Kids Are Made of Rubber

As you get older you realize that being a kid makes training easier. Kids are more flexible, recover faster from workouts and are sponges for information. To give them a further advantage on adults, they do not have the mental distractions that adults have such as finances, work, home, etc. The only thing they have not developed yet is power. This is why it is great to get the kids training early...as soon as they are able to focus for a whole class which is normally in the 5 year old range. It is much easier to maintain their natural flexibility than to try and gain flexibility later.

School Cancelled Today

For students of our class, we will not have any classes today. I am unfortunately stuck at home this morning until we get plowed out. I hope you have a great day.

Question Your Techniques

Kung Fu practitioners are taught forms that they practice in a particular sequence. Instructors teach these forms to the students and in most schools also teach the proper use of these techniques. After a while the students know enough to make assumptions about the techniques such as the purpose of a punch. What is probably not taught enough is that students should understand more than the end result of a technique. Students should question the techniques further to get full value from their training. I do not mean to flood your instructor with questions (especially if you are one of my students), I mean to ask yourself why certain things happen in your forms. Some examples are:

• Why do I throw a punch from the waist in one part of the form but circle my arms prior to punching in another part of the form?
• Why do I start my block on the outside of my arm when I turn?
• Why do I use different stances for the same technique in different parts of my form?
• How would I get into position to execute this technique in a real encounter?

Whoever created the style put certain elements into the form for a reason. These reasons are now sometimes lost in the teaching of a style if a student is pushed through a system too quickly or if an instructor is only focused on teaching form rather than technique. One thing that Fut Gar practitioners are taught is to consider how techniques can flow together once you understand the reaction caused by the previous technique.

Even if the instructor of a particular school is not focused on teaching to this level of detail, the student is still able to formulate ideas in their own mind. Try questioning yourself the next time you are training. The results can be very interesting.

Kenpo Seminar

Some of the students that have been around longer might remember Bryan Zarnett who trained with our school for a period of time. I just thought I would pass on some information about a seminar in February that he is promoting. I am not familiar with the style or the instructor of the seminar but am happy to mention it to support Bryan.

If you are interested, information can be found on his website.

The Search for Butterfly Knives/Swords Continues

I have spoken about this in class over the last few years and am feeling renewed frustration in the past few weeks. I am totally disappointed in the lack of variety that suppliers have in butterfly swords. I do not like the trend of the suppliers to only carry the wide bladed butterfly swords that are commonly used in Wing Chun Kung Fu (Baat Jaam or Eight Chops knives) instead of offering the thinner bladed swords that I prefer to use for forms training. I understand supply and demand and that fewer styles use the thinner style and therefore it is natural to go where the demand lies but this is ridiculous. Suppliers are forcing Kung Fu practitioners to use the wrong weapon by eliminating the other type.

Thanks to James who did locate a pair from a knife company but we are looking at training knives at a reasonable price since we will chip, dent, scratch and sweat on them. Using expensive real blades seems less reasonable for students that are just learning the weapon for the first time.

JP - Our Newest Black Sash

I am very happy to announce our newest member to our instructor team. JP Gionet has successfully completed extensive testing activities over the course of 2 weeks to attain the rank of Black Sash or "Instructor in Training" as it is known in our school. Although we cannot post pictures taken during the activities, we can definitely post some before and after shots as well as the award ceremony.

Praying for mercy before it begins?



Relaxing after the fighting is done.



The Award Ceremony:

Want to Move On? Demonstrate the Technique.

I thought I would share a discussion I had with an old traditional kung fu practitioner. We were discussing the attitudes we encounter here in Canada from eager students who want to progress through the ranks. This particular person spoke about the school where he trained in Asia. In traditional schools, it was not acceptable to demand progression from your instructors. It is understood that when you are ready to move on, you will move on. In the school we discussed, the students were taught at a slow pace to ensure that each technique or combination was correct before being allowed to move on. If a student every had the nerve to state that they were ready to learn more, the instructor would put them up on a stage with one of the senior students. The test was to show that you can execute the techniques you learned so far in a fighting situation. If you failed, the consequence was to start your training over from the beginning of the form. Of course it was almost impossible to be good enough to win with a short seriese of techniques so this was a very discouraging proposition. Although this may be the extreme, I do believe the basic lesson is correct. Your instructors are the judge of when you are "ready" to move ahead. It is great to have passion towards your training and natural to want to progress quickly but kung fu has no short cuts.

DVD Set Released in U.S.

The Kin Mon Sil Lum Gung Fu group in the U.S. released a DVD set. Although the school clearly states that they are not a Fut Gar school, they do trace back to Leung Tin Chiu, the founder of Fut Gar Kung Fu as taught at my school. The forms that are practiced at Kin Mon Sil Lum Gung Fu are similar in name and execution to some of the forms I teach. I have not seen the DVD's yet but think that it is great that the school went through the effort to put together a compilation of their forms. Information can be obtained on their site.

We Need a Show!!!

I think back over the years and there had always been an occassional performance of interest that I could recommend to my kung fu students. There used to be more excitement and energy around promotion of kung fu within our community. Some interesting shows from over the years have been:

• Performances by the Shaolin Monks (first few times)
• Jackie Chan fundraiser
• Masters of Kung Fu Performance
  
• Chun Yi: The Legend of Kung Fu
• Friendship Tournament - Local students competing against monks!!!!
  
• Don't remember the name but it was a weapons demo with performances from around the world
  

It seems that we have gone a long time without something like this. There are always performances that you can attend but they are usually 1 or 2 schools doing some free performances to promote their schools. I think it is about time for one of the kung fu federations to get motivated and put on a large performance that is properly promoted in a significant venue. The community seems to be in need of something other than a few annual tournaments and a bunch of schools doing demos. We need a show!!!

Picture Slideshow

I mentioned to some of the students that I had put together a slideshow with a bunch of pictures that I had (mostly from tournaments). I guess this is one way to get them posted for the class to see. Enjoy!!!

Flashy Forms vs. Regular Forms

As I teach Fut Gar Kung Fu I am often reminded that there are much flashier forms in other styles than the ones we use. Even with that disadvantage our students continue to command attention and be complimented as we perform or compete. How is this possible? The answer is simple. We look for precision of execution which can be a thing of beauty to the eyes of the trained martial artist. Yes, I teach some flashier forms but encourage the students to use the true forms of our style when competing. I believe that achieving a good result with a normal traditional form is a true measure of a student's kung fu skills. Those that have taken Fut Gar Kung Fu and complained about how it looks compared to some other styles have simply not studied the style long enough to perform the techniques in a manner that looks good. I have unfortunately seen schools that seem compelled to add some flashy forms to help their performers/competitors and have even seen schools that have fabricated forms to give their students a flashier look. I think it is ridiculous that schools create forms instead of perfecting the ones they know to the point of looking great. I would like to encourage the traditional schools to stick with your forms and train harder to perfect them.

