the team trains 2-3 times a week at the temple.

Shuai-Chaio is considered to be one of the oldest forms of wrestling and dates back to approximately 2697 BC.

Sean Bardgett has been with the group for about four years. He said he has been involved in about seven tournaments in both Canada and the United States but this will be the first time he has competed in China.

“I think there is somewhere between about 30 or 40 countries that are going to be competing in this tournament,” said Bardgett. “It’s not the most high profile sport because Shuai-Chaio is still more of a combat or a martial art than a sport itself but it’s starting to get more of a following with the people here.”

Team members have a long history of being a part of St. Clair College whether as students or as teachers.

Si-Fu Jay McCoy is a teacher at St. Clair College and has been involved in kung-fu since 1992. McCoy said there are hundreds of styles of kung-fu but this particular style has a sports derivative.

“There are 19 divisions, 10 men’s divisions and 10 women’s weight divisions. We have only filled 11 spots so we are hoping that is enough to place top six again” said McCoy. “Ideally, we would like to place higher of course and maybe be the first western country to ever place in the top three.”

The upcoming tournament will run from March 22 to March 23 and marks the second time Canada has competed in the world tournament.