THE EVENT OF A LIFETIME – SHAF’S GRADING – An Article by Russell Suthern

Saturday 18th September marked a landmark in White Crane history. Shaf Amiraftabi is the first student in WCMA history to stay the course & learn all 20 patterns within the WCMA system. Her position as 2nd in command meant she did not have to grade, or at least, she could grade privately, away from prying eyes. However, taking the easy way was never Shaf’s style. She always finds ways to make things more difficult & testing for herself so she can develop to the best of her ability.
Therefore, I was not surprised when Shaf announced to me that she wanted to do her grading as a demo with the whole club invited to watch! I was naturally nervous. Anybody who has graded will know how difficult it is to perform even 5 or 6 patterns one after the other without making any mistakes, but to perform 20 patterns, one after the other with no errors would stretch anybodies capabilities to the limit!
Shaf’s reasoning for putting herself under so much pressure was twofold. Firstly, a person’s martial arts are of no use to them unless they can be performed under pressure & this was pressure to the extreme! Secondly, many of our students have not seen some of the higher level patterns & this would give them the opportunity to see the whole system in one go & hopefully be inspired by both Shaf’s skill level & the amazing higher patterns contained within the WCMA curriculum.
Shaf spent months & months training for this event, grinding through pattern after pattern, sometimes up to 8 hours a day!
She was determined to put on a good show & before we knew it the fateful day was upon us! A large crowd of students congregated at the Meridian Centre in Peacehaven & took their seats ready for the show to begin! A Lion Dance began proceedings to bring luck to the venture & as always our Lion Dance team did a great job, really bringing the Lion to life & delighting the audience.
Then it was Shaf’s turn to do her thing! She lit 3 joss sticks for the General Guan who was watching the proceedings impassively & then began. I compared, explaining to the audience what each pattern was training & how it fitted into the curriculum. Each pattern was an agony for me as I was so nervous, willing Shaf to succeed & praying there would be no mistakes. I did not need to worry because suddenly we were at the nineteenth pattern & the hard style forms were over! I breathed a sigh of relief. We were at the final hurdle- the Suang Yang, our Tai Chi form, Shaf’s favourite & most polished pattern. A fitting end to a fantastic demo. Everyone was mesmerised by Shaf’s smooth, relaxed & fluid movements. Then it was over! The applause was rapturous & several students ran onto the stage to present Shaf with huge bunches of flowers. The outcome was never in doubt as the crowd universally roared their approval of a pass, not just with an A grade but an A plus!
Afterwards we all retired to the local pub for a few well needed & well deserved drinks! (purely medicinal to steady the nerves you understand!)
Highlights for me included the stance form performed beautifully with deep, powerful stances. The Earth’s core pattern, with its dog style elements of rolling, sweeping & break falling. No one would know Shaf had two prolapsed disks in her back! The Tiger leaving its den & the Iron bull breaks the stone showed just how awesome & breathtaking our patterns can be! And of course we had the Suang Yang performed as close to perfection as we have ever seen it. I would personally like to thank the Lion dance team for their outstanding Lion dance, Beth for being on the touchline handing Shaf weapons as she required them, Joe for handling the lights, everyone who gave flowers, cards, presents & messages of good luck, everyone who came along to support her & most of all I would like to thank Shaf for putting herself through hell to inspire people & show them what can be achieved.
As I have stated repeatedly, this was the first & last time students would get a chance to see the whole system performed in one go. All other top level gradings will be held behind closed doors. The only way to see the patterns for yourself will be to get through the system & grade on them yourself!
White Crane is a complex art. It is not like some of the travesties posing as martial arts where you get a black belt after only a year or even six months of training. It takes many, many years of hard training to even get the whole system, let alone master it! But as Shaf has shown, it can be done! Stick with it. Keep going even when things get tough & you will get there in the end! We have students on their 15th & 16th patterns. They are knocking on the door to greatness. Who will be next to get the whole system? Only time will tell, but I do know that I feel privileged to be present at a fantastic event that represented a huge milestone, a massive breakthrough in the ongoing success story that is White Crane Martial Arts!