What Does This Move Do?

When learning kung fu at my school, the students often ask about the applications of a technique. How is the technique used in a combat situation? This is a good question but when I was a student I was often given the answer "What do you think it does?" This is not an attempt by the instructor to avoid the question or an indication that they do not know the answer. I do know what the techniques are for and I can feed the answer to the students but prefer to have the students think. My real answer is that the application of a technique is correct if you are able to execute it the way you believe it should be used. Although there is an intended purpose for a technique, I do not believe that there is only one answer to the question "What does this move do?" I prefer students to think about the technique and try to figure out the answer to the question first. I am there as a guide for those that really cannot think of an answer and will happily discuss the advantages or disadvantages of a potential application. I would like to encourage all martial artists to think beyond the obvious and look for the "hidden" techniques of a style. Ask yourself questions such as why do I circle my arms twice instead of once or why do I raise my knee when executing this technique. Thinking this way will bring out new possibilities in your fighting.

CCKSF Tournament Crew

A small group of students competed this weekend in the CCKSF Kung Fu tournament. Along with a great chance for Kai and Kevin C to get some tournament experience, we had some medal winning performances from a couple of the more senior students in the group, Jason and JP. Great job guys.

Medals won were:

• Jason - Gold in Advanced Long Weapons
• Jason - Bronze in Advanced Hand Forms
• JP - Gold in Advanced Short Weapons
• JP - Bronze in Advanced Hand Forms
• JP - Bronze in Fighting (Heavyweight Division)

More important was once again recognition from judges that the proper use of techniques by our students (in both forms and fighting) was a good example for other competitors moving forward. Even in fights that were not victories, the students did a great job of controlling techniques and producing a great technical fight. In these tournaments, I believe this is the true indication of the success of the students and a strong endorsement that our training methods will produce proper martial artists in the long run.

Announce Yourself

As a judge in tournaments for many years, I have seen many students come up to perform. I have seen many ways of announcing their forms and have formed some preferences. Here are some tips for those that intend to compete in forms/kata competition:

1. Always bow - show your respect for the judges.
   
2. Speak in a loud clear voice. If I can't hear you, there is no point to speaking to me. Remember the tournament is a noisy place.
3. Announce your name
4. Announce your school and/or instructor
5. Announce your form

The Nervous Kick

I have been training people on their sparring techniques for over 20 years and have been able to get the students of our school to be focused on fighting in a manner that is representative of our style of Kung Fu, Fut Gar Kung Fu. As schools teach free fighting I have often noticed that there is a trend in beginners to kick. Nervous kicks that keep their opponent at a comfortable distance. This is something that is not always the correct way for students to fight as most styles to not focus completely on kicking. I would urge newer martial artists to monitor their fighting to see if they are falling into this habit. Although it feels better to have your opponent at a longer distance, this is not ideal for your future progression. You need to fight in the style that you are learning which probably means you will not throw kicks for your entire fight. Kicking has a purpose as I mentioned in a previous post but sparring in class is the controlled situation that allows you to do the things that are uncomfortable for you. Take advantage of the opportunity to work on perfecting your technique in these conditions.

Body Coordination For Power

Generation of power can be maximized through properly coordinating the moving parts of your body to lock at the same time. You generate power by striking outward very quickly with your arm. You generate power by pulling back with your non-striking arm. You generate power by turning your waist. You generate power by pushing off with your legs while gripping the ground. These are some of the individual things that you can do to generate power in your strike. The big trick is to do all of these individual things at the same time and have them coordinate so the peak power in each individual component occurs at the exact same moment. Turning your waist followed by extending your arm results in a technique where you only use the power of your arm because the waist turn finished before you began your technique. The ideal situation has all of the components of your technique ending at the same time resulting in your hips, arms, legs, shoulders all locking at the same time. Think about this when you are executing your techniques and your power will increase.

Another Local Tournament

I had previously posted some events that I thought might be good experiences for the students. I recently received an ad for an open tournament that seems to be in a fairly accessible location for many of the students so thought I would add that link too. This is on Saturday, November 29th in Toronto - here is the link. I have never been to this tournament so do not have any recommendations for it but it seems like it might be good for those that want to experience an open run by Karate practitioners.

Horse Stance Training

All styles of Kung Fu stress the importance of stances. Regardless of which stances are most important to your particular style, you are probably still asked to do some sort of horse stance training. I have often been asked by students about how to practice/train stances.

The base stance for practice is the horse stance. Once again, depending on the style the proper technique can differ. I recommend the student take the time to understand the proper way to do a horse stance in their particular style. Understanding this is important to ensure that the student practices properly on their own.

The next question is normally how to practice, high stances or low stances. The answer is both. I recommend higher stances for long periods of time while doing something else such as watching TV to take your mind off of shaky legs. I also think it is important to practice proper stances in the lowest possible position to train your legs to hold your weight at that height. You will never fight in your lowest stance but training your legs to be comfortable in a low position will help when you need to be in a lower than possible position.

Open Martial Arts Tournaments - Should We Care?

When I was competing, Kung Fu tournaments were not easily found in the area. If you wanted to compete the only option was to find an open tournament. These were normally tournaments run by Karate practitioners and if we were lucky, we would have a separate division for non-karate styles which was normally called a soft style division...which didn't really make sense because Tai Kwon Do was thrown in there. The competitors were normally judged by Karate judges who normally gave the best scores to the people that looked most like what they were used to seeing.

What are my thoughts on open tournaments? I believe that these tournaments can provide some value if you go in with the correct attitude. Understand that the judges do not know the techniques that you are executing and will not necessarily see the value of your forms. Understand that fighting will be limited by the rules of the tournament and often will eliminate (for good reason) the more effective and dangerous techniques of your style. My recommendation for tournaments is generally to not care if you win or lose. The purpose of the tournament is to give you experience performing in a stressful situation (in front of a crowd) to train your mind and to continue to perform in these types of situations. Fighting in open tournaments is also a good experience because it allows you to see how it feels to fight people with different styles and techniques from your own school.

In the end, real life combat situations are full of uncertainty and stress. Gaining exposure to these feelings through competing decreases the chances that you will freeze when confronted in a real situation.

