Today we’d like to introduce you to Shao Long Lei
Hi Shao Long, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
What originally started as a small community Tai Chi group ended up becoming one of the best martial art schools in Utah.
Myself, Shao Long, came back from studying and graduated from the China Wudang Kungfu Academy in Wudangshan, Hubei, China, getting my certification as a Coach and passing the Tai Chi Instructor program. This was back near the end of 2015.
Before going, I received my certification as a Master from Master Lu’s Health Center, being one of Master Lu’s Disciples. After having received that certification and having learned so much from him, I wanted to study in the homeland of Kungfu, specifically Wudangshan due to its ties with having the best Tai Chi instructors in China. I wanted to focus on Tai Chi this time since I’ve mostly been Kungfu oriented, and I wanted to train in an authentic environment so I could bring back that experience and share what I’ve learned with students.
At the time I couldn’t leave because I owned a home and didn’t know how I would manage a mortgage. Lo and behold, about a week after venting this information to a friend of mine, I received a knock on my door from someone who wanted to purchase my house in Sugarhouse. This was a for sure sign that I was supposed to leave and follow my dreams, so I sold my house and everything I owned to backpack around Asian, starting in Nepal and Bhutan, and settle down in Wudangshan, China, to study.
After about 7 months and graduating from my program early, I came back to Utah, since my family lives here, and started a free community on Meetup.com to have people meet up once a week in Sugarhouse Park. We eventually built our community up for years, having over 700+ members at the time and being the largest Tai Chi group in Utah, cycling through a dozen new students every week wanting to learn authentic Tai Chi. Along the way, students asked when an actual brick-and-mortar school would open up. After figuring out all the logistics, hopping from community centers to sharing school space, we opened up our own first physical location in West Valley City at the end of 2019.
We had our grand opening in the Spring of 2020, and unfortunately, literally a month after we had that opening, we were hit with COVID and had to close up our studio, holding online classes until we were allowed by the city to open up our studio again since it was considered a gym. From that point forward and recovering from COVID, we tried our hardest to build our school up to the point that we needed to find a larger location, so now we’re permanently located in Midvale, UT.
After having gone through all of that, we’ve garnered Top 3 Best of SLC awards in Martial Art Schools multiple times, having won the number one spot in 2023. In the same year, we also won Best of State and won again in the following year in 2024 for Best of State. In 2023, we also won 4 awards by Best of Utah with Best Martial Art Studio, Best Instructor, Best Chi Gong instructor and Best Tai Chi instructor. We’ve been invited to perform for the Utah Jazz 2 years in a row, and every Chinese New Year, our lion dance crew is dancing all over the valley.
I truly couldn’t have done all of this without the loving support of my wife and my family, as well as my dedicated Disciples, students and their families.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Like I mentioned earlier, here’s what happened:
“We had our grand opening in the Spring of 2020, and unfortunately a month after we had that opening, we were hit with COVID and had to close up our studio briefly, holding online classes until we were allowed by the city to open up our studio again, considered a gym. From that point forward, we tried our hardest to build our school up to the point that we needed to find a larger location, so now we’re permanently located in Midvale, UT.”
We honestly didn’t think we would survive, considering that we still had to pay rent for our studio in West Valley, but had no students to help with those costs. We held free classes since everyone was stuck at home during COVID. Eventually we were able to start back up with a handful of students, recovered out of that situation stronger, and now have a permanent, large home in Midvale, UT.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I specialize in teaching Chinese martial arts but in a unique way, and we’re known for having very strict onboarding process.
Our school prioritizes Quality over Quantity. We’ll never franchise out our school, even though our major competitors are mostly run as a franchise. We want to be known as having one awesome location for our students, despite our services not being available everywhere.
We wanted to focus on students who wanted to train with the best and are in it for the long haul. With that said, in order for students to join our school they have to Try-Out/audition to join, be interviewed and constantly evaluated. If they’re accepted, they understand that they’ll be accepted into a community of hard-working students who share the same passion and aren’t looking at Kungfu as a hobby but rather a way of life.
Because we have high-quality students, we consistently win the most trophies in tournaments. Recently one of my Disciples (considered like an Apprentice), Stacie Pitt, went to China for the first time ever, having left the country for the first time in her life and competed against others in an International Tournament, winning 3rd place in forms and 2nd place in weapons in her divisions.
Our school wasn’t built to be a money-maker or nickle and diming our students. We didn’t want the school to be considered a day-care or a leisurely hobby, but filled with students who also share the same passion. I have a full-time career that takes care of myself and my family, and the same can be said of all of my students, so we all have the leisure of creating the school the way we want without the pressures of making money to make ends meet, leading to packed classes and lower quality of instruction. Our school was made purely out of the passion of martial arts, creating a culture of high-performing students.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
We don’t plan on expanding, rather keep building up the school’s reputation and classes offered. However, our classes will always be small to keep the quality of instruction high.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.shaolongacademy.com
- Instagram: @shao_long_academy
- Facebook: ShaoLongUtah
