Episode 49 - Sije Cheyenne Lachapelle
Sije Cheyenne Lachapelle - Episode 49
Cheyenne Lachapelle
Leave your problems at the door. Leave whatever you have that's wrong, whatever's going on that's inside you, that you're not sharing... leave it at the door.
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Today we have Sije Cheyenne Lachapelle, a kung fu practitioner from Worcester, Massachusetts. Most of the guests on Martial Arts Radio are suggestions, and Sije Lachapelle is no exception. This time, however, the suggestion didn't come from a previous guest or a listener - but rather someone I went to school with. See, Sije Lachapelle and I have one major thing in common, and that's our university of choice. I'm a graduate of Clark University in Worcester where she now trains. Her competitive success led to some local publicity which then caught the eye of a friend. I reached out, we chatted, and that brings us to now.Sije Lachapelle is one of the few Chinese martial arts stylists we've had on the show, and at least for now, is the youngest. As with many who start young in the martial arts, Sije Cheyenne Lachapelle carries with her a maturity and a confidence that are beyond her years. I enjoyed our conversation and found her passion for the martial arts very grounding, her insights compelling. What you won't hear in this conversation is our time after the recording ended - we talked for quite a while about martial arts, Worcester and life in general. We share a mutual admiration for another Worcester, MA martial artist, Shihan Wayne Mello. (In fact, it was Shihan Mello that was partly responsible for me attending school in Worcester. I was very excited at the prospect of training with him.)Please enjoy the episode,Your host - Jeremy Lesniak Featured Product - whistlekick shirts
Show Notes
Actors - Donnie Yen, Jackie ChanMovies - Hero, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Ip Man. Sije Lachapelle's Email Address & Facebook Page. International Chinese Martial Arts Championships Clark University's writeup on Sije Lachapelle The fight scene between Jet Li and Donnie Yen from Hero.
Show Transcript
You can read the transcript below or download here.Jeremy Lesniak:Hey there, everyone! It's episode 49 of whistlekickmartialartsradio the only place to hear the best stories from the best martial artists like today's guest Sije Cheyenne Lachapelle. I'm the founder here at whistlekick but on the show I'm your host Jeremy Lesniak. Whistlekick in case you know makes the world's best sparring gear with some great apparel and accessories all of it for traditional martial artists. I'd like to welcome our new listeners and thank all the returning fans. If you're not feeling with our products you should check out everything we offer like our T-shirts they come in a variety of styles and colors for men women and kids. You can learn more about our shirts and all of our other great gear and apparel at whistlekick.com. All of our past episodes all the show notes for them and a whole lot more are at whistlekickmartialartsradio.com and while you're on our website go ahead and sign up for our newsletter. We offer exclusive content to subscribers and it's the only place to find out about upcoming guests. Now let's move on to the episode on episode 49 we're joined by Sije Cheyenne Lachapelle, a kung fu practitioner from Massachusetts. Sije Lachapelle was recommended to me by someone who doesn't even do martial arts rather it was a friend that noticed our mutual connection. See Sije Lachapelle attends the same university I went to and we even know some of the same people in the central Massachusetts martial arts world. An accomplished competitor Sije Lachapelle and I talk about everything from her start in kung fu to the joy she finds in working with new students. I enjoyed our time together and I'm sure you'll enjoy this episode. Sije Lachapelle welcome to whistlekickmartialartsradio?Cheyenne Lachapelle:Thanks for having me it's great.Jeremy Lesniak:It's great to have you on here as we already said you are the first primarily at least anyway a Chinese stylist that we've had on the show so that's gonna be fun.Cheyenne Lachapelle:It's an honor.Jeremy Lesniak:But we didn't pick you that way in fact as as you know and and I’ll share with everyone we picked you sort of because you and I have something in common and because of that you popped up on my radar from one of my non-martial arts friends so for the listeners who don't know that the the vague thing I'm referencing I attended Clark University some years ago that we won't get into and Sije Lachapelle is a current student at Clark and because of that she happened to pop up on a Worcester Massachusetts newspaper that a friend of mine read and said hey I know you've got to show thing going on you should check her out so it took a couple months but we coordinated and now here she is.Cheyenne Lachapelle:And I am [00:02:47.08]Jeremy Lesniak:Awesome well there's an intro to something that's absolutely not anything to do with martial arts but of course it's martial arts show so let's get into that how did you get started in the martial arts?Cheyenne Lachapelle:Alright so at a very young age exactly 3 and half years old we grew up in Worcester I actually grew up behind Clark for a majority of my life so living in this area and my dad started martial arts also at quite a young age and he's been he's been moving across everywhere he moves he like look always looking for new martial arts schools and once we moved to Worcester I mean he started a family and everything with me and my mother he found the kung fu school that I currently and still practicing at and he enrolled himself