When did you start Kungfu?
Around 7-8 years old.
What is your biggest challenge throughout your time practicing Kungfu up until now?
Learning how to be ok with pain and continuing through it. A lot of the time, I was too scared to do something or I just stopped entirely because of a minor injury. Learning that I had to push myself to improve was the biggest challenge.
Many of us are inspired by the devotion you had to Kungfu despite your commute time from school. What was your commute time and what drove you to continue attending Kungfu classes despite that?
30 minutes is the minimum time it took me to get to Kungfu. On weekdays, the traffic could push it to more than an hour. I used to go every Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday, which is a lot of time in the car, but I got used to it. It is nice to have time in the car to just relax in between school and kungfu.
How will you continue to apply what you learned in Kungfu into regular life?
The lessons I learned from Kungfu go farther than just Kungfu. I can apply the lessons to my everyday life and future problems I might face. Kungfu is a philosophy along with a mastering of the physical body. It lets me enhance every aspect of my life instead of improving just one.
What is your fondest Kungfu related memory?
During the summer of 2019, I signed up for an international competition with Vandan and Ethan. We all learned wushu standard forms and practiced 6-7 days a week for 3 hours everyday to improve. We learned a lot about Kungfu and used that time to grow as friends and improve our Kung fu skills dramatically.
How does it feel to be the first Student in SKZ to achieve the 4th Duan Black Belt?
Everyone has the ability to make it to the 4th Duan Black Belt. Even with COVID and some injuries along the way, I still managed to achieve it before going to college. The most important part of my journey was the commitment of coming to school consistently. The more consistently I went to kungfu(going every week), the easier it was for me to make it so far in Kungfu.
Congratulates Leonardo Price for Reaching 4th Degree Black Belt
IWSD Letter of Congratulations
IWSD Belts and Dans Testing Committee Congratulates Leonardo Price for Reaching 4th Degree Black Belt form the USA Shaolin Kungfu Zen Academy (SKZ)
IWSD Representative:
Master Ben ZHANG
International Wushu Sanshou Dao Association Vice-Chairman
(Head Judge For the SKZ 13th Generation Black Belt Advancement Test 5/22/2022)
Why Do Black Belts Stop At IWSD 4th Degree for Students At A Younger Age?
Student Development Up To 4th Degree:
Upon reaching Black Belt 4th Degree, the regular level system will reach its limit. Although this limit is reached, the amount of content that can be learned and studied will remain limitless. Much like how a professor can continue learning and researching after graduating from a university, Kungfu will continue to have no shortages on things to learn.
Black Belt Systems:
Class belt progression will have two styles the regular style, and the adult style. Regular style will have a different emphasis on what can be done and achieved. Through the regular class style, students will follow a curriculum affixed to each belt level until they reach the 4th degree black belt. The adult style will continue to progress after the 4th degree.
Student Development Beyond 4th Degree:
Through the adult style, students can continue to rise in the belt degrees through contributions such as, publishing works in the field of martial arts, judging national and/or international tournaments, achieving advancements in internal energy training and making contributions in promoting martial arts. From the adult style of belt progression, athletes will be able to reach up to 9th degree black belts. For 5th degree, the minimum age requirement 29 years old. Ages 39 for 6th degree, 49 for 7th degree, 59 for 8th degree. For 9th degree, great achievements and contributions are required. In the future we will keep everyone more updated about this system.
For more information, Please visit the IWSD.US website.