Sifu Lee workshop at City Wing Tsun

This past weekend we hosted a workshop with Sifu Timmy Lee from Hong Kong.  Sifu Lee is my si-bak, or elder kung-fu uncle as he one of the few remaining active si-hing (elder brother) of my si-fu (wow, that was a mouthful).  This was the first time he taught a seminar outside of Hong Kong, and I must say that he did a fantastic job - well above expectations.  It was arguably a bit of a hard sell to get my students to go to a seminar with a Chinese instructor as the past experience with a certain Chinese instructor has been mixed.  Although Hong Kong is the source of Wing Tsun, the HK teaching style is sometimes a bit inconsistent and sometimes Chinese instructors don’t teach very exciting workshops, especially for beginners. 

But this seminar was much different.

Sifu Lee broke down the three forms of siu nim tau, chum kiu and biu tze for their respective leveled groups.  Afterwards he went into detail about proper force generation in the forms and how this applies to fighting.  He then started to teach the applications of the forms step by step with special emphasis and practicality and generation of force.  The students were very happy to learn these very practical fighting applications.  The biu tze level instructors were learning how to apply the biu tze sau in both fighting and in chi sau.  Sifu Lee also imparted many details on how to use techniques such as palm strikes to counter chain-punching and many other gems as well.

Sifu Lee took the time to work with all of the students and patiently imparted his knowledge to all.  I’m convinced that based on the fantastic feedback from this year’s workshop, next year's will be much, much bigger.

Howcast video series featuring... me :)

The Howcast video series we filmed back in December is finally available on their website.  For those who don't know, Howcast is a company that produces "how to" videos ranging on topics from cooking, rollerblading and even martial arts.  They produced a series of 53 short videos with us on all sorts of different topics within Wing Tsun like chi sau tips, history, how to do a pak sau and so on.  These videos are meant as basic introductions for beginners to the art and are in no way advanced or comprehensive.  I'm very pleased with the quality of the videos and the response has been very positive.

The video series is called "learn wing chun" only because this is the most commonly searched spelling of the art, not because I am not a "WC guy" (inside joke there).

One note - on the history of Grandmaster Yip Man I mistakenly said he was in his late 60's when he came to Hong Kong when he was in fact in his late 50's.  That was the first video we shot that day and these are the things that happen before I get my morning coffee :) 

Enjoy this video on the side palm technique!

on Howcast

New affiliate school in Puerto Rico!

This has been a couple months in the making, but we are now ready to announce that we have a new affiliate school in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  The school is called the Southern Temple Martial Arts Alliance and is a full martial arts facility.  Although a website is still being finalized, they already have a Facebook page set up.  The head instructor is Rafael Gonzalez, a newly certified Assistant Trainer under the CWT ranking system.  

This new Affliate school is actually not new at all. As a matter of fact it has been in business for a number of years already under another association's banner.  Rafael contacted me after he cut ties with his previous association and then shortly after he came to NYC for a week of intensive training.  I'm happy to say Rafael is a quick study and he was very impressed with our brand of Hong Kong style Wing Tsun.  It's one of the great pleasures of my job to introduce "outsider WT'ers" to the training methods I learned from my Chinese WT teachers.  Many people are a bit shocked on the focus of using WT vs. non-WT that is actually a standard part of how we do things.

We have great plans for Wing Tsun in Puerto Rico now that we have such a fantastic representative with Rafael.  I don't regularly accept instructors from other associations to represent us, but Rafael's work ethic and positive attitude convinced me he would be a good fit.  We highly encourage all those who are interested in learning Wing Tsun in Puerto Rico to go to the Southern Temple Martial Arts Alliance for solid professional training.

Rafael's week in NYC was very productive.  He trained in all of our instructor and regular classes and participated in the workout classes as well.  In addition to this Rafael did a number of private lessons with me and spent many off-hours practicing with my other senior students.  At the culmination of the week we ran him throught the tough SG 9 test for his Assistant Trainer level which included 3-minutes non-stop defending against fresh attackers.   Welcome to the CWT family Rafael!

