First Picture from Grandmaster Chen's 88th Birthday

Here is a first picture from the birthday dinner with Grandmaster Chen. I will try to get more but unfortunately my memory card on my camera burnt out so I am not sure I can get the other pictures. This picture was taken by Harry who spent the time to organize the event.

Another Successful Victim

Master Chen Rong En's Birthday

I just wanted to post a quick announcement of Master Chen's 88th birthday that will be taking place in a few weeks (June 27th). Students, please connect with me in class if you are interested in attending the dinner and also if you would like to perform.

Thank you.

5 Staff Hints

I would like to begin this post by reiterating the importance of staff in Kung Fu which I wrote about in a previous post. It is further reinforced when you look at the list of weapons forms taught in Fut Gar Kung Fu. I previously also wrote about defending with your staff. There are a few other hints in using a staff that will help you in your training.

1. In my post about defending with your staff, I mentioned a dead staff. The other side of it is the live staff which is the staff that is on top when there is contact. If you are in this situation during an exchange, you can choose to attack if you see an opening or wait to see if the opponent moves. When you are in the live staff position, almost any move by the opponent will create an opening which you can attack.
2. During your execution of techniques, keep your staff close to your body. An experienced opponent will be able to separate you from your staff if they can get their staff between your staff and your body.
3. Be very aware of where the end of your staff is. This applies to other weapons as well and basically is getting to know your weapon length so you can control it properly. You will also learn to be aware of your surroundings and which techniques will work given the space and environment restrictions.
4. Keep your hands at the end of your staff. When blocking or striking, your back hand should be at the end of the staff to fully use the length of your weapon. There are some techniques that would be exceptions to this hint but in general this is true.
5. Slide your front hand for power. Gripping your weapon too hard to allow movement in your hand will limit the power of your strikes and blocks. As you strike or block, allow the staff to slide through your hands for additional power.

Happy Training.

First Picture of Kevin in Red

Just thought I would post the first shot of Kevin after Thursday's beating. I will try to post more soon.

Tournament in Quebec

For anybody that is interested, there is a tournament in Quebec on the weekend of May 1st. As some may remember, we competed in the tournament when it was in Ottawa in 2006 with great results. The details for the tournament (World Kobudo Championships) can be viewed on the CCKSF website.

Power vs. Control

A recent discussion I had prompted me to write about training for increased power vs. training of control. I believe that martial arts in general trains people to strike with power, focuses on how to increase your power, focus to drive through your targets, etc. I agree that it is important to execute your techniques properly to generate power including how to set your stance, how to use your entire body, how to turn your waist, how to set your fist or foot, when to tense your muscles etc. All of these things come together to allow you to generate power in your strikes.

I believe it is more of an art to put all of these things together but stop your technique just at the point of impact each and every time. Total control of your techniques to the point of always being able to do damage but never doing damage is much more impressive. Of course you may face a time that you need to defend yourself and need to follow through but if you can control it, you can un-control it. On the surface this may seem straight forward but in sparring, nothing is standing still. You are controlling strikes where your opponent is advancing or you are advancing or the opponent changes direction, etc. All of these things add further complication to controlling the technique. With experience, it is ideal to be able to adjust in mid-strike and further shorten or adjust the point of impact of your strike. The final challenge to this is controlling all of the techniques without slowing down and leaving yourself open during the strike.

Happy sparring.