Bellingham Herald Newspaper Article

Chris Strelau figures perhaps one-hundreth of one percent of the people who take up Chinese martial arts become a sifu.

“Sifu means master and teacher plus father, in the sense of helping people not just with martial arts, but with their lives,” he said.

How many people must also overcome four different kinds of epilepsy to become a sifu?

Strelau’s struggle explains why the 47-year-old Bellingham resident was enshrined in the U.S.A. Martial Arts Hall of Fame. It’s also not a bad explanation why he matured from being a taunted, troubled and combative teenager to being voted “friendliest senior” by his high school classmates.

He was one of 27 masters from throughout the nation — and the only one from Washington — inducted June 2 in Los Angeles.

A much-honored competitor for many years, he judged the Hall of Fame Tournament, a prestigious honor at the 31-year-old hall. The International Martial Arts Council created first-time awards for him: “Martial Arts Hero of the Year” and “Special Masters Inspirational Award.”

Strelau owns Bellingham’s Chinese Martial Arts Academy at 1705 N. State St. He opened his first such academy in Boise, Idaho, in 1990 and began his Bellingham academy in 1994. He has been at his current site for nearly two years.

He exudes a strong faith in himself and his students. He has needed it, having fought hard to recover from a serious auto accident (as a passenger) seven years ago. His injuries temporarily forced closure of his Bellingham operation.

Even reopening his academy was a leap of faith, much as successfully coping with his life-long struggle with epilepsy, for which he uses medication to limit the effects of daily seizures.

“The martial arts are extremely competitive here. There are 18 martial arts academies in Bellingham,” he said. “That’s far more than could be expected in a community our size. But martial artists tend to have a natureoriented attitude.”

He has about 50 students in two disciplines: Hung Gar Kung Fu, which incorporates a variety of physical skills and weapons, and the meditative Yang Tai Chi, which stresses balance and health. His students range from 6 to 89 years old.

He had to rebuild his academy almost from scratch after the auto accident. Bellingham residents Bekki Crider, 45; Charles Clark, 46; and Michael “Yoshi” Shigetani, 36, refused to leave him, going so far as to conduct workouts in his backyard.

Crider, a student for 8 1/2 years, had no idea what she was getting into. Now she has become a teacher, too.

“I was looking for an interesting way to improve my fitness,” she said, “and I knew I loved “Conan the Barbarian” and his weapons, and Bruce Lee, too.

“So I decided on martial arts,” she said with a smile, now fully realizing that “Conan the Barbarian” has nothing to do with martial arts. “When I started, I was pretty shy and not very outgoing and confident, and now I have an increased sense of confidence.”

Clark and Shigetani grinned when she said that. They have both been with Strelau for 10 years and recall a far less confident Crider.

Clark, who served 20 years in the U.S. Navy, found he had “pretty become an introverted couch potato,” but he was eager to change.

“My wife wandered into Chris’ old school one time and got all excited and said I had to take a look, so I did,” Clark said. “I can’t tell you what Chris has meant to me. If he hadn’t made such a huge difference, I wouldn’t still be here (at the academy).

“He’s my teacher, my friend, and he has the ability to tell me what I do,” he said. “I have so much respect for him. Earlier in my life, I did not always have that kind of respect for other leaders.”

Shigetani, like Strelau, said he had a troubled childhood and needed the mental stability Hung Gar and Tai Chi provide.

“Chris is a good friend and a heck of a teacher,” Shigetani said. “He’s going to be in my wedding party next year, along with others from our academy. It’s a family feeling.

“I came for pretty much the same reasons Charles did, and Chris has helped me overcome my fear,” he said. “I suffered from a severe lack of confidence. I also suffer a lot less frequently from a back problem that once really bothered me a lot.”

Strelau (pronounced stray-low) has long studied with noted local sifu Eddie Lane and with famed Y.C. Wong of San Francisco.

“Fred Sato, my football coach at (defunct) Queen Anne High School in Seattle, is a world-renowned judo expert and first got me involved in martial arts,’ said Strelau, who won three varsity letters each in football and soccer and played soccer at Shoreline Community College. “He saw I was having trouble with my epilepsy and helped me cope with daily seizures. Fred was a very good friend of Bruce Lee,” he said. “In Seattle, I also got to know Taki Kumura, who was one of Lee’s best students.”

Strelau met his wife, Hui Qin, four years ago on a trip to China. He has two children from a previous marriage — Alexander, 14, and Hannah, 13 — and a 14-yearold stepson, Yang Yang Yip.

Hung Gar is special to him because it has “different hand techniques, different ways of moving. It’s extremely challenging to master. People soon realize you can’t become Bruce Lee tomorrow. It takes a major commitment and it becomes a lifestyle.”

“Chris creates an atmosphere where it’s comfortable to learn,” Crider said. “He’s approachable and very patient. He really listens, and he helps with your life, too. He has pushed me to do things I didn’t think I could do.”