there so he started attending and then me and my mother would occasionally we'd go in and watch classes most of the time actually pretty often we're going and watch him and then growing up in an environment like the more the older I got the more interested I became like I started to watch a little closer and I would kinda pick my head over and I would slowly creep up closer to the training floor watch closer and closer and then for some reason I started mimicking the movements and like kind of like talking myself saying repeating all the phrases in Cantonese and doing all these this like little stuff like that and so my dad's teacher at the time he looked over and he started to notice me and he is like you know what even though she's a little younger than we take them have her come in and try our little Dragon's class which was for like little ones like about they usually take them around four or five that was like the normal age and let her try it out see if she likes and sticks with it and ever since then I haven't stopped.Jeremy Lesniak:Cool yeah you know it's funny a lot of the guests that we've had on the show have had kinda that similar origin story that for whatever reason they were too young at least by the traditional rules that the school that their parent their sibling was attending and there they were in the back.Cheyenne Lachapelle:Right.Jeremy Lesniak:Kind of mimicking and then finally somebody says all right come on give it a shot.Cheyenne Lachapelle:Right the hidden gemJeremy Lesniak:Yeah well for all of us I think hopefully and it's great that you've continued.Cheyenne Lachapelle:Most definitely.Jeremy Lesniak:So that's that's awesome so we're gonna get into a lot more about you and your relationship to the martial arts but let's start it off you know let's jump into the the biggie here, tell us your best martial arts story.Cheyenne Lachapelle:Oh, I love that question there is so many good ones like I find like the best things within my martial arts training just even the littlest things make the biggest impact on me but if we're gonna go shooting for something big it'll probably be when I first got my adult black sash and I feel like for most martial artists getting their black sash is a high achievement in their eyes you know and of course there's always some sort of meaning but I felt like that it was just more than a black sash test to me there is like all this going on you I felt like it was a little extra special for me on my case and but it was a complete surprise that was the thing because I was started at such a young age and I had been training for so long and by a technical issue like at the point where I should've been got getting my black sash I was still very young like in maturity wise still like I was still growing so they actually gave me the rank of junior black which I had to move through those ranks as well before I could get to my adult black sash but when it came to the time to get my adult black sash on my dad's teacher my dad is also my instructor actually so his teacher moved to Virginia recently and he was starting to build the school there and like we called it the temple because you I mean oh we thought it be a pretty cool able to put on that and we call him Qigong by the way so if I ever say Qigong just that's what that's what I refer to as my teacher's teacher and so it was we planned on making a trip down there like as a kung fu school like from the Western area we wanted to go down to Virginia and like for the grand opening and bring gifts and we'll make up a whole big celebration out of it may have some fun go out to eat and train together and be awesome in everything and that's what we did we spent a weekend there and grand opening/Chinese new year there was so many people and it was I think on the Saturday of that weekend we chose to have a grand celebration where there's line dancing performances, demonstrations and then he followed it with like a training class top by my Qigong where at the end of the class we are demonstrating each other's forms to him so he can kinda check up on us and be sure that our curriculums looking clean and nothings like to funkier and mind you that I had no clue that I was ranking up until the moments at the closing of the class so nobody said anything to me and I was just like oh this is a normal training class so then after we're like all lined up and were about to bow out and then he announced my name and gave like this really moving speech of how he's watching me grow up in the environment of martial arts and all his pride that he has in me and everything and it was very emotional moment and then he handed me over the black sash and the certificate and went along with it and then at that moment he informed everyone that the black sash she just handed to me was the very first black sash that he ever received too and that's the one that I was gonna be wearing on my waist and that at that point I wasn't ready for any more surprises which and that made it that much more emotional and almost everyone in the room began to like get emotional too and including and especially my father which is a very rare occurrence so it was really nice.Jeremy Lesniak:Wow and that's a great story and I can kind of feel like I'm back there with you how old were you at that point?Cheyenne Lachapelle:Oh, around 12, 13 years old.Jeremy Lesniak:Okay so pretty young I mean.Cheyenne Lachapelle:Still fairly young for especially for a Chinese martial art yeah it was..Jeremy Lesniak:Okay is is there some some difference I mean a Junior black belt around that age while it's not I wouldn't call it common, it's certainly not unheard of in most Korean and