Upcoming Event Schedule

This is a note to the students that are interested in upcoming events. Here are the ones I know about:

CIKWF Tournament - September 27th - Poster and rules
CCKSF Tournament - October 4th - Tournament Info
Hainan Association 20th Anniversary Dinner - October 11th - see me for details

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Visitors

It was almost 2 weeks ago and has taken me some time to get these downloaded from my camera but I finally got it done. On August 10th our class had a visit from Sifu Norman Mandarino and a few of his students. They have a Kung Fu school in Buffalo, NY and asked if they could come visit our class. It is always nice to meet other students that have some connection to the founder of our style of Fut Gar, Leung Tin Chiu in their background. By coincidence we also had a visit from another student from Michigan who also is training in Fut Gar techniques. I had asked Grandmaster Chen Rong En to come meet the students as he is always interested in seeing other people that have a connection to our style. Here are the pictures from that visit.

Short Notice

I have seen a definite trend over the 20+ years that I have been teaching Kung Fu. Almost every time I am asked to put together some people for a show or demo, it seems like it comes with very short notice. It makes me laugh every time I receive a call about a show that is taking place the day after tomorrow followed by the inevitable question - "How many of your students can make it?" This seemed like disorganization when it was my brother seemingly calling me the day before every event that he needed help on but as my brother became less involved in Martial Arts events, I have come to realize that it is just the way things are. I am not running a commercial school so it is less important for me to attend when invited but find it fun to get out on occasion. As a student, I think it is a good teaching tool because you are required to keep something at performance level at all times. As I have told most of my students over the years, there should always be something that you can perform well without notice because you never know when you are going to be asked to perform. Although the short notice I always get is frustrating, I think it has helped reinforce the importance of being prepared at all times.

Weapons Forms of Fut Gar Kung Fu

In Leung Tin Chiu's branch of Fut Gar Kung Fu there is a heavy focus on staff work. This agrees with the theory form my previous blog entry about the most important weapon in Martial Arts. Here is a list of the weapons forms as I was taught by Grandmaster Chen Rong En.

• Double-ended Staff
• Shooting Star Chasing the Moon Staff
• Tiger Taming Staff
• Left Handed Staff
• Flying Dragon Staff
• 2-Person Flying Dragon Staff
  
• Dragon Well Sword
  

There have been other forms that Grandmaster Chen has taught but they were not from this style. Years can be spent just training in the proper techniques and applications of these forms.

Commercial Schools

I have thought many times over the years about the commercialization of Martial Arts. There are a few things that I find to be quite frustrating.

The schools that pressure you into joining when you were there to ask about a few classes. The idea is to sign up a bunch of students who ideally do not continue to show up so the space is able to accept even more students. Yes, you are there because you are interested in joining a school but I believe it should be up to the student to ask to join. When asked about selecting a style, I normally suggest that the student should try a few different schools and styles to see which one is to their liking. This should be a combination of liking the instructor, their teaching style, the location, the other students and enjoyment of the lesson during the time you were trying the class. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean that the workout should be easy and therefore enjoyable, but more that the style of workout is what you are looking for.

The guarantee of attainment of the highest level within a certain amount of time is something else that I have heard of. I do not believe that it is possible to guarantee that someone will get their "black belt" in a certain amount of time.

I accept the existence of belt or ranking systems so people can see their progression within a style. I have also given into the need to show progression and gotten away from traditional style where all students were students, not a certain level of student. I do feel that some schools now are overdoing it with adding too many levels or levels within levels. In my opinion, it is a pure money grab because the school can charge for each grading,

Watered down systems due to the desire to generate instructors is a problem that I see in commercial schools. They want more instructors to spread the style but unfortunately, I have seen too many instructors teaching watered down versions of their style or not having time to mature before moving out to be an instructor on their own. I know that students are able to learn an entire style quickly if given the opportunity. Unfortunately these students have not been given the time to mature in the style and fully comprehend/practice the techniques. This leads to the situations I have seen where the instructor is not aware of why things are done a certain way. This knowledge becomes lost and as their students become instructors, even more knowledge is lost.

We have all seen schools display weapons on the walls or in a rack. Some of my students actually discovered a school that displayed swords and staves on the wall but upon asking discovered that the instructor did not actually know how to use the weapons and did not teach the weapons. Another one of those silly franchises that try to excite potential students by displaying "cool" weapons.

The Power of Blocking

When learning how to use their martial arts for fighting, students are tempted to find their best method of landing their strikes. To actually disable your opponent, you must eventually throw an offensive technique.

My theory on fighting is to begin by learning how to block effectively. Learn how to defend all angles. Learn how to react to different types of strikes and different types of opponents. Learn how to block so effectively that you do not have to think while doing it. If you are able to hold your position in a fight and block everything your opponent is throwing without panic or thought, you are able to free your mind to look for openings that come up. An offensive technique usually will leave an opening but defenders are so busy worrying about blocking techniques that they often do not have the presence of mind to also look for an opening to reverse the momentum. Imagine how easy fighting could be if you did not have to worry about being attacked but just had to throw an appropriate technique when an opportunity presents itself. This is exactly what good blocking will provide for you.

I would like to encourage students of all forms of Martial Arts to spend time focused on the blocking techniques within their styles and how to execute them properly. I believe it is important to spend time seeing a variety of attacks and identifying which attacks give you a problem Once you know your own weaknesses you are able to work on techniques that will cover up those areas. When your blocking is automatic, I guarantee that you will see openings quicker and feel comfortable attacking them.

Correct Posture for Kung Fu

In response to Kai's question regarding proper posture while practicing Kung Fu I would have to say that the ideal posture varies from style to style. In Fut Gar Kung Fu our goal is to always maintain an upright posture as if your spine were a straight stick that is perpendicular to the ground. As you strike or block in Fut Gar you will pivot but not lean. This is the ideal posture for this particular style. Other styles may generate power in a different manner and therefore lean forward as they strike. This is incorrect in Fut Gar as this allows you to be pulled off balance during your strike. Power generation in Fut Gar is through turning of the waist and pulling of the non-striking arm into an elbow.

Combinations in Forms

As students of Kung Fu learn forms they must understand that it is very important to eventually understand where the combinations are in their forms. This goes back to the stages of learning a form:

1. Learning and executing the moves/techniques of the form - Every student begins learning a form by just trying to remember what the sequence of techniques are and how to properly execute these techniques.
   
2. Learning the combinations within the form - Once you know the individual techniques it is time to understand which techniques belong together because they are a combination. These need to flow together in the form.
   
3. Learning large sections of the form - For the sake of being able to practice your longer forms, it is often difficult to repeatedly perform the entire form as a method of practice. The forms can be broken up into sections of 1/3 or 1/4 of the form allowing the student to practice at full power/speed without burning out after a few runs through the form. This allows you to work on transitions between combinations.
   
