Martial arts students train at Trinh Nghia Duong Martial Arts School, sub-district 1, Chieng Ngan commune, Son La city.

As one of the pioneers of traditional martial arts in Son La province, Senior Martial Arts Master Trinh Dai Anh, Deputy Director of the Vietnam International Martial Arts Academy and Head of the Vietnam Young Martial Arts Talent Training Center - Son La Branch, stated: Traditional martial arts are a precious and long-standing intangible cultural heritage of Vietnam. Today, despite the introduction of many foreign martial arts into Vietnam, traditional martial arts still retain their unique essence and characteristics. Recognizing the potential for martial arts development in Son La, I nurtured the dream of opening a martial arts school to spread the essence of traditional martial arts to the children of ethnic groups in the area.

In 2016, the first traditional martial arts class opened at the Center, with over 20 students. To date, it has grown to four classes with over 200 students aged 5 to 25 participating. Many students who trained from the early days have now become instructors and teaching assistants at the Center.

Traditional martial arts attract young people to participate in training.

Every day at 5:30 PM, the Trinh Nghia Duong martial arts school bustles with activity, filled with the shouts of students practicing their martial arts and competing. The students diligently and enthusiastically train, some practicing boxing, others weapons, their movements both graceful and powerful, decisive and forceful.

Lo Ha Nhu Thuy is one of the female martial arts students with many high achievements in national tournaments. Wearing her sweat-soaked martial arts uniform, Nhu Thuy shared: "I really like martial arts, but my greatest passion is traditional Vietnamese martial arts, because of its beautiful forms and stances. I have been practicing traditional Vietnamese martial arts for over 3 years now. For me, traditional martial arts not only teaches fighting techniques, forms, and stances, improves health, and teaches self-defense, but also cultivates morality."

The martial arts master guides the students in their training.

After nearly 10 years of operation, the Center now has Equipped with state-of-the-art training facilities and guided by martial arts masters from the Vietnam International Martial Arts Academy, along with a professional training curriculum standardized throughout the academy system, the center helps students maximize their abilities and strengths, aiming for high achievements. The center has made many positive contributions to preserving and promoting the essence of Vietnamese traditional martial arts and has achieved many successes in national tournaments.

The martial arts master instructs the students in weapons training.

Over the years, the martial arts students of the center Participating in domestic competitions, they consistently won numerous medals of various kinds, with the team ranking second and third overall. Notably, in 2024, the Son La team competed against more than 60 other teams nationwide at the 5th Vietnam Young Talent Martial Arts Cup, winning two first-place overall awards in two categories: sparring with 7 gold medals and 3 silver medals, and weapons and kata with 10 gold medals, 5 silver medals, and 1 bronze medal.

The martial arts students are taking belt promotion exams in the beginner and intermediate levels.

The team from the Vietnam Young Martial Arts Talent Training Center - Son La Province Branch won two overall team cups at the 2024 Vietnam Young Talent Cup Championship.

With its positive contributions to preserving and promoting the essence of Vietnamese traditional martial arts, as well as achieving many successes in national traditional martial arts competitions, the Vietnam Young Martial Arts Talent Training Center - Son La Province Branch attracts an increasing number of young people to participate in traditional martial arts training, receiving the attention of parents who entrust their children to study there, contributing to spreading the martial arts movement to a wider audience.

Lam Giang