Japanese martial art schools is it abnormal in Chinese martial arts.Cheyenne Lachapelle:The Chinese martial arts are depending on style things have become a lot more modern these days as well where like periods of time where it's more so like isn't we don't go by amounts of time usually like it doesn't matter what point you are in your training for every three months you get this sash it would more like it's up to the Sifu himself.Jeremy Lesniak:Sure.Cheyenne Lachapelle:Or like the seniors of the school and they will watch you and be sure and like if you're ready well like we kind of course have like a standard time where we try to set rankings so we can you know keep things organized but whether a specific person ranks up or not is dependent upon the teacher himself and usually to get let's say if it's an adult started training like you know take about 5 to 6 years to receive a black sash and let's assume that's like an average person around there but since I started at such an extremely young age so by the time I was 13 I had already been training for three years off a 13 start 10 years almost so that was like that's twice the amount of time that a normal person would get the black sash but of course like I had all this mental mature like maturity to go through as well as physical and it was like so just everything had to balance out which that's okay because it just made me a better martial artist so.Jeremy Lesniak:Absolutely and there are some elements in my own story that we won't get into but I can certainly empathize with what you went through at that and rank stuffCheyenne Lachapelle:Right.Jeremy Lesniak:So great so here you so here you are let's go back to it for a moment sorry for the detour we take a lot of detours here so there you are your you're young and your Qigong.Cheyenne Lachapelle:Yes.Jeremy Lesniak:That's the pronunciation has handed over to you his sash so I mean that's kind of a double whammy right? So you didn't even know that you were being evaluated for a promotionCheyenne Lachapelle:Correct.Jeremy Lesniak:And then he hits you with this and then cut it doubles up and gives you his sash.Cheyenne Lachapelle:Exactly he said it very nonchalantly too of course he's a very laid-back sweet guy and it was like he said it very calmly he was like oh just so you know like by the way like this happens to be the sash that I first received when I got my first black sash which was forever ago because this guy's been training since he was a kid too and like he's like a second father figure for me like I love him and he he's like such a big impact and he's such a good guy and so that was like the relationship that we have just like maybe like you know of course a little more tears being shed you know on the inside and outside it was so it was just actually ridiculous like I couldn't I had nothing to say I had no words I was just kind of standing there staring at him and smiling and nodding like.Jeremy Lesniak:Where's that sash now?Cheyenne Lachapelle:Oh I still wear it so oh yeahJeremy Lesniak:You still wear it?Cheyenne Lachapelle:And I am currently a 1st degree black sash which is like a kind of like physical difference if I can describe if the regular adult black sash it's just like the black cloth that you would wrap around your waist and then each degree has different colored tassels that is added to the end of sash of 1st degree is the black tassel 2nd degree is white third is gold and so on so forth.Jeremy Lesniak:Okay.Cheyenne Lachapelle:Currently so I didn't really didn't want to change my sash so all you did was just you know on add-on with my mother's great sewing skills so we just added on the tassels for me.Jeremy Lesniak:That's so that's so cool oh I dig that story.Cheyenne Lachapelle:One of my favorite.Jeremy Lesniak:So imagine what your life might have been had you not made it out to train at 3 1/2 or if your father you know decided you know I am done with martial arts I'm gonna take up bowling or something what what would your life look like who would you be do you think if you've never started training.Cheyenne Lachapelle:That's a good question because that it's very hard to imagine it really is because it's just like I'm literally a product of martial arts in a martial arts environment of itself like I grew up and raised in that environment and like without it oh definitely wouldn't be the person I am now like emotionally and socially that's for sure but I am I was always no matter what like a pretty optimistic and active person where I always have to be doing something like I love trying new things and learning so I'm sure I would've gotten my hands into some something else of like some sort of recreation but I don't think whatever it was wouldn't nearly had such a good impact on me as martial arts has so.Jeremy Lesniak:And you know what the fun part about that question is everyone struggles with it.Cheyenne Lachapelle:Right.Jeremy Lesniak:It's it's kind of tough and but I like hearing the way that the people wander down that road and and imagine themselves you can hear I can hear you imagining what you would be like without martial arts and I can also hear you struggling to imagine that and that's justCheyenne Lachapelle:Yeah the [00:14:16.04] are turning a lot of people I love being one of the seniors did like in my school now on the higher rank since I love like coming in like coming in and seeing new students come in and grow as their own students as well and I love seeing and train in their improvement and whenever they ask me questions and they really show intent on wanting to better themselves in the martial arts whether it's physically or mentally and I love the fact