MORE THAN A DECADE AGO SIFU ELEONORA DISCOVERED A BEAUTIFUL PIECE OF LAND IN UDINE, ITALY.

At the time it was part of an estate used as a fruit orchard. Sifu asked the owner if she would consider selling off this portion of her land. And this is where it started, vague dreams of building a training centre. At the time the owner wasn’t sure and there was a lot of talk about maybe and eventually.

Decades passed and Sifu had somewhat given up on the idea. Then a few years ago the subject came up again. This time with the children of the original owners, ‘eventually’ had finally come.

And so the dream now slowly becomes reality. A centre for traditional Chinese sports. Including Kung Fu, Qigong, Tai Chi, Yoga, meditation and any other styles practiced for their health benefits. The centre will have indoor as well as outdoor training facilities, sleeping and eating facilities. Space to move and relax away from the city. Here would be a place where  people can spend a few days in intensive training, concentrating on personal development without the need to worry about daily obligations.

To achieve this we have laid a paved training area and also traditional poles for pole practice and building balance and strength. A training hall is also in the planning. This will be a barn shaped building with an open floor in the middle and a few rooms along one edge. It will also include a kitchen facility. We will build according to the principles of Feng Shui, an ancient Chinese practice of working with the yin/yang energies of nature and the environment. We will apply these principles in the layout of the buildings and grounds of the Academy.

On the northern end of the property we plan to make a permaculture garden. Unlike the monoculture farming that’s practiced in this area we want to go back to something closer to and working with nature. Working with biodiversity and native plants to create a regenerative and self-maintaining habitat and agricultural systems modelled from natural ecosystems. Once this is established we will provide as many fresh products as possible to feed the guests.

The Academy plans to invite some of the finest teachers from around the world so that students get the best possible instruction. We will work together with the Cangzhou Qunying Wushu Group in Cangzhou City, China. This organisation is a cooperation between many styles of ancient Kung Fu. Sifu Eleonora has been working together with them and is their representative in Europe. They are also extremely excited about the opening of this Academy which will help them to spread their old styles of Kung Fu. We will also be working with Shaolin Luohan Yuan. We look forward to these collaborations. China has a long history of connecting sport and health. Traditional sports in China have always focused on survival and health. We hope by bringing these ideas to Italy it might inspire the Italian sports ministry to work with the Chinese sports ministry bringing the idea of health and sports together.