4. Putting it all together to generate an entire form - This is the combination of all sections into one form that looks correct. The student must be able to maintain their flow, power and speed throughout the entire form.
   

The most difficult transition of all these stages may be going from executing individual techniques to combining techniques into a 3-5 move sequence that looks like there is purpose and belongs together. It should be clear when you have "finished the attack" on one opponent in your form and are moving to the next opponent.

Kung Fu and Natural Response to Stress

Your body's natural stress response is divided into three stages. These are alarm, resistance and exhaustion. The stages of a confrontation can also be divided into these same stages.

Alarm is the initial stage. This is the initial confrontation where a decision on fight or flight must be made. In Kung Fu it is always preferable to avoid confrontation but there are times when a fight is necessary. Each person must quickly be able to assess the situation and make a determination on whether or not a fight is necessary. If a fight is necessary, the next assessment should be how to quickly end the fight or escape the situation. In a physical confrontation this is an important as the wrong decision can be disastrous.

Resistance is your natural attempt to store things to normal by eliminating the cause of stress. In a fight this is the desire to return yourself to a safe state. This is a result of disabling your opponent, fleeing the fight, or fighting until the opportunity arises to escape. Once you have returned things to a normal state your body will slowly return to its pre-alarm state as well (heart rate, adrenaline, blood flow, etc.)

In a case where you cannot return things to normal through resistance, your body will become exhausted and start to show strain through the onset of minor health issues and later more serious issues. In a physical confrontation, the results can unfortunately be much more drastic as this is the point where you would be unsuccessful in the fight.

Through training in Kung Fu we are developing some moderators that can influence how we deal with these situations. We learn to remain calmer during confrontations, be more confident in a positive outcome, be physically prepared to absorb some damage if necessary, how to properly execute techniques that would end the confrontation and how to defend against physical attacks. Your personality is the other factor that will play into the outcome as each individual has different ways of dealing with confrontation.

Building Basics To Help Learn Advanced Techniques

James commented on a previous post about building into fancy techniques instead of trying to learn them upon starting your training. This is very much the case in good martial arts training. All techniques build from the basics and development usually happens in stages.

The Kung Fu practitioner always starts their training by building their stances. This is not done as a punishment, there is a point to it. Strong stances will allow the practitioner to maintain balance upon impact, drive from the legs to generate power and maneuver while staying solid on the ground. From solid stances, the practitioner is able to execute a powerful kick while someone with weak stances may lose balance when kicking because they are on one leg.

An example of the importance of stances came during a Kung Fu demo for the Hainan Association members. I was performing Black Dragon Sword when I stepped on a quarter of an orange that their lion dance team had left on the floor. Instead of slipping and falling, I slid across the floor standing on one leg as the technique required a crane stance. As I stopped sliding, I continued the form. The members of the Hainan Association did not realize anything had happened but one of the lion dance team members ran out and picked up the orange as I continued the form.

To continue on the along the road of progression mentioned earlier, once the person has learned how to kick properly and spent the appropriate time to be solid while kicking, they can easily move on to jumping kicks. The actual kicking technique is the same but the practitioner is now in the air. From here, the practitioner can build into spinning kicks, jumping spinning kicks and aerial kicking combinations. This is one example using kicking as the progression but the same can be done with hand techniques as well.

To illustrate how knowing basics can help with learning forms we can look at the components that make up the techniques. As a person learns a new form they will be entering into some unfamiliar ground. It is difficult enough to figure out how to move their hands without worrying if their feet are in the proper position in the stance. Add to that the proper speed of execution, transitioning between stances and intricate smaller motions to get to the next move and the forms can become very confusing. Knowing all the basics allows the practitioner to focus completely on transitions between the techniques and remembering the sequence of techniques.

Steve Pulls The Trigger

I was there to witness it. Steve Moore, one of the instructors in the National Fut Gar Kung Fu Training Centre is indeed married. After teaching Steve for approximately 20 years, I somehow still did not recognize the guy standing there in a suit. I guess seeing someone in workout clothes for many years gets you used to a certain look. Congratulations Steve and Jackie!!!

Secrets to Successful Faking

I thought it would be a good idea to recap one of the topics from tonight's class for the students that were in attendance. We worked on successful faking techniques during fighting. A few points to keep in mind:

1. The fake is not effective if it is not within a range that is believable. Throw the technique at a range that looks like it would actually successfully land.
2. The fake is not effective if your opponent cannot see it and react to it. Use techniques that are generally easier to see.
   
3. Sell it with your eyes.
4. Use the same motions as if you were throwing a full power strike including shoulder turns, hip turns and stances.
   

Remember what you are trying to accomplish. The technique is designed to generate an opportunity for a follow-up technique. Of course successful execution like everything else in Kung Fu cannot come without practice.

Training is Heating Up

Warmer weather is upon us once again. This is where we really test the determination of Martial Artists. We train all summer in a hot room with a bunch of sticky, sweaty classmates who are generating yet more heat. We are faced with a series of serious mental challenges that threaten to restrict our training. These are the days that I want everybody to stop breathing my air because it does not feel like there is enough for all of us. Let's face facts. There are a lot of other things we could be doing:

1. Sitting on a patio somewhere with a cold drink.
2. Hanging out in our air conditioned houses.
3. Cooking on the barbecue.
4. A wide variety of outdoor activities.
5. Spending time with the kids who are off school for the summer.
6. The list goes on.....

This is where we really need to motivate ourselves to be in class. We need to be mentally strong. We need to continue towards our goals that we set out for ourselves when we began training with our instructors. It is too easy to be tempted by the nice days. Keep training and keep progressing. Any break will not only hamper progression in new things but also cause you to decline in the things you have learned in the past.

How Long Does it Take to Become an Instructor?

As I speak with people I often am asked how long it would take them to become an instructor in Kung Fu. I am always amazed that people expect an answer to this question. I am not sure how I am expected to know the answer to this question. We should probably equate this to some other questions.

• As a person begins to take skating lessons, do people ask them when they will become a professional hockey player?
• How about stopping someone on the street and asking them how long it would take you to get to Florida? Ask that question without specifying how you intend to get there.

I am a Kung Fu instructor, not a psychic. There are way too many variables that play into the equation. Without training with a student for a while I cannot judge things such as athletic ability, retention, coordination, attitude, motivation, determination, attendance and patience. This does not even account for family commitments, work commitments, injury or unexpected circumstances. Let's just say that becoming an instructor will happen when it happens. I would encourage everybody to be patient, work hard and let things happen when they do.