where if we get to like a relationship or bonding point where we can like they share their story with me like where what they been doing beforehand or what they're doing now and I like how martial arts [00:14:55.04] someone like what is kung fu done for you like has like what was your reason for joining and has it like done anything good for you and they're like and pretty much 99.9% of people always say I absolutely love it here and I love what we’re doing here and what it's done for me and what it's done for the people around me is like nothing I could ever like money could ever buy you know what I mean like and I love hearing that [00:15:19.11] like I'm like this is the reason you know like this is why I'm involved and I want this more people should know about it like more people should be involved like it's just a crazy thing and that's what I love to hear about.Jeremy Lesniak:I agree I can I can certainly relate to that I love hearing new students talk about the passion that they're finding in the martial arts and the benefits.Cheyenne Lachapelle:Precisely it's like oh you just keep going it gets better trust me.Jeremy Lesniak:It does get better.Cheyenne Lachapelle:It does you always have something else to learn.Jeremy Lesniak:So we've hit a bunch of high points and only high points right now but of course life isn't all high points so I'd like you to think about a low point something rough a tough time that you navigated through and how your martial arts training and experience helped you get to the other side.Cheyenne Lachapelle:Yeah definitely I can agree to that we all have something that we gotta we gotta go through right but it's even though like I am fairly young and it's like I’ve had like you know no real leg real big things that have like completely utterly knocked me off down but there's been like really rough point season in general I'm optimistic and bubbly person and low points never really like came too often but of course there are tragedies that happen in life that we can't control physically or emotionally and that that definitely came probably within like it all got happened at one time like it was in within the span of a few years from each other. I was maybe around the age of nine or 10 when the only aunt I had on my father's side she had passed away so suddenly without like any warning at all it went very violently and it was the first real death I had experienced in the family and like what will like where I was at the age where I was able to process what was happening and it was rough that was like I was very close to her she was such a good person beautiful woman and it was even worse because she was like my father's only sibling and he really liked they had such a connection and to see him in an emotional state like that like so severe grief it was is really degrading for me emotionally as well and I was learning how to process and handle it was completely a whole another story where it's like it's just difficult and I'm sure we've all like we've experienced some sort of loss and we can coincide for sure and it was it was hard and then as I was starting to like get past it and you know get used to it and everything and starting till I get my groove back and feel better not long after that one of my grandmothers whom I was dearly close to passed away as well. So just when I started to recover then the next death occurred and so it was like when it felt like everything was like because of me like I blamed everything on myself you know like kind of like that I'm a very my conscious person and that emotional state was just for that amount of time is like it was ridiculous like it was so overwhelming and I but my martial arts was there and that's what was my like that was my crutch I could go there going to the school knowing that like my dad always had the saying that like all of the students I still use it now is like leaving problems at the door leave whatever you have that's wrong whatever is going on that's inside you that you're not sharing leave it at the door and walk in and be fresh and new and focus on your training focus on what you're doing for yourself and then solve the rest of your problems later you know and that's what I did and it took some time till I get over and like relieve the stress and the emotions but without martial arts I probably it much would've been much more difficult to get through that even though my family is completely supportive but martial arts is like the school itself and the people in it and training that was like helped me like a significant amount.Jeremy Lesniak:The loss of a loved one is certainly one of the common answers that's come up to this question and it's certainly common I think for all of us, I mean I'd say it's probably universal that there's something about getting into the school's dojo whatever you call it and leaving at the door you said as you said and and putting your your heart into your training and realizing that there's a way forward.Cheyenne Lachapelle:Precisely.Jeremy Lesniak:Whatever it is there's a way forward and martial arts can be an example of reminding you if there's a way forward even if it's in a portion of your life.Cheyenne Lachapelle:Precisely that and it like kinda teaches you how to redirect those emotions into something more that beneficial you know what I mean like just taking the energy and moving it in a way just like when you're moving or practicing kata or forms it's like you have to redirect your energies in a way where it's correct and something that we get more out of it you know and it was just becomes a little more organized when you have that help there with you you know.Jeremy