By Collin Qian
One day in 2012 as MVHS alumnae ‘18 Mikaela Lee, her sister and current senior Maddie Lee and their mother Edith Lee left their Saturday Mandarin classes at Homestead High School and headed for their car, they passed by an outdoor kung fu class. While Mikaela and Maddie didn’t think much of it at the time, Edith decided to sign up her two daughters for kung fu lessons.
Prior to this, one of the other moms in the Mandarin classes group had reached out to Edith — she explained what the classes entailed and asked if she could recommend any kids for kung fu lessons. Having three daughters of her own, Edith decided it would be nice for her kids to have this skill.
“[I thought sending them to kung fu classes] would be better than them watching TV all day,” Edith Lee said. “It’s also a healthy exercise.”
While Mikaela and Maddie were initially hesitant to try the martial art, especially since they didn’t see a lot of girls participating, they eventually gave in when Edith promised a toy in exchange for their cooperation. While she originally only did kung fu for this prize, Mikaela now finds value in her mother’s decision.
“I didn't think much of [the classes] until I actually saw them,” Mikaela said. “I think [our mother] probably wanted us to take the class to learn self defense. It’s very important for us women to protect ourselves.”
Mikaela and Maddie started attending the outdoor kung fu classes located at Homestead High School but they eventually moved to an actual dojo, Cupertino kung fu, later that year. Within a few years, Mikaela found herself competing at kung fu tournaments at all levels: local, national and even international.
“My coach just wanted to push everyone regardless of their actual experience and level,“ Mikaela said. “It didn't matter what belt I was, he just wanted me to get experience in the tournaments.”
Mikaela’s kung fu Coach, Jan-Yu Weng, says that he sent Mikaela to tournaments early on in her kung fu career due to her fast progression learning kung fu. In classes, he saw that Mikaela was an excellent student — she always listened and tried new things.
“Down the road, she became a champion in multiple divisions — she was a part of three Team USA’s,” Weng said. “As a coach, I saw potential in her and when you see potential, [students] respond by trying hard and being good. And then it self perpetuates, and you just keep going and next thing, you know, she's out there.”
Mikaela believes that this decision was also because there is a difference between competing in kung fu tournaments versus belt testing. At kung fu tournaments, Mikaela had to face off against other individuals. In contrast, she says that belt testing is much more technical and static.
“When you're doing belt tests, you don't have to consider how the throw affects an individual like how you would be throwing someone else in a tournament,” Mikaela said. “In the tournaments, you're constantly moving and you have to be constantly thinking.”
At these tournaments, Mikaela’s parents would often help set up equipment and cheer her on when she was fighting her opponent. However, Edith mentions that she did worry for the safety of the competitors: both her daughter and her daughter’s opponent.
“Whether it’s Mikaela or her opponent, I wouldn’t want either person to get hurt,” Edith said. “I just want [my kids] to win in a safe way. Of course, I want my kid to win, but I don't want anyone to get hurt.”
As Maddie attended these kung fu classes with Mikaela, Maddie was able to closely follow her older sister’s journey. Specifically, Maddie always admired Mikaela’s serious tournament preparation, which included increasing the intensity of her workouts and also cutting weight.
“[Mikaela’s] best talent or skill for kung fu is her work ethic,” Maddie said. “Whenever there is a tournament coming up, she has to make sure she's physically ready to fight which means working out, going to more kung fu practices and making sure she's also in her weight class.”
Weng claims that some of his proudest moments were watching Mikaela take the instructions that he would repeat to her in class and really make them her own, mastering them and later on even teaching and explaining them to other students. In addition, her performance at tournaments also brought him pride, such as watching Mikaela take on the kung fu champion in China.
“In the last World Championship in San Francisco, she fought the Chinese champion, and she held her own pretty well,” Weng said. “And that's not easy to do against the Chinese champion, who, [at the time], was a college [kung fu] coach. She's competing against the best fighter in China, who actually teaches other fighters who are [in] college.”
Through her journey with kung fu, Mikaela believes she gained many new friends and experiences. She later began to teach classes at the dojo to younger students, even teaching them remotely from her dorm after she left for college. While Mikaela eventually headed off to college in 2018, whenever she comes back to visit Cupertino she makes an effort to spend time at her dojo. Currently, she’s also close to attaining her black belt, the highest belt in kung fu.
“A life principle that I learned [from kung fu] is that sometimes it's hard to recognize what you love to do or what you have fun doing until you come to the point where you have to sacrifice something else,” Mikaela said. “For kung fu, I think I have struggled a lot because I saw it as a burden in some situations or [as] just very stressful and I wasn't sure if I actually enjoyed it, but I just kept doing it because I thought my parents wanted me to do it. I thought that losing the weight for the tournaments was another sacrifice but when I look back on it, I think I did really enjoy my years learning kung fu and struggling with it.”
Photos courtesy of Mikaela Lee || Used with permission