North American Ma Gui Ba Gua Association

namgbga_letterhead

This is a worldwide organization, despite the name. Another translation of the Chinese could be the Beautiful North Ma Gui Ba Gua Association. The director is Andrea Falk, by request of Li Baohua. The organization is intended to serve those outside of China and Japan, but foreigners living in those countries have also joined. It supplies teaching and information in English. 

Membership is $25 a year, and is open to anyone who is training in Ma Gui style bagua. To be a member you need to have taken a class with Li Baohua or Andrea Falk, and have paid your dues for the year. You should take at least one class each year to make sure you are on the right track.

The association site is maguibagua.org. It has members only pages which include a forum, photos, and videos. If you go there you can go directly to the site in French. Both are run by Philippe Plant, who trains with Andrea in Quebec city.

We are working on videos now, and have started posting to youtube. Longer video clips will be available to members only, through the .org site.

The qualified level one coach is Andrea Falk. Grassroots assistant coaches are James Saper (Guelph), Philippe Plante (Quebec), Steve Rolston (Halifax), Robert Ballantyne (Medicine Hat), and Neil Bates (Basingstoke).

The association has a PayPal account so that members can buy clothing and renew memberships online. Andrea and the grassroots coaches can also accept cash. Membership funds go towards paying the running costs of the association, and are sometimes used to cover losses occurring from seminars. No funds go to the any of the volunteers for work done on the website, accounting, the forum, the clothing, or any other projects. Seminar fees are not part of the association funds. This is why there are no member discounts for seminars with Andrea, she can't afford to donate that money.  The training manual is Andrea's work, and the purchase price goes to her.                   

Message from the director of the NAMGBGA, Andrea Falk

I have been training this style since 2001, after thirty years of practising other martial styles and twenty years of practising other baguazhang. In 2005 Li made the decision to take Ma Gui bagua to the world. I was put in charge of setting up the North American Ma Gui Ba Gua Association, teaching at the grassroots level outside Asia, and organizing people to attend training sessions with Li in Beijing or in seminars abroad. I won't be the inheritor of the style - too old - but I am Li's westerner who most 'gets it', is dependable, and has the most useful combination of website, translation, and teaching skills. We are lucky that the inheritor of the style is quite young and able to do everything, but old enough to have learned the whole system. And we are lucky that he is still able to learn more and improve, working with his teacher. He still spends a great deal of his time training, so access to him is limited. Please respect his decision on the manner that he will spread the system, and direct all your inquiries to me (if you are a member you can ask him questions through the forum).

Clothing
Here is the design for the new tracksuits, available at the members only site and at seminars. Hoodies are 7.8 oz. 'air jet spun yarn for extra softness', with full zip, pockets, and unlined hood. Trackpants are 9.3 oz. fleece with open legs (no elastic at ankles), slight taper, and two pockets. Both are 50/50 cotton blend. The image shown is black, but both are also available in dark blue.
hoodies

July 1, 2010
website organized and prepared by Andrea Falk, from the teaching of Li Baohua.