School Growth, Continuity, and Succession

By Paul and Joan Campbell

Gainesville, Florida Tai Chi Center

With the aging of the early students of Cheng Man-ch’ing and Patrick Watson, the issue of “succession” in local Tai Chi Foundation-affiliated schools is nagging at us. For over a year now, our Forum of School Leaders has been meeting, and this is generally on the agenda and on our minds.

The Forum started with a survey of every local school. One key question asked: What will happen to your school as you get old?

A few of the more robust schools are clearly in good shape, with younger leaders poised to continue the work. However, several (too many) stated that their schools would likely close. Fortunately, some solid leaders are thinking about how to focus TCF’s organizational eye on this before it’s too late. We are looking for the stability of methods the various schools might use.

Towards this end, we would like to share the ongoing process of the Gainesville Tai Chi Center in Florida. It is a long-time school, established in 1978, with a stable location.

We are committed to our community flourishing into the future, even as we get older, and we feel we have a 10-year window to build a functioning structure for the future as our legacy. The development of leaders in our tai chi community is now the priority.

To provide solid mentoring, we are trying to pace our apprenticeships, focusing on one new one each year and providing them with a comprehensive period of guidance. Besides teaching them how to present the form, we also cover how to work with a team and operate the business aspects of a tai chi community (facility management, Zoom classes, relationship with TCF and Legacy Holders, advertising, maintaining a website, scheduling, community outreach such as social media, continuing education, and more).

We’re looking particularly for candidates with specific qualities. First, they must love tai chi and embrace it as a lifetime discipline. If they are in a committed relationship, it is extremely useful that their partner understands what taking on the responsibility of a tai chi apprenticeship entails and is supportive.

We prefer people with established careers who are homeowners in the community because if we invest in relatively stable apprentices, we predict they will remain long-term. We explain to them that this is an active choice and why we do it this way—that we are looking to build a structure that will last.

If possible, but not exclusively, we are interested in prospects with teaching backgrounds since they are already comfortable speaking in front of groups.

Our current teachers span a range of ages: one is in his 30s, one just turned 50 (doing an apprenticeship this summer), one just turned 60, and four are in their 70s. Of these seven active teachers, three are women, and four are men.

Our prospective apprentices include one each in their 30s, 40s, and 70s.

These hand-picked apprentices attend a TCF Summer or Winter Training for the B1 apprenticeship, and then we continue locally with active mentoring. The B1 apprenticeship at a formal TCF training provides a good bonding foundation with the international school. Then, locally, they can move into B2 and B3 teaching as opportunities arise. We encourage our potential apprentices to actively yin in preparation for their apprenticeships so that they are comfortable with having a function in class.

The effort is to establish a “ladder of ages” so that as each generation retires, a new one will be prepared to replenish and sustain the community. Looking to the future, we are counting on younger apprentices to guide us in how best to reach out to younger students.

Additionally, we support the current expansion the TCF Board adopted at its meeting in May 2024: investing in a financial structure that provides apprentice scholarships to cover travel and lodging in addition to tuition. Making the development process financially feasible for the next generation of prospective apprentices is a key element of securing our school’s future.