The martial arts school is located inside the sports center here, and although it isn't in the most bustling area, the rent here is certainly not low.
The facade of the martial arts school is quite imposing. Under the huge Chinese signboard, there's just a small line of English translation.
"Hunyuan Martial Arts School, that's a good name!"
Li Ang inwardly praised the name as he entered the building and discovered that the interior of the martial arts school was also quite large. Just by roughly estimating, he felt it must be no less than a thousand square feet.
At the moment, there were already quite a few people training in the hall, doing standing postures and feeding techniques.
The majority of the crowd inside was made up of teenagers, accounting for about seventy percent, with adults making up the rest.
"Hello, how may I assist you?"
As soon as Li Ang came in, a young Chinese lady dressed in a sky blue cheongsam approached him.
However, her greeting was in English.
This was actually quite normal. In America, quite a lot of "Banana People" are most afraid of letting others know that they have even the slightest connection to China.
They make great efforts in their behavior to appear like a true American, and speaking Chinese to them is out of the question.
This receptionist had apparently learned her lesson, and since then, she conversed in English with everyone she encountered, no matter who they were.
"Thank you, may I know where the person in charge of your martial arts school is?"
When Li Ang spoke in Chinese, the receptionist's smile became a bit more genuine, and as she led him inside, she replied,
"Our person in charge has not arrived yet, but our head coach is over there. I can take you to him."
"Alright, thank you."
The head coach also looked quite young, probably just over thirty, with a buzz cut, scrolling through TikTok on his chair.
After Li Ang explained his intention, Wu Song recalled that the school master had mentioned something the night before about someone coming to be a coach, something about a child and making arrangements.
The young fellow in front of him looked really young, indeed like a child. He wondered if he was even of legal age.
But it's a good thing that the law here allows employing minors over the age of 16, with just some restrictions on working hours and content.
Even in Wisconsin State, a law has passed that allows minors between 14 and 16 years old to work up to 11 p.m., which used to be 9 p.m.
"Which age group are you applying to coach?"
Although Hua Tianming had not told him before that coaches were categorized by age group, seeing the different age groups training, Li Ang could completely understand.
"What's the difference between coaches for different groups?"
Wu Song explained,
"We have coaches for the children's group, the youth group, and the adult group, which means each is responsible for a different age group. Accordingly, our recruitment standards and benefits also differ."
"Alright, I choose the adult group."
"What a joke. Li Ang's purpose in coming here was to find sparring partners. If he was to teach a bunch of kids, how could he even make a move?"
Wu Song looked at him a bit surprised and said,
"If I may ask politely, what style of martial arts do you specialize in? And how many years have you practiced?"
"Tongbei Quan, and as for how long I've practiced, about two and a half years?"
Li Ang answered seriously.
He hadn't expected that when others casually asked, they measured time in terms of years. If he said he had only practiced for a dozen days, wouldn't they think there was something wrong with his brain?
Besides, as this was the interview stage, if he didn't have any work experience, he'd have to fabricate some—after all, he was a seasoned worker.
When Wu Song heard that Li Ang had only been practicing for a little more than two years, his expression also fell a bit. Even among the coaches for the children's group here, there wasn't a single one with less than three years of practice.
No wonder the gym owner sounded a bit off, it's another one with overflowing confidence.
"Tongbei Quan, Wu Song."
As a matter of courtesy, he responded, then continued:
"So, how about we have a sparring session? It'll also give us a chance to understand your strength and serve as an assessment for the recruitment."
Originally, it wasn't his responsibility to assess the coaching recruitment.
And the assessment was just to evaluate the coach's familiarity with martial arts routines and some basic skills, not real combat.
However, in Wu Song's mind, the gym owner seemed to have mentioned arranging something yesterday, so he had no choice but to personally step in.
Wu Song mulled this over in his mind as he led Li Ang up to the practice stage.
Seeing someone take the stage, the students training nearby all perked up.
Many people come to learn martial arts for that thrilling rush of fists and feet clashing, wishing they could fight in the ring every day.
But once they started, they realized that training was a tedious process, filled with basic skills every day, and at most, practicing a few routines.
Now that they finally saw the head coach about to make a move, naturally everyone gathered around.
"Besides the gym owner, there's probably no one here who can match the head coach, right?"
"Of course, Coach Wu isn't all flash and no substance. I've seen him beat down a bigger Taekwondo coach before."
"Is this Chinese guy here to challenge our gym? What if it's bad blood between rival schools?"
"Jess, you really need to cut down on the martial arts novels. I heard everything just now; this young man might be our future coach."
"That's even more exciting, is the new coach challenging the head coach? Kind of like a showdown between the new and old lion king?"
"Shh! It's about to start, quiet down."
Wu Song picked up a set of protective gear and asked:
"Need any protective gear?"
Li Ang shook his head, placed the protective gear aside, and answered with a smile:
"It's not Sanda; what do I need protective gear for in martial arts?"
The moment he stepped onto the stage, Li Ang's adrenaline had already begun to surge rapidly.
Even while he spoke, his voice trembled slightly.
He was extremely excited, after all, this was his first real fight in the true sense.
Not to mention that there was such an audience down below. As everyone knows, the state of the competitors is completely different when there are spectators compared to when there are none.
On the other side, Wu Song, hearing his somewhat arrogant remarks and seeing his slightly trembling body,
felt a bit less disdain in his heart.
"Excited but not nervous, with such a standard posture right from the start, this guy is not simple at all."
Wu Song loved to fight when he was young and knew very well that these seemingly nervous novices often fought without regard for their own lives.
Under the influence of adrenaline, most pain would be ignored, and the blows would be neither light nor heavy.
Li Ang followed Wu Song's lead in saluting, then immediately charged forward with an arrow step.
While high-level fighters in film and television prefer to be passive, taking a stand and then defending to counterattack,
gaining the upper hand in an actual fight is also very important.