By Joe Stumpe
Twirling a long, curved sword in each hand, Grace Wu-Monnat spins and traces a swift figure eight in the air with the blades. A safe distance away, Pat McCoy tries to follow along with his own pair of broadswords.
“They kind of travel together,” Wu-Monnat tells McCoy, a retired physician who is her student, adding a quick “Good!” as he comes closer to catching on.
“Okay, something to work on,” McCoy says.
A few minutes later, Wu-Monnat leads three more students through a series of quick thrusts and pivots with straight swords. “Thrust and turn, thrust and turn,” she says. “That’s good!”
Wu-Monnat has been teaching martial arts to students like McCoy for 40 years in Wichita, carrying forward a family tradition that started four generations earlier in her native China. Along the way, her patient approach has made her something like family to students of the Grace Wu Kung Fu School in downtown Wichita.
“A lot of people have started here, gone to college, got married and come back down here with their kids,” said Ken Crouch, who started studying kung fu and other martial arts with Wu-Monnat 30 years ago.
Another student and part-time assistant, Doug Gleason, has been studying kung fu with Wu since his 20s. Today, his grandchildren do the same.
Wu-Monnat grew up in Shanghai, China’s largest city. Her great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather were both kung fu masters; her grandfather was one of the most famous kung fu masters in China. Wu-Monnat’s father, an orthopedic doctor, and mother, a university teacher, were also kung fu masters.
Wu-Monnat started studying kung fu at the age of three and competed in tournaments as she grew up. But China’s Cultural Revolution, launched in 1966 to rid the nation of traditional elements of society, frowned on kung fu and urban professionals such as Wu-Monnat’s parents.
“They sent my mom to the countryside, to a ‘re-education camp,’ and my dad was sent to the countryside to become a barefoot doctor for a while,” Wu-Monnat said. After her graduation from high school, she said, “They sent me to the farm, too.”
The Cultural Revolution ended in 1976, and Wu-Monnat earned a degree in martial arts form Shanghai Teachers University. Relatives living in the United States urged her to continue her education in this country and she came here in 1985 to do so. But first she had to learn English.
Wu-Monnat moved to Wichita based on the reputation of the Intensive English Language Center at Wichita State University. She took five classes a day for two and a half years. Then she completed her master’s degree in sports administration at WSU.
Wu-Monnat opened her school in 1986. Located on the second floor of an office building at 122 N. St. Francis, the space looks like the lodge hall it once was, updated with exercise mats and Chinese decorations. The walls hold photographs of students, newspaper clippings and magazine covers featuring Wu-Monnat and her family. A table of snacks and bottled water sits outside the two long rooms used for classes.
Wu-Monnat teaches a form of kung fu known as the northern Shaolin style. It includes kicks, blocks and punches and builds strength, flexibility and speed with enough practice. Tai Chi employs the same moves in a slow, meditative manner that can significantly improve balance and strength. Baguazhang is a lesser-known discipline built around circular gliding movement. The school’s weapons classes teach students to handle swords, spears, staffs and more in kung fu and tai chi styles. Its children’s kung fu class stresses discipline and confidence in addition to self-defense.
Students span a wide range of ages and experience, from teens and tweens to young parents, middle-agers and octogenarians such as Crouch. A 20-year-old who’s been taking classes with Wu-Monnat since he was a child soars through the air and lands in a full split, while a newer student focuses on centering herself between the slow movements of tai chi.
“It’s kind of challenging sometimes because everybody is at a different level, different age,” Wu-Monnat said. “So you try to teach in a way that will help everybody. But I have great students.”
Students who’ve received proper training are given the option of controlled sparring once a week. Weapons training is designed for skill development and self-defense.
Crouch joked that Wu-Monnat is “too soft” on students, comparing her to her sister, who once taught a class while visiting Wichita. Both of Wu-Monnat’s sisters immigrated to North America, one teaching martial arts in Houston and the other in Toronto. Her parents, now deceased, relocated to the United States as well, becoming prominent promoters of Chinese martial arts in the United States.
“I’m not a ‘no pain, no gain’ kind of teacher,” Wu-Monnat said of her approach. “The students, when they’re ready, you lead them to the next level.”
McCoy called Wu-Monnat “one of those teachers who make students want to improve.”
Wu-Monnat met her husband, Dan, when he showed up for one of her classes. They have been married 33 years, and she’s served as office manager of his law practice for 28 of those.
“Besides the general office work, I help with the trial work,” she said. “Criminal defense, it really helps individuals.”
The couple developed a continuing legal education program for lawyers called “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Kung Fu Strategies for Trial” that was based on Sun Tzu’s classic “The Art of War,” and presented it to legal conferences around the country.
“She is a fascinating person on every level,” Monnat said of his wife.
And a busy one. She teaches martial arts on weeknights and weekends, and it’s not unusual for students to beat her to the school for class. To Wu-Monnat, the chance to share her passion for martial arts and Chinese culture is worth the juggling of responsibilities.
Her students regularly perform for school field trips and at the popular Wichita Asian Festival, and Mayor Lily Wu — no relation — recently presented her with a Certificate of Appreciation from the city for four decades of “teaching, inspiring and building community.”
“I just want to do what I can do,” Wu-Monnat said.
This article was republished here with the permission of: The Active Age