Remembering to Pull Your Elbow Back

With the return of Grandmaster Chen to Canada, there is always the chance that he will pop in to visit our school without any prior notice. This is a great opportunity to have the head of our style critique our forms and techniques. Although students are understandably nervous when he is watching, the biggest thing to remember is that he is looking for precision. As mentioned in one of my previous blog entries, there is a heavy focus on pulling back your elbow to generate power when you are practicing Fut Gar Kung Fu. You must pull your elbow back as hard as possible to help generate power in your striking arm. This can be visualized as throwing a defensive elbow to the back at the same time as throwing an offensive strike to the front. Of course the end point of the elbow depends on the technique you are executing but keeping this in mind will make a big difference as you are performing.

CCKSF Supports China Earthquake Victims

Members of the CCKSF performed on Friday night at Pacific Mall in Markham in an effort to support the China earthquake victims. This was put together with very short notice and although I was not able to attend in the end I would like to applaud the instructors that were able to participate. The organization has regularly performed to raise funds for charity during times of disaster recovery and reminds us that the martial arts community should contribute whenever possible. Well done to those that were able to participate!!!

For those that are interested in supporting the cause, donations can be made online at the Red Cross website.

Renos are Done!!!

So it looks like my house renovation is finally wrapping up. I have spent much of my free time working on the house for the past few weeks. Thanks to my brother-in-law it looks great....I am definitely not the main person responsible for the good work. As I explained to him at the beginning of the process, I am good at breaking things, not fixing. Looking forward to posting again soon.

CCKSF Election Results

2 members of the National Fut Gar Kung Fu Training Centre were elected for another term with the CCKSF executive.

CCKSF 2008 Election results

The C.C.K.S.F. held its seventh general election in Toronto on January 27th, 2008, Sunday.
6-21 Progress Avenue, City of Toronto, Province of Ontario, Canada M1P 4S6.


CCKSF 2008 President and Chairman Voting results:
President : John Lee
Chairman : William Kan
Vice President : Nelson Chan; Simon Leung;
Bruce Kinney; Tim Mrazek; Richard Chow
Vice Chairman: Henry Lo; Liza Lee; Zhifa Luo
Treasurer: Nelson Chan
Secretary: Nelson Chang; William Kan
Public Relations: Isaac Han; Wing Pong Chan;
Simon Leung; Jian Ping Ding; Nelson Chang
Recreation: Nelson Chang; Chiwai Lee
Honorary Senior members : Philip Mo ; Jimmy Chan ;
Chan Kwok ; Steve Ang ; Rong En Chen ;
Gordon Lee
Overseas counselor : JuBin Zhou ; Chen JinXia
Computer Department : Wing Pong Chan ;
Nelson Chan
Accountant : Robert Chan


Note:
Definition of Honorary Senior member : must be a CCKSF member, served at least 20 years, with age over sixty.

Fighting During Grading - What Are You Testing?

Many Martial Arts schools employ some sort of grading system to promote students up their rankings. These gradings can lead to a new belt/sash, promotion in title or simply a level or increase within the system. Often the grading process includes fighting to determine that the student is able to fight at an adequate level for promotion. I have seen gradings where there does not seem to be a purpose to them. What are we testing in our gradings? Within my school we actually have a few things that we are testing during the fighting portion of the grading:

• We try to determine that the student is able to defend themselves in a pressure situation.
• We try to press the student to ensure that they are able to control their emotions (fear, anger, doubt, etc.)
• We test to see how the student is able to control their techniques in full speed, pressure situations where emotions are trying to take over.
• We try to ensure that the students get a small taste of how things are in a real fight whether they are winning or losing.
• We test how students adjust and think through the different scenarios that are presented in the grading.
• We ensure that the student is able to use legitimate techniques in the fights.
• We make sure that the student has a very good chance of succeeding in a confrontation.
  

Our team of instructors all went through this to get to where they are today. All of us have these goals in mind as we train the next set of instructors.

Life Gets In the Way

Over the past 20 years of teaching Kung Fu, one of the most frustrating things that needs to be accepted is that life gets in the way. Today's Kung Fu instructor lives a difficult life. You need to develop your students to the best of your ability knowing that in the end very few will actually persist and make it through to your highest level. I have been fortunate enough to have several students that have trained with me since the beginning and still attend classes. I have however seen more than my share of talented, enthusiastic, promising students leave for various reasons outside of my control....life gets in the way.

It was probably much easier in the past when students lived at the school, trained with their instructors, acted as a family and worked together to support the school. Your instructor provided for you and in turn you were the loyal student.

In today's world we deal with losing students to family commitments, careers commitments, relocation and school commitments. Students have many more choices of what to do with their spare time...catch a movie or go to class, dinner with friends or go to class, go to The Home Show (sorry, had to sneak this one in there for one of the students - you know who you are) or go to class, etc. There are also many more sporting activities to choose from. Once again, life gets in the way.

The bottom line is Kung Fu takes effort, dedication and commitment. It is not the easiest path to take. The students that make it through to becoming an instructor probably think of packing it in many times before they get to that point. As the guide, the instructor can only teach and hope that the student will stick it out.

This seemed like an appropriate topic tonight as I sit here and take a break from studying for an exam in a course I don't want to take (and doubt I will ever apply) because some association has decided that it is relevant to the profession and is mandatory if you ever want to be certified (which I am not sure I even want). In fact, I had to miss teaching class tonight to do this. I have decided that this is about as enjoyable as horse stance training but possibly as necessary so will continue to study until the wee hours of the morning. Tonight....life is getting in the way.

The Techniques of Loong Chin Gim

In Fut Gar Kung Fu there is one straight sword (gim) form. This is the Loong Chin Gim or Dragon Well Sword form. The list of the moves contained in the form are:

