Andrew Castro
Student Assistant: Wushu
Seattle Wushu Center
.....In Andrew's words....
I was first introduced to Wushu back in 2003 when I lived in China and attended the International School of Beijing. As part of the school curriculum, middle school students were required to take a semester of Wushu instructed by Sifu Antonio Flores. Here was where I learned most of the fundamentals and got an introduction to weapons play. I got a chance to perform with the school's team at cultural shows and at one performance shared the stage with Beijing Wushu Team members (though back then I didn't know that they were a big deal).
In 2004, I moved to Seattle and began a 3 year hiatus from any martial arts because I was too stubborn to learn any other art besides Wushu, and also it was difficult to find a Wushu intructor. After the long break from martial arts, I heard about Grandmaster Yijiao Hong but by then she had stopped teaching wushu so I was referred to one of her top disciples, Sifu Restita DeJesus. The rest is history from there.
In 2009, I was accepted to the University of Washington and currently training with the Husky Wushu Team. With prior and current members of Seattle Wushu Center, the Husky Wushu team performs at shows run by student organizations and we also compete as a collegiate team in regional and national tournaments. The Husky team also seeks coaching from Sifu Li Tianyuan, chief instructor of "Northwest Wushu" (NW Wushu and Seattle Wushu are "sister schools").
As an upper-intermediate level member, I help in the development of new members of Seattle Wushu Center's students and Husky Wushu members through leading by example and being a peer coach.