Milla // Age 9 // Wushu // October 2021

Things have been quiet over the past year on the East Cloud front but the time has finally come for us to recognize a very special young lady for her outstanding display of endurance: Congratulations to Miss Milla for shattering ECKF’s record for the longest horse stance hold! Clocked in at 6 minutes and 39 seconds, she has surpassed our former “King of the Horse Stance” by more than a minute and a half and is now East Cloud’s new “Horse Stance Queen”!

Formerly known as the “Burpee Queen” for her insatiable desire to do burpees, Milla is the perfect example of “don’t underestimate that little girl”. This little package is full of greatness. As long as I have known Milla, she has always wanted to do things well and do things right. She has excellent attention to details and is not afraid of hard work, and in fact, welcomes it! It is not easy for something to get her down and nothing keeps her down, for she always bounces back as fast as she can manage. She holds herself to the highest of standards, never settling for less, and continues to push herself, as well as those around her, to the limits.

Thank you Milla for being such a dedicated student and mighty part of the East Cloud’s Kungfu family. I am honored to be your teacher and we all look forward to seeing how far you take yourself throughout the years!

(I)Tell us when and how you got into the world of kungfu. 

(M) I got into the world of kungfu when I was 5. Tessa was already in it with Master Chen.

(I) Okay, so you started because of your sister?

(M) Yeah, if my sister did it then I guess I should tag along.

(I)Okay! And how do you feel about being a student at East Cloud Kungfu?

(M) I feel very proud of myself for all the hard work that I’ve done so far.

(I) That’s great! and you should be because you work really hard and you’ve made some pretty big accomplishments and one notably is right now you are the horse stance queen with a record of…

(M) 6 minutes and 39 seconds!

(I) That’s right, breaking through and smashing Joey’s previous record of 5 minutes and 8 seconds. How does it feel?

(M) I feel very proud of myself. Joey couldn’t keep his score because he went off to college.

(I) So when you are in those moments doing your horse stance and trying to get the record, how does it feel when you are pushing yourself to your limits? What is going through your head each minute that passes? 

(M) Well, I block all of the distractions and I breathe a lot to calm myself and try to ignore the pain. 

(I) Now, you have come such a long way since I first started teaching you. I remember, in the very beginning when you used to get so frustrated when you were struggling with an exercise or form that you would cry and it has been such a long time since that has happened. What has made you change from that little girl to the one you are now that is dominating the horse stance and asking for more burpees? 

(M) I would say the thing that has changed was because I always never want to fall behind but I always want to keep on task which technically means that I never fall behind. So I don’t know why I was worrying. 

(I)Do you think you have become a stronger person?

(M) Yeah!

(I) Why do you think you have become stronger?

(M) probably from all the breakthroughs that I did, all the grades that I passed from school and everything else that has happened in the last few years.

(I) Yep, that’ll do it! So, would you say horse stance is your biggest strength? If not, what is? 

(M) I would say it is my biggest strength because sure, I like to move around and I’m very energetic but I can hold stuff and sometimes be very strong.

(I) What about your biggest weakness?

(M) That would probably be maybe leg strength or running cause I have very short legs so I can’t run very fast.

(I) Well, I think you’re pretty fast already but if that is something you feel like you need to improve upon, well, you’re the one that knows you best. Is the horse stance record the most difficult thing in your kungfu training that you have ever done and if not, what is? 

(M) I think it probably is because I excel through horse stance alot and I have been working for years to finally beat Joey!

(I) *chuckles* That’s right. Okay, name one way Kungfu has helped you in your life outside of class? 

(M) It is probably given me more flexibility and making me stronger in everything I do and if I mess up on something I know that I can redo it and I don’t have to struggle on everything. 

(I) That’s a good lesson. What do you hope for your future in kungfu? Are there any other records you would like to break? Any interest in competition?

(M) I don’t really like competition, I like more along the lines of teamwork. Competitions make you fight battles and then if you don’t win them you might feel depression. Unless it is like a friendly competition like games. 

(I) Anything else you would like to add? 

(M) Nope!

(I) Okay, well thank you very much for your time and congratulations on your new record!

(M) Thank you!

~END~