"We're educating them on the different elements of the sport, the different styles," Tang said. "Much like when you're looking at gymnastics, you have parallel bars, you have floor routines, you have rings.
"In wushu, you have the straight sword, or the broadsword, the staff, the spear," he said. "These are terminologies that we really want to educate the public on.
"We want to educate them on the history and as well the athletes and how athletic the sport is," he said. "So many [people] know it as kung fu, as the traditional North American term. But wushu is the Olympic sport-recognized term for it."
Tang said the Thunder Bay event will help qualify athletes for the world and world junior championships, which are taking place in Indonesia in December.
And while the competitors appearing at this weekend's championships are very skilled, martial arts is beneficial to everyone, Tang added.
"What differentiates wushu from, say, other sports, is it is a recreational activity that can be practiced by both young and old," Tang said. "You can start at age three, and it's a lifelong sport that you can practice."
"And the reason why is that there are so many different elements of it," he said. "There are health elements, such as a very popular one, which is tai chi. Tai chi is a part of the wushu curriculum, and you'll see both senior athletes participating in competition, as well as young athletic teenagers participating in competition.
"So it provides such a wide variety and such a diversity of action that it keeps a lot of athletes engaged and involved."
