The Good Old Days?

Back in the 80's competing as a Kung Fu stylist was a lot different than today. Unless you wanted to travel extensively, it was difficult to find a Kung Fu tournament. It was big news when we were finally able to see tournaments with Kung Fu in the title even if they were not really Kung Fu tournaments.

What was competing like? The normal method of competition was joining an open tournament where you were judged by Karate judges. These were judges who knew Karate only and had to do their best to judge Kung Fu based on their knowledge of how things were done in their own style. I even remember having Kung Fu and Tai Kwon Do grouped together in something called a "Soft Style" division...what exactly does that mean? There are hard and soft styles of Kung Fu and if you ever watch Tai Kwon Do performed properly, it certainly does not seem soft to me. At that time, Kung Fu practitioners were just happy to find a way to compete.

As far as fair judging, you had to understand that this was not possible. Judging by Karate judges certainly made competition interesting. This is not a criticism of the judges as they were doing the best they could with their training and I certainly know how it feels to judge styles that you don't know. Unfortunately this meant that the best way to do well in open tournaments was to Karatesize (is that a word?) your techniques. Those of us that stood by our style and refused to change how we did things should be proud.

Turning It On

One of the things that can happen for those that are always practicing controlled fighting is they do not get into situations where there is a need to fight full out, strike at full power or defend against full power strikes. As we train in Kung Fu we need to understand that we need to be able to flick the switch when needed but only when needed. If a situation arises where you NEED to take action, you should completely commit to the situation. Based on the type of class I teach, I believe that my students would not be the aggressor in an altercation but there is a good chance that someone will have an altercation at some point in their lives. The ideal situation in that event is for the student to be calm and controlled until action is needed. Once the switched is turned on, it should continue until there is no longer a threat. There are many variables that go into the decision of when exactly to react and that can be discussed with your fellow students or instructor.

10 Animal Styles That Did Not Make It

In one of my silly moments in class (not that I am known to have silly moments) I decided that it would be fun to create a list of 10 animal styles that were never created. Actually, they may have existed but just didn't survive until today...

1. Armadillo - would seem to be a great defensive style
2. Giraffe - you could win by forcing your opponent to block upward for the entire fight until they succumb to neck injuries
3. Snail - technically not an animal but neither is a praying mantis
4. Dolphin - I know, once again not an animal but fast, acrobatic with hard snouts for striking....this would seem like a natural choice
5. Jellyfish - continuing with the sea creatures, these things can cause a lot of pain and even death
6. Rhinoceros - if they knew kung fu, would they still be endangered?
7. Peacock - what does crane have over them?
8. Three Toed Sloth - blinding speed
9. Camel - the style could teach ranged attacks as part of the normal training
10. Rabbit - Monty Python fans know that they can be very deadly

2 Updates

Just to keep everyone informed JP has been working on updates to the school site and it has been updated with some of the newer content that was previously missing. Take some time to scan through when you have a chance.

The other update is Silvia has a new site to display some of her art.

When Should Kids Learn Kung Fu?

Although I don't teach a regular children's class at this time, I have often been asked what age is ideal for kids to begin Kung Fu training. The real answer is as soon as they are able to focus for an entire class and understand instructions.

My recommended earliest age for children to begin training is around age 5. Some kids are able to start younger if they show the maturity to stay mentally engaged throughout the class. The best situation is to have them training in a class designed specifically for kids instead of having them in with a group of adults but sometimes there is no choice.