1. Start
2. Left Hanging Stance
3. Immortal Pointing the Road
4. Goddess Giving Flowers
5. Kick, Hop, Dotting Sword with One Knee Up
6. Upper Thrust
7. Sweep Grass to Search for Snakes
8. Dragon Coming Out of the Sea
9. Horizontal Sweep
10. Golden Chicken Standing on One Leg
11. Golden Scissors (3 Times)
12. Old Immortal Carrying the Sword
13. Search Water for Fish
14. Female Stance, Upper Thrust
15. Golden Chicken Standing on One Leg
16. Twisted Body Forward Stab
17. Golden Chicken Standing on One Leg
18. Twisted Body Forward Stab
19. Back Leg Lift, Downward Chop
20. Lady Going Around (3 Times)
21. Tiger Stretching
22. Turn Around, Lady Combing Hair
23. Open Window (& Look At The Moon)
24. Horizontal Sweep, Right Bow Stance, Cut Upward
25. Turn Around, Forward Thrust
26. Horizontal Sweep, Right Bow Stance, Cut Upward
27. Turn Around, One Leg Stance, Forward Thrust
28. Back Leg Lift, Downward Chop
29. Golden Chicken Standing on One Leg
30. Small Steps, Circular Walk
31. Female Stance, Upper Thrust
32. Devil Going Under the Sea
33. Tiger Jumps Across River (3 Times)
34. Back Leg Lift, Downward Chop
35. Lady Going Around (3 Times)
36. Hop, Lady Combing Hair
37. Turn Around (With Cut), Golden Scissors (3 Times)
38. Tiger Stretching
39. Snowflakes Over Head
40. Finish

The Hand Forms of Fut Gar Kung Fu

Leung Tin Chiu's Fut Gar Kung Fu is still taught in its entirety by his disciple Chen Rong En. I was fortunate enough to become a disciple of Grandmaster Chen Rong En and learn all the forms in the style. Here is a list of the empty hand forms in the Fut Gar Kung Fu style that are designed to teach all the techniques of the style.

• Sup Bat Lohan - 18 Arhats
• Siu Bat Sin - Small 8 Immortals
• Dai Bat Sin - Large 8 Immortals
• Siu Lin Wan - Small Connection
• Dai Lin Wan - Large Connection
• Maang Fu Ha San - Fierce Tiger Descending Mountain
• Say Hung Fook Fu - 4 Heroes Taming Tiger
  
• Chin Jaang - Entire Elbow
• Loong Fu Seung Voy - Dragon Tiger Meeting (in Conference)
• Tai Gee Kuen - Prince's Form
• Gee Mo Kiu - Son and Mother Bridge

Some of these forms also have other name (nicknames) such as Dragon Claws (Loong Jow) for Chin Jaang but they are definitely the same forms. Although not all are contained in the curriculum for our school, all these forms will be taught to students over time. It is likely some time after the students become instructors that they would learn the forms not taught in the core curriculum.

The Traditional Way to Learn Fighting in Kung Fu?

In today's Kung Fu schools, you will often see free sparring as part of the training. This is the way that many classes practice fighting. Although this is not ideal, it is a way to simulate having an attacker who has some level of Martial Arts ability. I once had an old instructor watching classes who commented that in his day they would never do free sparring. In his school they trained on individual techniques from their forms and followed that up with 2 person set exercises that simulated a specific attack. Through constant repetition they were able to train their bodies to react in a certain way to an attack. I prefer free-sparring as a training method but do have some thoughts about the differences.

• Free sparring does not necessarily teach your style. Unfortunately, I have seen too many schools that teach free sparring as more of a kick-boxing style that incorporates none of the techniques in their forms. Free sparring without use of your style's techniques is useless.
  
• Free sparring does not allow for practice of all techniques, especially dangerous techniques such as throat punches.
• Free sparring is easier to use today due to the availability of good protective equipment. Years ago there may not have been the same equipment available and therefore some of the practice could not be done safely.
• Practice of individual techniques is a great way to train your body to react to specific attacks. I think it is great practice but does not involve different ways that lead to that situation. More is needed if you do not use free sparring (longer 2 person sequences or 2 person forms).
• In Fut Gar Kung Fu and our school we do have 2 person sequences that are quite complex that incorporate some of the more important techniques. These are fun and interesting but do not cover all techniques. Other training is necessary to complete the training.
• Free sparring taught properly will allow students to incorporate the techniques of your style. Unfortunately, there is work needed in many schools to train students not to hesitate to try new things. Most students are afraid to try new techniques because they are afraid to embarrass themselves or get hit while trying the techniques. Sparring should be done in most cases as a no winner situation so the fear is eliminated.

10 Thoughts About Tournament Competition

Many students of Martial Arts will become involved in tournaments at some point in their training career. I have competed quite a bit and trained many competitors over the years. I think it is important to understand some important things about tournaments as you enter into competition:

1. Tournaments are a great way to see other styles and schools as a comparison to your school. Tournaments are not an absolute indication of how good schools are but are a good way to see what techniques are done by other styles and enjoy the differences in forms.
2. Winning a tournament is something to be proud of because it is an indication that within the rules of the tournament, you were the top performer. You are also representing your instructor and school successfully.
   
3. Losing a tournament is not the end of the world. Remember that tournaments are designed with a set of rules and therefore there are some judgments used to determine winners. Do not be discouraged if you do not do well within the defined set of rules.
   
4. Go to tournaments with the goal of experiencing the atmosphere. Tournaments should be more about the experience and less about the result.
5. Try to make friends. As you compete you will start to recognize other regular competitors. Martial Artists are all practicing for similar reasons. You will likely find others that are like minded at tournaments.
6. Cheer for your classmates. Attendance at tournaments is also a way to support other students from your school that are in the tournament.
7. Gain experience performing in front of a crowd. Tournaments are a great way to get used to the fear of performing in front of an audience. This confidence can carry on into your everyday lives.
8. Gain experience performing under the pressure of being judged. Once again, this can carry on into your everyday lives.
9. Gain experience fighting with unfamiliar partners. As you practice fighting, you will become comfortable with the techniques used in your style as well as the fighting styles of your classmates. Tournaments are a good way to practice fighting in situations where you do not know what techniques to expect.
10. Gauge your performance. You have an opportunity to analyze your performance after a tournament to determine if you know your forms well (did you freeze or perform without hesitation), how comfortable you are with your techniques (did you throw a variety of techniques during fighting or rely on a few techniques) and how comfortable you were walking up and executing in front of a group of judges.

I believe that every student should compete at some point in their training career for the experience. This should be done with the clear understanding that you do not need to win to be proud of yourself.

The 6 Stance Exercises of Fut Gar Kung Fu (Stance Dice)

Stance training is a fundamental part of Kung Fu training. Fut Gar Kuen has a series of 6 stance training exercises that follow the 6 faces of a die. The stance exercises are combined with hand techniques to make the training more complete.

1. The number 1 on a die is a single dot. Our stance training is done by holding a Hok Bo.
2. The number 2 is a Ma Bo exercise combined with the double punch techniques used in Fut Gar to build your pulling power and waist turn.
   
3. The number 3 is a Diu Bo shifting exercise. Start in a Diu Bo, slide forward and turn to face the reverse direction. Your trailing foot should now be where your lead foot began. In the end, the student will only be making contact with 3 points on the floor as he/she shifts back and forth. Hand techniques used are punches on a 45 degree angle from the body.
4. The number 4 is simulated by stepping in a square using a Ma Bo as in exercise 2. The double punch technique is used again in this exercise at each side of the square. This exercise is called the punching square in my school.
   
