20 Aug 2018

Tsabong finally has a martial arts school, thanks to Bethuel Chillito.

Chillito, a Tsabong native, started martial arts classes in the village despite the fact there are no training facilities.

An avid karateka, the 28-year-old holds an instructor position and plans to name the school Tsabong Shaolin traditional martial arts.

Chillito said he started learning martial arts in 2010. He started with ninjitsu, karate and went on to learn Shaolin Kung Fu.

He trained at White Tiger in Francistown were he became a general instructor.

When he became an instructor, he decided to start Shaolin Kung Fu classes in Tsabong this year.

He noted that there were five martial arts clubs in the country and that his would be the sixth, adding that his trainers were the best.

He trained with martial arts masters, Sifu Mclean Young, Sifu Steven Motlalepuo, Sifu Kolobe and grand master Shu Wai.

Chillito said they were working to develop children’s minds and to help them develop positive discipline and responsibility in life, adding that Kung Fu was a mixture of all art styles and was derived from the movement of animals and how they behaved.

He said he also wanted to help children and youth to get out of the streets and better their future.

This is a welcome development for a village which does not have any recreational facilities and with a number of out of school youth roaming the streets.

He said his aim was to shape a child’s character, to teach aspects of self-defence, mental alertness, leadership skills, discipline, respect, flexibility, good decision making skills, stranger awareness, personal safety, confidence, obedience and to help children improve their school grades by also including an after school programme.

He said his class has 23 students from pre-school, primary, junior and senior schools and that his goal was to have more people joining. His students ages range from three to 35 years with two instructors.

They start the class after hours from Wednesday to Friday and Saturdays from morning until evening.

Chillito said he teaches the tiger feast, dragon feast, five animal stances, five basic Shaolin stances and eagle claw attacks as well as the theory of Shaolin Kung Fu and also helps children with after school programmes.

He said most of the time when people were attacked they wanted to react quickly, but that Kung Fu taught a person the art of patience, peace and the right time to attack.

Chillito said his aim was to spread Kung Fu all over the country. ENDS