Lesniak:Absolutely and I don't know if that word choice was intentional or not but I like it redirection, such a common theme in the martial arts isn't it.Cheyenne Lachapelle:Oh of course for a reason I'm sure.Jeremy Lesniak:Yeah so we've heard a little bit about your instructor your father and in his instructor your Qigong but other than those two who would you say the most influential people or person in martial arts training has been?Cheyenne Lachapelle:Well most likely an it sound it must sound like something right out of the textbook but it most definitely is my mother like there's like I am an only child so it's like it's me my mother and my father and my dad is my instructor so he of course he has a lot of impact on me there cause he's the one who's training me right but my mother's like never been the type of person to be on standby and kind just let me do my thing like she does she if she let me be independent and let me train and figure out my groove and be sure that this is what I wanted but she always was there to support me and she was always there she knew my potential she would sit there and she still watches classes and she watches me train she's been watching me train since I started like she's never just kind of let it happen and be like alright could see you later but she's always been there to watch and so she like knew my potential she knew what I can do in my limits and should always push and she would help with my dad them together both push my limits and telling me it like this is what you have potential for like you can do this and constantly like keeping me like focused too that was the big part was keeping me focused on be sure that knew what I was doing and what I had to do and always kept me on task which was more than I can ever be thankful for.Jeremy Lesniak:Does your mom train?Cheyenne Lachapelle:She used to a while ago she used to do tai chi with my Qigong actually went back when we were in Worcester he would she would really do tai chi classes with him and she would do it also with my dad.Jeremy Lesniak:Oh okay cool now you mentioned focus and keeping you focused and testing your limits are we are we stepping into talking about your competition time?Cheyenne Lachapelle:Oh sureJeremy Lesniak:OkayCheyenne Lachapelle:Good segue, good segue.Jeremy Lesniak:I'm guessing that that's that's where where you were you were headed and.Cheyenne Lachapelle:Makes sense.Jeremy Lesniak:So let's go there.Cheyenne Lachapelle:Alright.Jeremy Lesniak:You've spent some time in competition haven't you?Cheyenne Lachapelle:Oh most of my time.Jeremy Lesniak:Okay well tell us about it, sounds like there's maybe some less than good in there so let's hear all about it.Cheyenne Lachapelle:Alright so I have been competing since I was five and I still continue to compete when I can as long as that the time allots for it so wow since two 2002 that was a long time ago, seems like such a long time ago and the last three or four years I’ve earned three grand champion titles one in the teen girls and two in the women's categories in the New England International Chinese Martial arts championship or also known as ICMAC like I C M A C that is like a pretty big tournament that works nationally like they come they have one in New England they have one in Vegas in Florida Orlando and then they have like the big [00:23:57.07] the one across all the way across in China that's world rather than nationals and competing is like it's fun I love it and its but it's completely different flavor that like definitely took me a while to get used to you know because walking to competition and of course in the word itself everyone's competing you know like there is not necessarily like sometimes you can find yourself communicating with people who are other martial artists were like you're so used to like me be in your own school like good people martial artist you have like the standard in your mind and sometimes you meet people who are not quite up like to like a good standard of like a martial artist you know you meet egos of course you meet all different kinds of people and you lose and you win and you go through so many different processes and sometimes it can be very overwhelming and that's a big part of competition I feel is like learning how to just have fun that's like the biggest thing is like like I said in the word competition it's like everyone there to compete and everybody forgets that you should be there just to show off your stuff like you shouldn't be there like you don't want to have like the mindset that you have to win like it's not a necessary thing you're there to represent your martial arts and that's what it should be about and the biggest thing is definitely like of course like everybody's you're not gonna every time you know and I’ve had people ask me that all too definitely cause they know like if they are somewhat educated about like my competition career they ask me like oh have you ever gotten your like excuse the language but have you gotten [00:25:38.04] like they always the biggest number one question is like and it's like that's the funny way to word it but then I always laugh and I say yes of course I have like I wouldn't be where I am now if you haven't you know this like there's no way like how are you gonna get better without you know losing a few times and I always like losing is like like everyone asks that to you they're like how do you feel when you lose you file like you let somebody down I'm like no like you shouldn't be like this completely discouraged because you lost that's like a gateway it's a big gateway for yourself to get better that all it is you know that's all it is unless you're