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Li Junfeng was very strict, ensuring that his students knew that training Wushu
was the most important thing in their lives. One reason for this strictness was
because he did not want his team to be injured, so playing games rather than
training was never encouraged. The students seldom had much free time either,
having only Saturday afternoon and Sunday to relax, having to come back to
Shichahai Sunday evening to prepare for Monday morning’s training.
 Regardless
of this arduous training environment and regime, the students steadily advanced
their skills because of the excellent coaching by Li Junfeng and Wu Bin. This
really is testament to the difference a good coach can have on a student.
The next ten years were filled with competitions and more and more rigorous
training. Lu Yan started competitions properly in 1977, having had to miss
several due to more Wushu Delegation international tours. She also had a growth
spurt, growing faster than her team mates, but this unfortunately made her
muscles slow.
This meant that she had to train harder and have a lot more self motivation and
determination in order to maintain her Wushu level.
And her hard work and training paid off. In her 10 year competitive Wushu career
she took 5 Chinese National Gold Medals and 6 Beijing Gold Medals, with a total
of over 40 Medals in National Competitions in all.
Lu Yan also received a further accolade in 1985. The Chinese Wushu Commission
decided that the top 15 men and women of that year’s National Competition would
be known as Wu Ying. ‘Wu Ying’ literally translates as ‘Wushu Hero’. This was
the first time this title was to be bestowed, and was to be a permanent title.
The night before the 1985 Chinese National Competition a lot of Wushu athletes
suffered a sleepless night and Lu Yan was no exception. The competition itself
was extremely hard and well attended, as everyone wanted this title. Lu Yan
overcame the intense pressure of the occasion and successfully secured the title
of Wu Ying.
For ten years, from 1977 to 1987, the Beijing Team were the overall National
Champions. Lu Yan was a member of that team for every single one of these years,
winning over 40 medals in her career, and having the great honour of being one
of the first Wu Ying.
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Want to learn more about Lu Yan's Coaching Career? Visit the
Coaching Career pages
Want to learn more about training with Lu Yan? Visit the
Train with Lu Yan pages
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