5. The 5th technique is done by planting your left foot and rotating around that foot by stepping your right foot in 90 degree turns. The hand technique used is Gow Sau, first over your right leg then over your left leg before each 90 degree turn.
   
6. The sixth is similar to number 3 except with a sideways shift to move to the next 3 spots. Starting in a Diu Bo the student shifts sideways to another Diu Bo followed by a shift forward and turn. At this point, the student will start the sequence again by shifting sideways. Hand techniques used are a push block from the elbow outward.

Although it is difficult to describe, it becomes clear to the students after they have done the exercises a few times. I thought I would write this as a general reminder to the students that are practicing this at home.

The Circles in Sup Bat Lohan (18 Arhats) Form

Students of Leung Tin Chiu's version of Fut Gar Kung Fu are likely to learn the Sup Bat Lohan form as part of their early training. Our school teaches this form at the first level of training in our system. The form begins with a series of circles with your arms (White Crane Spreading Wings) and looks like a balance technique with little martial arts value. The technique definitely has a purpose. The purpose of the technique is for breaking of a grab to the upper body (arm, shoulder, neck). By continuing the circles in the techniques, the opponent is forced to let go of their grab. The important points are to keep your elbows bent through the technique for leverage and keep your palms facing down throughout the technique. All techniques in Kung Fu have a purpose. Students should make sure they have a good understanding of these techniques as they progress in their training.

A Day in the Life of a Kung Fu Student

This was an article that was written back in the late 1980's that described my time training with Grandmaster Chan Tai San. This was taken from a Chinese/English newspaper called the Connection.

Our School's Newest Instructor

The National Fut Gar Kung Fu Training Centre and I would like to announce that we have named our newest instructor, Steve Moore. Steve has been training with me for many years with several extended breaks due to non-kung fu reasons such as school and life in general. I doubted his dedication when he would not make a mere 5 hour drive to attend classes. Here are some parts of the ceremony where he received his belt and his certificate.




One thing that Steve did not know when we were filming this video of him demonstrating the Fut Gar form called Lung Fu Seung Voy (Dragon Tiger Meeting) is that it would be his very last form as a non-instructor. He was going at a slower pace as I told him I was recording it for the benefit of one of the other students.

Large Eight Immortals Form

By request of the performer, I am posting this vid of the Large Eight Immortals Form (Dai Bat Sin). Enjoy.

10 Elbows of Fut Gar Kung Fu

Students of Fut Gar Kung Fu will be familiar with the elbow techniques contained in the forms. Elbow techniques are so important to the style that there is even a form that focuses on building these techniques (Chin Jaang/Whole Elbow also known as Loong Jow/Dragon Claw to some). Here is a list of 10 of the elbow techniques contained in the forms:

1. Kai Jaang - Standing Elbow
2. Waang Jaang - Horizontal Elbow
3. Gung Jaang - Forcing Elbow
4. Pow Jaang - Cannon Elbow
5. Cup Jaang - Covering Elbow
6. Bau Jaang - Wrapping Elbow
7. Chum Jaang - Sinking Elbow
8. Tit Jaang - Slicing Elbow
9. Jing Jaang - Center Elbow
10. Hok Jaang - Lifting Elbow

How Good Is Your Fighting?

While training in Kung Fu it is natural to wonder how good your fighting is. How do we know how good we are? Who should we compare to? How do we measure? We train initially in basic techniques, then learn forms, then learn how to apply the techniques and combinations, then practice applying them in set exercises and finally try to use the techniques in free fighting practice. It is difficult to know how good you really are.

One way to measure is to compare yourself to the other students in your school. This gives you a good idea of how your fighting ranks but this is not perfect. You could be the best fighter in the class but later realize that nobody in your class can fight or you could be frustrated about being the worst fighter in your class only to find out that it is because your class is the best group of fighters around. Since this does not work, you then need to attend tournaments to test yourself against other schools or in some cases, other countries. Does this guarantee that you can measure yourself? It is better but still not perfect because the best fighters might choose not to compete. In the end, it doesn't really matter. What matters is you are good enough to survive a life and death fighting situation.

Since I started training with Grandmaster Chen Rong En I found that he has an interesting way of rating how well people fight. He generally wins in free fighting situations, even at his advanced age so he measures by counting how many times you block him before he hits you. We have had discussions about people he has tested. He will say this person is not able to block me at all but this guy is pretty good because he blocked my first 4 attacks before I hit him. This is him speaking about instructors that he has met over time.

Why is he able to fight the way he does? It goes back to one of the fundamental theories about fighting in Fut Gar Kung Fu. The theory is that every technique has a counter and in turn that counter also has a counter. The person that wins the fight is the person that knows (and is able to execute) the most counters. So Grandmaster Chen started by learning the entire Fut Gar style but followed up by dedicating the next 3 years working with his Sifu, Leung Tin Chiu perfecting the execution, setting up of techniques and the theories behind the fighting of Fut Gar Kung Fu. This is the reason why he automatically executes a technique when someone attacks and unloads a barrage of attacks in return without effort or thinking. He has an answer for any fighting theory question including the very annoying what if questions that students often ask :)

So how good is my fighting? 4-5 blocks before getting hit by my Sifu, Grandmaster Chen. This rates quite high on his scale.

International Fut Gar Federation Opening

In November of 2007, an International Fut Gar Federation was opened in China in an attempt to unite all schools worldwide that teach the Leung Tin Chiu style of Fut Gar Kung Fu. Grandmaster Chen Rong En was the driving force behind the founding of this federation and has provided some initial photos from the ceremonies. Several of the Canadian instructors that practice Fut Gar Kung Fu are discussing organization of a Kung Fu tour within the next year or two..

Does Martial Arts Build Character?

I received a question on my views on whether or not the claim by some that Martial Arts builds character outside the class is true. My answer is a definite yes and no...it depends on a variety of factors including the student, the instructor and the school.

My belief is training in Martial Arts will build something in everyone beginning with a person's weaknesses but this is not necessarily anything to do with character. It could be completely physical or mental. For example, if a person has a bad memory, this will be the limiting factor in their training and all other areas of training cannot progress until the memory improves. If another student has limited endurance, they may not have the opportunity to test their memory because they are exhausted before they get to that point.

