Jo Gao Cassie Johnson receives her black sash from Shifu Gary J. LaChapelle Jr. and Shifu Eliot Prisby.

Cassie, a pilates instructor, joined Metrowest Kung Fu in 2021 and has been training hard ever since. A practitioner of both Kung Fu and Tai Chi, Cassie has attended many workshops and seminars over the years to hone her skills. She is also a regular competitor, frequently taking medals in forms and weapons divisions.

As Cassie climbed higher through the ranks, she used her experience as a pilates teacher to help Shifu Eliot run classes, and is always there to lend assistance or encouragement to her classmates. Cassie progressed quickly through her charting progress and tested for her black sash Saturday March 8th.

She demonstrated a solid grasp of basic techniques. She put forth an impressive display of strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular endurance. She showcased all of her Kung Fu empty hand and weapon forms. She demonstrated her fighting skills, including those picked up in sanda, push hands, jujitsu, and qinna workshops. She fought against twelve black sashes in a row. The test took three hours.

We were honored to have the following instructors sit on the testing panel:

• Shifu Gary J. LaChapelle Jr. (New England Kung Fu)

• Shifu Cheyenne LaChapelle (New England Kung Fu)

• Shifu Eliot Prisby (Metrowest Kung Fu)

• Shifu Paul DiCriscenzo (Two Dragons Path)

• Jiaolian Rosalie DiCriscenzo (Two Dragons Path)

• Shifu Karim-Ben Saunders (Full Circle Tai Chi & Qigong)

We are grateful to the following black sashes who participated in the test:

• Laoshi Joncarlo Zink

• Jo Gao Diya Arun

• Jo Gao Cameron Christie

• Jo Gao Justen Force

• Jo Gao Grey Shea

• Jo Gao Kevin Sheppard

• Jo Gao Jasper Weeks

• Jo Gao Ana Zink

• Jo Gao Andre Zink

• Jo Gao Erich Zink

We would particularly like to think Sihing Clayton Burke, who travelled all the way from Nan Bei Wu Kwan on Cape Cod. We would also like to thank all of Cassie’s classmates who showed up to support her:

• Sachi Amatya

• Arun & Mambilamthode Family

• Shay Banks

• Ryan Dougherty

• Beth Foote

• Mahoney Family

• Maslow Family

• Scott Merriam

• Allison Mondel

• Quirk & Lee Family

• Rogers-Oliveira Family

• Yolanda “Pi” Stafford

Cassie worked extremely hard to earn her black sash and we’re proud to welcome her into our increasing pantheon of black sash students.

We thank Shifu Gary, Shifu Cheyenne, and Simo MaryBeth for their continued support and encouragement, as well as Shifu Gregg Zilb for supporting and guiding both of our schools.

Photos are available on our Facebook and SmugMug Pages.

Saturday March 1st, we were joined by Shīgōng (師公) Gary J. LaChapelle Jr. of New England Kung Fu, who presided over a test for students who met all promotion qualifications.

Testing candidates, by last name:

• Laiba Ahmed

• Hrishi Arun

• Fernando Dos Santos

• Treven Force

• Nischal Gupta

• Louisa Mahoney

• Ryan Mahoney

• Jackson Maslow

• Tim Maslow

• Scott Merriam

• Brighid Morgan

• Cormac Morgan

• Michael Quirk

• Harvey Thompson

The students performed very well. All students passed the test, and will receive their new sashes during the March 22nd Ranking Ceremony.

Thank you to Shīgōng (師公) Gary for presiding over the ranking, as well as to the following students for showing up to support their classmates:

• Jo Gao 助教 Justen Force

• Jo Gao 助教 Grey Shea

• Jo Gao 助教 Kevin Sheppard

• Andrew Craig

• Yolanda “Pi” Stafford

Photos are available on our Facebook and SmugMug pages.

Saturday February 15th, we had two special events:

TAI CHI RANKING

Congratulations to our students who received their next sashes!

To Red Sash:Olga Smirnov

To White Sash:Megan France-Peterson

COMBINED SPARRING CLASS

After the Tai Chi ranking concluded, Tai Chi and Kung Fu students attended a Combined Sparring class, run by Shifu Gary of our parent school, New England Kung Fu. Our “Combined Sparring Classes” are extended classes in which students focus on reaction drills, i.e., push hands and sparring. It is a safe and beginner-friendly to get introduced to fighting, and to work on integrating techniques and principles from our Tai Chi and Kung Fu forms into our fighting.

For push hands, we worked on basic sensitivity drills, while strengthening our ward-off 掤 (péng) and root 根 (gēn).

For sparring, we worked on basic punching combos, and then integrating sweeps/throws into our punching combinations. The two schools had a lot of fun learning together. Special thanks to Oxford students Marty, Tavish, and David for travelling all the way to Maynard from the Worcester area despite an impending snowstorm. Thank you as always to Shifu Gary, Shifu Cheyenne, and Jo Gao Cameron for helping to teach the Maynard students and keep the connections between our two schools strong and supportive.

Photos are available on our Facebook and SmugMug pages.

Students from Metrowest Kung Fu and New England Kung Fu gathered to celebrate Year of the Wood Snake.