like you know some people are just it's just you know ego but competition is definitely like that different flavor and it's like I don't stray too far away from like my normal self from within my school it's like everything that I bring to my school and like the good habits I try to put on my dad students and not my students is like I bring it to competition as well because you said whatever you practice within the school you should definitely apply to outside the school as well including competition and that's actually come like competitions are where we met most of our like sister schools that we call like cousin schools where like we have good friends of like other Sifus in other schools across Massachusetts and even in like New England in like we wouldn't have met them if we haven't been in the competition it's like a big family it's like a big circle like you know martial arts world is a small circle.Jeremy Lesniak:It is.Cheyenne Lachapelle:It definitely is.Jeremy Lesniak:It is and you know I think that's a great point I mean you've kinda ticked off all the I think the wonderful reasons that there are for competing when people ask me well should I compete should my child compete yeah they should and here here's a list why and you and I think you checked off all the boxes but the one that that really seemed to mean the most to you was meeting new people that broadening that martial arts family that those of us that have competed a fair amount I mean you know the feeling just as I do of saying oh well you know I kinda want to go to this competition because if I don't I won't see so-and-so and I haven't seen them in a while.Cheyenne Lachapelle:Right precisely like family gatherings like that's how it is like oh we have our meeting for Christmas and blah blah blahs is gonna be here and like oh man I haven't seen them since last Christmas I should probably go you know. So similar to that yeah and then like I always say it whenever one asks like you said if they ask should my kid compete should I compete I'm like yeah I'm like yes and like definitely should like of course granted with some of the bigger competitions can be like quite expensive sometimes for the bigger ones but that's okay because they're always like I love the small in-house tournaments like with that you know like sister schools that they hold like our friends a hold of little tournament in like their own school and it's much less intimidating there's not as many important people watching you and judging you and scoring and everything so I always definitely twice as encouraged for the students to go there especially for the first times it's like you gotta ease yourself in because no matter no matter what people ask me that's a big thing to is like you've been competing for so long do you still get butterflies do you still get nervous anxiety I'm like of course I do of course like it takes a little while like after maybe one or two performances I calm down but I still get like a little little anxious you know like it's like you know no matter what if you got all those eyes in the room looking at you and like expectations and such things like that you still get nervous but I end up like going into a completely different state when I perform and like I kinda zone out and I get into my groove and then I wake up when I'm done.Jeremy Lesniak:I have done that as well I completely get it.Cheyenne Lachapelle:It helps for sure.Jeremy Lesniak:Absolutely and if you're not at least a little nervous can you really say that you care?Cheyenne Lachapelle:That's 100% true 100%.Jeremy Lesniak:So we just talked about all these other people that you've gotten to meet and I'm sure train with but if you could train with one person that you haven't be they alive or dead we'll even open up to to those that have passed on who would you want to hang out with and work out with?Cheyenne Lachapelle:Ooh that's also a good question cause I have so many favorites and so many so many answers for that one I'm such an indecisive person sometimes butJeremy Lesniak:Oh you can pick a couple.Cheyenne Lachapelle:If I was gonna choose probably now because I'm sure my answer would change let's say like in a few month’s time or a few month’s time ago too I will probably choose to train with the master of my current system or Donnie Yen because she's just really cool like common Donnie Yen is pretty awesome I like envy his spear work oh my gosh. I absolutely love that man but one of those two would not probably on the top of my list you just I am such like an advocate for like just like my dad we're like the same you know the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree we love to follow lineage especially it's like what were you know currently practicing right now and it such like are specific style of kung fu is pretty pretty rare it's like it's a form of northern shaolin which is like a shaolin is like a name where it's like it's pretty known it's not uncommon people you say shaolin they kind of like have these little monks in their mind but it's like a form that's very concentrated to one area of China it's like not not very practice like besides martial arts school down in Virginia like I personally have not met anyone to do our style like we've seen videos online of course on YouTube and really, we're like oh look at that's the form we know blah blah blah we just did that yesterday you know but we never really like personally met somebody like at competition as big as competitions can be there are thousands of schools that show up to competitions but it's hard to find one that matches us and that's what I love too and it's like were such a rare school and that makes