So what areas are built through Martial Arts? These include:

• Humility - during training a student will discover that there are many better Martial Artists in the world and even a frail old man may be able to defeat them in a fighting situation
• Patience - Martial Arts is all about repetition and a typical Martial Arts school will force a student to pass certain gates before progressing to their next level of learning
  
• Persistence - nobody will be able to do everything without failure but with persistence everyone is able to succeed in learning and performing techniques taught by their instructor
  
• Self discipline - certain points in a student's training will require their own discipline which was covered in my previous blog entry Fighting Through Monotony
• Respect - for tradition, for other students, for instructors
• Confidence or courage - students that have learned how to defend themselves will be much more confident walking down the street at night, students that have performed in front of a crowd will be less likely to be intimidated by speaking in front of a crowd and students that have seen a punch coming straight for their face is less likely to be scared in a non-physical, confrontational discussion
  

Given this information it would seem that I believe that the absolute answer is yes, Martial Arts will build character. My qualifiers are the attitudes of the student and the instructor as well as the school itself.

• Does the student want to learn with an open mind or are they at the school with the attitude that they pay their money and therefore are entitled to certain things?
  
• Does the instructor treat the class like his/her Martial Arts family or is this a business to them?
• Does the school push students through their program so they can sell a franchise to that student or does the school recognize based on actual level of the student?
• Does the instructor believe in tradition or is it purely fighting that is important such as in boxing or Mixed Martial Arts? Furthermore, does the school have a tradition and lineage that is discussed?
• Why is the student there? Is it because their Mom signed them up or did they truly want to learn Martial Arts for their own reasons?
  

Generally, the students will build character when they join and attend a Martial Arts class regularly but signing up only gives the opportunity to learn and build character. The student still needs to make sure that they work hard and listen while they are in class.

Chinese New Year Demo

Our school performed at the Hainan Association's Chinese New Year dinner this past Saturday. Unfortunately, due to video camera difficulties, we were unable to get the first 2 performances in our demo. It is too bad because it is always nice to have some footage of the newer members of our demo group. Here is a video with a a mix of the forms we were able to capture on video. Unfortunately, the video quality was not great because it was with our backup camera.



For those that were not filmed, here are a couple of pics that at least prove that you were on stage.



Here is a nice picture at the end of our part of the show.



Thanks again for everyone that helped out and Michael for his guest appearance. You all did a great job!!!

The Forbidden Kingdom and Kung Fu Panda

2 movies coming up.

The Forbidden Kingdom - Jet Li and Jacky Chan together in a movie!!! That should be fun to watch.




Kung Fu Panda - An entertaining looking animated movie...how can you go wrong with Jack Black?

Most Annoying Kung Fu Phone Calls

I often get people calling me about trying classes. I am happy to offer a free trial class to anyone that is interested regardless of their level of experience. I am also often in a position where I am accepting new students. Personally, I find these phone calls to be painful, especially as the person tries in some way to prove they know something. This is the main reason I prefer e-mail contact with a short list of questions on location, cost, training times etc.

Here are some of the most frustrating discussion points that I run into regularly:

• The prospective student for some reason feels that I need to have a very detailed breakdown of all of their previous Martial Arts experience. I really don't care what someone was years ago...if they are joining my school, they need to learn my basic techniques. I don't need a 10 minute Martial Arts biography.
• Come try the class and experience it when invited. Don't ask questions about what exactly will be done in class....if I explain everything that is going to happen then why would a trial class be necessary?
  
• Why do people that don't understand ask to compare our style to another style. I often get asked if we are similar to Wing Chun and when I try to clarify, the person actually knows nothing about Wing Chun so I could say anything and it would not make a difference.
• Is this the right class for me? I don't know....you just called me up out of the blue...I have never met you. Try some different schools and choose one that you like.
• What is the best Martial Art style? For these people, the answer is any style but mine....please go find one of those schools. Actually, I think I spoke about the school that claimed to be the best style in one of my previous entries...here's the link.
  
• When do I get to fight? Any time you like....go to a bar and punch someone in the head...congratulations, you get to fight.
• Then there are the people who have asked some good questions but instead of hanging up, start asking dumb questions just to continue the conversation....
• The people that describe their health issues and ask me if the style will help them. I don't know....I am not a doctor!!!! I can definitely assure you that it is better for you than sitting on a couch eating a bag of Doritos.
• How fast can I reach your highest rank? How should I know? Try showing up to class and giving us an idea of how quickly you learn, how well you correct mistakes and how diligent you are at showing up to every class for the next few years. At that point, I can give you an educated guess.

This is a list of some of the discussions I have with people that call in. I'm sure there are other things that I am missing that I will think of over time.

Grandmaster Chen Rong En and the Knife

Some of my students will remember this story if they were around 7 or 8 years ago. Back at that time Grandmaster Chen Rong En still had his own school and I brought my students there once a week to practice and get direct exposure to my Sifu. I thought it was important for the students to get as much time as possible with Sifu since he was always happy to help me by correcting techniques and explaining theories. In exchange for his help, I allowed any of his students that were interested to join our class without paying an extra fee. This was before I formed The National Fut Gar Kung Fu Training Centre as it exists today.

One night I was teaching a regular class at Sifu's school. There was a group of people that had asked Sifu to borrow the back room of his school to get together to play cards. Sifu was talking to me as the students trained when suddenly we heard yelling coming from the back room. We looked over and one older gentleman came running out and said someone pulled out a knife due to an argument. We all knew that there was no back door so everyone could only come through us. Sifu told me to close the door behind him...when I tried to argue, he told me not to worry and just to make sure that my students were OK. I quickly asked the younger students and female student (I believe there was only one present at that class) to go in the change room and close the door until we told them it was OK. Sifu had already gone into the back room and closed the door. I instinctively grabbed my sword and my senior students grabbed their staves. Here is the funny part....we looked over and the older gentleman that had come out of the back room was holding a mop!!! We all waited....silence. We continued to wait.....still nothing. Finally Sifu came out of the back room and said don't worry, everything is OK. We watched the guy that was holding the knife leave...without his knife. Once everything seemed OK we got the students back and finished the class.

I later asked Grandmaster Chen if he had to fight the guy. He said no. I clarified...so he just put down his knife? Yes. Finally Sifu explained to me what happened. He walked in and the guy was very angry. He had pulled his knife because he had gotten into a dispute with one of the people in the room. Apparently he was not a person that knew them very well but was brought by one of them. When he walked in the room and closed the door, he asked the guy if he realized where he was. He said "you are pulling a weapon on my friends inside my Kung Fu school. You are giving me no choice but to kill you." The guy put down his knife and apologized. Sifu told him he should leave. That was the end of the conflict and we never saw the guy again.