Bring on 2013!

I'm still buzzing off of the excitement from this past weekend's annual Winter Intensive workshop.  We had students from all over come to join us for this yearly staple of CWT.  I do this workshop every year as a way to get people back into the swing of training after the holiday break.  The outline of the workshop I described in the previous blog post and with the exception of a couple time restraints here and there, I was able to get through most of the material.  Day one focused on chi sau, chi sau sparring and practical fighting whereas day two focused on forms and self-defense on the ground.

It was great as always to see the kung fu family come together and train hard!  Check us out on FB and TUMBLR over the next few days to see more awesome images.

My daughter Maria Isabella also made a surprise appearance in her little Bruce Lee tracksuit :) This year is in for a lot of great events - stay tuned!

2013 CWT Winter Intensive Update (Jan 5th-6th)

I’m excited to announce that my upcoming Winter Intensive from Jan. 5th- 6th is my most ambitious to date.  I’m going to split the workshop into three groups by level with a number of instructors assisting me including Sifu Nicole Daniels.  This will allow us to go into the course material in a much deeper way so that the students can see a big jump in both skill and understanding.  The Intensive is open for all CWT and CWT Network students - just email info@citywt.com for more information to register.  As I say every year, this is the best way to ring in the New Year, especially if you have been away from training during the holidays.  This 10-hour weekend will pretty much blast all the rust off your WT and get you right back into the swing of regular practice.  We already have a number of students signed up from all over – Texas, North Carolina, Georgia, CT in addition to our NYC crew.  Looking forward to seeing you all there!

Requirements

Registration

Complete uniform

Necessary training equipment

• Gloves (highly recommended)
• Mouth piece (highly recommended)
• Groin protector, elbow/knee pads, shin pads (optional)

Schedule (both days, four “blocks” total)

11:00am – 1:30pm, 2:30pm – 5:00pm

Workshop Syllabus

Please note that “Beginner” refers to Basic Students from 0-2SG (including students going for 3SG); “Intermediate” refers to Accelerated Students from 3SG – 8SG (including students going for 9SG); “Advanced” refers to Senior Students from 9SG -2 Level Instructor/Technician (this group may be separated as needed based on material). With the exception of technician/trainer/instructor levels & those going for SG9, all SG level students who have successfully completely the entire weekend will advance one grade (including Instructor Training Program candidates).

BLOCK ONE: Fundamentals & Chi Sau

Beginner

• Tan/Gan/Pak drills
• Sticking drills on the wooden dummy
• Simultaneous action drills with a partner

Intermediate

• First section chi sau review and clean up 
• Chi sau drills 1-4 

Advanced

• Individual chi sau programs
• Chi sau drills 5-6; advanced skill drills

BLOCK TWO: Application

Beginner

• Attacking Concept in WT - “Offense is the best defense”
• Interference training – dealing with common “anti-WT” strategies

Intermediate

• Elbows & knees in sparring
• Sweeps in sparring

Advanced

• Chi sau sparring (from seven sections)
• Wooden dummy supplementary material

BLOCK THREE: Form & Function

Beginner

• Siu nim tau form clean-up, theory & tips for training
• Single-arm chi sau progressions

Intermediate/Advanced Student

• Chum kiu form clean-up, theory & tips for training
• Chum kiu applications
• Intermediate wooden dummy material

Advanced (Qualified Trainers & Instructors)

• Biu tze form clean-up, theory & training methods 
• Biu tze chi sau program & variations

BLOCK FOUR: Emergency self-defense & WT Theory (for all)

(The fourth and final block will be for all levels together)

Ground emergency defenses

• The WT Get-Up in its modern & classical variations
• Chain kicks 101: Application, steering on ground, leg-scissors, tut gerk, huen gerk
• Shrimping & ground mobility
• Worst case scenario: Defending head kicks when on ground

Theory (for all) 

• The seven vital attributes for self-defense
• The breakdown of programs & theory necessary to understand them
• Goal setting for technical & conceptual progressions

Certificate distribution, Individual Sifu/Todai photos