me want to promote the style even more. More people to know about it because it's such a beautiful art I mean in itself the English translation it like it translates to glorious mountain like but cooler.Jeremy Lesniak:That's pretty cool.Cheyenne Lachapelle:It is a very beautiful style so the lineage would definitely be a [00:32:11.01]Jeremy Lesniak:So you mentioned Donnie Yen is he your favorite martial arts actor?Cheyenne Lachapelle:One of them yes, most definitely.Jeremy Lesniak:Okay who else is on your list?Cheyenne Lachapelle:Jackie Chan is up there too just I mean it seems like pretty generic but he just like I’ve done like so much research on him and he's I’ve basically almost grew up with him and every movie like whether it was like a comedic American movie or if it was like some super backroad random martial arts movie that you can't even find like anymore.Jeremy Lesniak:Is is he generic or is he just that amazing?Cheyenne Lachapelle:Probably just that amazing I'm gonna go for it.Jeremy Lesniak:I mean he's pretty incredible.Cheyenne Lachapelle:Yes so he is like it one of those he's like not only like a good actor now he I mean it takes some time for that skill to get up to but he was always been treated with martial arts and that's what I envied so much is that no matter what he always had his martial arts and he knew that and that's what he promoted too and that's my loved and then like I said before Donnie Yen and his spear work as some of the favorite some of my favorites and he's actually from Boston my dad.Jeremy Lesniak:Really?Cheyenne Lachapelle:Yes.Jeremy Lesniak:I didn't know that.Cheyenne Lachapelle:Oh yeah so that also a little bit of oohh Massachusetts.Jeremy Lesniak:Have you had a chance to check out Into the Badlands?Cheyenne Lachapelle:I'm currently watching it actually doesn't he remind you Donnie Yen?Jeremy Lesniak:That's exactly where I was going with it.Cheyenne Lachapelle:I thank you.Jeremy Lesniak:[00:33:39.23] for those of you listening if you haven't checked out Into the Badlands anyone that does listen to the show often is probably sick of hearing me talk about it because for six months I was really pumped up on this show and I'm glad that it's good but there's a really strong Chinese influence in Daniel Wu's style of course in and in the in the fight scenes so that when you were saying Donnie Yen I was thinking Ip Man and then my mind wandered.Cheyenne Lachapelle:Oh yes Ip man is awesome but it's also if you watch the walking dead into the Badlands happens to be after the walking dead so you can just leave the channel on just saying.Jeremy Lesniak:It does and they they did that on purpose I'm a big Walking Dead fan has nothing to do with martial artsCheyenne Lachapelle:But also a good show just completely different course.Jeremy Lesniak:What a great show and of course they're bringing some staff work into their you know that's a whole that's a whole detour of it probably you know like 12 people listening would be into us talking about that I'm sure you and I would have a good time with it.Cheyenne Lachapelle:Oh yeah that's okay.Jeremy Lesniak:We'll leave that aside for sure absolutely. So we got Donnie Yen we got Jackie Chan how about your favorite martial arts movies?Cheyenne Lachapelle:Oohh so many like I said I'm a very indecisive person but there are some favorites that will always like if someone asked me like come on martial arts movie give me one I’ll always say like Hero I don't know if you've ever seen it but that's a big one on the list and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon that that is always great classic and they're actually coming out with the second part sometime soon. Have you seen the trailer?Jeremy Lesniak:Yes I have.Cheyenne Lachapelle:So it just came out what today? Yesterday?Jeremy Lesniak:Yesterday I believe.Cheyenne Lachapelle:Yesterday so I woke up this morning and did some work and had to go out to an appointment and as I I got there I was a couple of minutes early checked my phone and there was master white who was on the show a few weeks ago texting me the link to the trailer saying today just got awesome and I was a couple minutes late going into my appointment because I had to finish watching it because it was that great.Jeremy Lesniak:That a completely justifiable reason for sure.Cheyenne Lachapelle:I'm sure whoever was waiting must've understood.Jeremy Lesniak:Well to be fair it was my acupuncturist.Cheyenne Lachapelle:Okay there alright.Jeremy Lesniak:So it's okay that's cool and hero is a great movie Jet Li is one of my favorite actors.Cheyenne Lachapelle:Oh I love Jet Li as well yeah he's high up there on my list too and there's such good music like the soundtrack to that music to that movie is so good. Then I think the last one would probably Ip man is crazy movie. The third parts coming out sometime soon hopefully.Jeremy Lesniak:Yeah looking forward to that.Cheyenne Lachapelle:Yeah that's gonna be awesome.Jeremy Lesniak:A great film great choreography.Cheyenne Lachapelle:Oh yeah.Jeremy Lesniak:There's three solid movies that that you should all go listen to I know Ip man is on Netflix.Cheyenne Lachapelle:Yeah definitely.Jeremy Lesniak:Cheyenne Lachapelle:I don't know about Hero, Crouching Tiger is not but of course over at whistlekickmartialartsradio.com I always post all these links here you can see everything that the Sije Lachapelle and I are talking about and I always do the research somebody does the research at least and gets it into the show notes for whether or not these movies are on Netflix.Cheyenne Lachapelle:Oh definitely, they're worth your time.Jeremy Lesniak:How about books are you a reader?Cheyenne