Duo seeks help to fund martial arts dream

SANDPOINT — Jesse Murdock and Caleb Starritt have a dream — and it could be taking them all the way to China.

Similar to many other young people, the prospect of choosing a path after high school is a daunting one for the two Sandpoint residents. As martial arts enthusiasts, however, they aim to follow their training to China, the cultural, spiritual and historic heart of kung fu. Upon arrival, they will spend the next several months training under the martial arts masters of Qufu Shaolin Kung Fu School.  

“We decided that we’d be better off going for it than sitting around in Sandpoint,” Murdock said.  

Murdock and Starritt anticipate that will be true on several levels. Under the tutelage of Shaolin monks with an authentic lineage to the distant past, the two students will engage in a holistic training of body, mind and spirit. Their days will begin bright and early around 5:30 a.m. by practicing tai chi until breakfast. They will then spend most of the day training in martial arts  with other students from around the world, including unarmed defense, weapons training and more. Interspersed throughout all the exercise are classes in subjects like Buddhism, acupuncture, martial arts theory, Mandarin Chinese, calligraphy and more.  

Located near Qufu, the home of Confucius, the martial arts school was founded in 2008 by Shi Yan Jia, a 34th-generation Shaolin warrior monk master, as a way to pass training onto an international body of new practitioners. Prospective students like Murdock and Starritt have the opportunity to visit the historic city, hike the nearby trails and even meet the head abbot of the nearby Shaolin temple, Shi Yong Xin.   

Murdock and Starritt are following the example of a friend who undertook the training for himself after high school. His stories upon returning to the states were more than enough to set their post-graduation plans.

“He said it was the most amazing thing he’s ever done,” Starritt said. “He learned more than he ever thought possible, and it strengthened him spiritually and physically.”

As is often the case, the only barrier between the two local students and this advanced level of training is money. Murdock and Starritt estimate that they’ll need between $8,000 and $10,000 to cover both of their travel and cost-of-living expenses. Both of them are actively fundraising, and individuals can contribute to the cause online by visiting www.gofundme.com/65stsk and placing a donation.

The effort is worth it for Murdock and Starritt. They’ve spent most of their lives training in the martial arts at Black Bear Martial Arts Center, and the chance to explore the roots of the discipline is too exciting to pass up, they said.

“We can’t wait to see what real Asian martial arts are like,” Murdock said.