Lachapelle:Oh I love to read I do. Just recently with college it's a little more difficult to do like my recreational reading of course but I have read much more and pass martial arts books in general I haven't gotten into yet like I said my time is very strictly managed but just reading in general is good pastime and whenever I have the time to do it I do.Jeremy Lesniak:Good well if you're ever looking for martial art stuff to read we've got dozens of episodes of people chiming in their suggestions over on the website.Cheyenne Lachapelle:Oh I would definitely check that out.Jeremy Lesniak:Check out what other people are saying so here you are you've you've risen pretty far at a pretty young age with your competition side you've achieved the rank now you're in college I mean there's a lot going on so what are you working towards what your goals?Cheyenne Lachapelle:I'd love to just continue martial arts for as long as I can as simple as it sounds that's pretty much my main goal because I’ve seen what it's done for myself and to to continue with my personal training and to continue like teaching as well possibly in the future getting more and I do love to teach and I often am like this right-hand man to my father the instructor of the school when it comes to instructing like that and I enjoy and because I love to see what it does for other people I would probably just love to continue that and continue promoting it and whether it be in my own school in the future or in another school or and of our own I would just love to keep promoting it and just telling stories been doing things like I am right now you know just giving the stories and what it's done and you know keep it high up there because martial arts is such a good thing and it's very underappreciated so.Jeremy Lesniak:Okay great great do you think you would ever open your own school?Cheyenne Lachapelle:I think it said there's a good chance as long as you know the stars are aligned you know it is a feat and we're actually one of our senior students happens to be opening like in the process of opening his own school right now and while just like I'm pretty have a pretty close relationship with him and we often have conversations about like how he's handling it and it is a rough time you know and it's on takes a lot of research but I love I'd love to have that as like maybe not a full as a full-time job because I have other plans for courses in my career for that something more full-time but definitely like on the side I would love to continue teaching.Jeremy Lesniak:Great so what do you have going on if if somebody wants to reach you if somebody has a question if somebody's in Worcester and they want to come train at your school how how would they get a hold of you?Cheyenne Lachapelle:I'm a pretty pretty big social media person so on anything like twitter Facebook and email as well are good is pretty good on my email and I’ll pretty much respond anything like that and I’ll see it because you know a teenage girl here I'm pretty much a social media addict I'm on always on it checking things responding to people in a but hey that's how we got in touch with each other right so.Jeremy Lesniak:It is.Cheyenne Lachapelle:So that's alright.Jeremy Lesniak:Right you can't can't knock it at all and of course will will put those links over over on the website.Cheyenne Lachapelle:Oh yeah and you can always reach either maybe if they're like someone's looking to train or anything any other questions like that you can even contact my instructor my father and on my Kung Fu school website as well is definitely always an option.Jeremy Lesniak:Great great and just in case somebody doesn't make it over to the show notes what's the address for that webpage?Cheyenne Lachapelle:I believe that is Worcesterkungfu.com orJeremy Lesniak:Okay that's pretty easy.Cheyenne Lachapelle:Yeah yeah or if you want to get into like the main school pages shaolinkungfucenters.com so.Jeremy Lesniak:Okay great and any parting advice for everybody listening?Cheyenne Lachapelle:Oh man, just keep training for you martial artists and if you're not a martial artist you should start training but no matter how you feel down where you let anyone discourage you from your own training or anything you do in life really and just keep going you do you figure yourself out and martial arts is a big world and so just don't go in with closed eyes so there's always something new to learn and keep your eyes open and go in with an open mind don't let anything get you down.Jeremy Lesniak:Thanks for listening episode 49 of whistlekickmartialartsradio and thank you to Sije Lachapelle for her time. Head on over to whistlekickmartialartsradio.com for the show notes and everything we talked about today including links to the actors and movies we discussed contact information for Sije Lachapelle and a great video clip of Donnie Yen and Jet Li her two favorite actors battling it out can you guess what movie it's from? If you want to be a guest on the show or you know someone to be a great interview please fill out the form of the website don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter so you can stay up on everything we do. If you like the show please subscribe or download one of the apps so you never miss out on the future and if we could trouble you to leave us a kind of you wherever you download your podcasts we'd appreciate it. Remember if we read your review on here just contact us and we'll get you a free pack of whistlekick stuff. If you want to follow us on social media we're on Facebook Twitter Pinterest and Instagram all with username whistlekick. 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