Wednesday, November 21, 2012 Just a quick reminder that we will be closed from Thursday, November 22nd through Sunday the 25th. Classes are back on schedule next week. Any students wishing to do some extra training or private training this weekend may schedule a lesson or time for training through the head office. Happy holidays!
Tuesday, November 20, 2012 
Just ask Father Time to grant you the decades required before you can start learning concepts. Don't forget to pay the cashier for all this wisdom.As the WT world becomes more fractured and splintered, it's interesting to see how those who claim to be the "authority" are handling it. The problem is that they seem to be in a rather large, ideological bind. On one hand, they need to advertise and promote themselves as being the authorized/best/correct "WingTsun" with the best teaching program/instructors/schools in the world. On the other hand they constantly try to discredit anyone who has left them as being illegitimate "know-nothings" - especially those who are now more successful than they are (which happens to by the majority of those who left them). The issue with that is that one cannot logically claim to have the best teaching system/programs/concepts etc. and then at the same time never produced anybody of worth who has left their association. When one leaves their association for any reason, suddenly they are branded a rebel, a "know-nothing", a "technique-collector*". These types of accusations against former members by the way adhere to sign number five according to this website that one is in a cult**.
These kinds of claims are absurd and seek to undermine, albeit weakly, the power of intelligent and thinking human beings. By using logic, such absurd claims can be easily dismissed. As the late Christopher Hitchens once said “That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.” When one looks at the quality and success of the few remaining members left in their association compared to the success of those who have left, it would seem the burden of proof is on them. One can read the blog postings of the most senior of them and quickly see that the information being passed on has no more depth than what one has read ad nauseum in books on Wing Tsun since the beginning. They pass on outdated information about “weight training” and force generation as well as regurgitate tired and trite maxims of Wing Tsun that are empty due to their lack of practice. On these extremely superficial displays of knowledge they are to be respected as authorities?
Apparently not! The grandmaster himself just released a video in which he states that no one at the technician levels knows ANYTHING (his words!) about the idea of Wing Tsun, nor the concepts, nor the “fighting philosophies”. A glance at their association's website’s listing of schools and a quick head count of all those considered “instructors” on their respective websites bring a total count of “authorized” (we all chuckle) instructors in their association to 40. Of course we know this number is largely inflated – a number of those instructors are inactive, a number of them are mere children, and some “sifus” became so after a few seminars. But if they want to claim they have even MORE instructors than 40, then their percentage is even worse. You see, according to their grandmaster, only practicians (their word for master) know “anything” (Chinese ambiguity strikes again) about concepts, ideas or philosophy. With two practicians on their roster, one of which is of extremely poor, even laughable quality***, that would mean only 5% of their entire instructor base in the USA knows anything in depth including the most senior of their members. A very strange claim coming from those who pose as the market leader in the USA. Someone just shot themselves and their entire association in the proverbial foot. Ouch!
Epilogue: Based on this claim of their grandmaster, one can expect to train at least 12 years (if fast) or 30 years (if average) BEFORE one becomes a practician and then BEGINS learning about concepts/ideas/fighting philosophies. But tell me, how can one become a master BEFORE they have begun learning concepts? Shouldn’t a master have already mastered the concepts too? Luckily at CWT students will learn the concepts and principles of the techniques they are applying at the same time. No need for the basics to remain secrets for decades.
*"Technique-collector" and "future movement learner" are coincidentally two terms the grandmaster used to describe one of his current "practicians" who is among the enlightened 5% of his base in the USA apparently.
**Sign number 5 you are in a cult: There is no legitimate reason to leave, former followers are always wrong in leaving, negative or even evil. Source: http://www.rickross.com/warningsigns.html
***One "practician" teaches regular seminars at the newly crowned IL "practician's" school and regularly makes fun of how bad the IL "practician" is. Two years ago the seminar instructor even had one of his primary levels teach the IL "practician" (then 4th TG) how to properly do the 4th section of chi sau then joke about how his primary level should have charged the 4th TG a fee for the private lesson in front of the IL TG's students. As we can see, the newly crowned "practician" in IL is not quite as respected as he pretends to be on his website.
IWTA, Kung Fu, USA, don't know concepts, incompetence, instructor, theory, wing chun, wing tsun Sunday, November 18, 2012 If you haven't been to our Tumblr page recently, you are missing out on some tremendous shots. Our social media director Kristy Elena has really done a fantastic job of using social media to show people what City Wing Tsun is all about. Check out these two amazing shots from our Tumblr page - one of my senior student, Sifu Nicole Daniels and another intense shot from our recent trainer examination.
Kung Fu, Tumblr, classes, images, new york, sifu alex richter, wing tsun kuen Sunday, November 18, 2012 
Me introducing the mighty Kenneth Jay to the WT long pole.It is an honor to host Kettlebell Institute founder Kenneth Jay next year for his first certification workshop in NYC. As many know I was certified this year under the KBI and I have found Kenneth's approach truly unique and refreshing. His newly development methods emphasize spiraling and whip forces which is a bit different from the hardstyle practiced by many. I'm a huge fan of hardstyle, but I find that the new KBI methods are extremely congruent with our goals for strength and conditioning in Wing Tsun kung fu. In addition to the amazing kettlebell methods taught by Kenneth, the sheer amount of information he provides, as well as the ever-evolving use of the most current scientific discoveries make this an event not to miss.
I highly recommend this workshop for Wing Tsun instructors and trainers as well as it will help them bring their coaching and corrective skills to a new level.
First KBI Certification Workshop at City Wing Tsun NYC:
Monday, November 12, 2012 This past weekend was a huge occasion for our school and for the development of Wing Tsun in North America. My largest graduating class of primary levels to date all successfully passed their examinations after four grueling hours. I was very happy to see the level and standard of the students both technically in their forms and chi sau programs and most importantly in the sparring and application.
I personally want to extend my congrats to the following 11 freshly minted primary level trainers (in no particular order): Eugene T., Pete M., Roland B., Pawel Z., Mike Y., Joe M., Kyle C., Nigel M., Brian C., Percy M., Casper F.
The graduating class! Pete M. is missing from the photo as he had to rush to work at the end of the test.
It’s been a rewarding process to finally have control of the quality of the instructors that come up through the ranks. Gone are the days where advancing in rank is a matter of just showing up to seminars. Those who want the rank must earn it!
I’m not only proud of my NYC crew who tested, but also Joe from North Carolina (Ryan Leung’s student) and also Casper (our Georgia school leader). Ryan Leung has done a fantastic job of preparing his first student all the way to primary level and I’m proud of both of them. Casper has definitely stepped up after being with CWT for only a year and a half. When he joined us he was on a long hiatus from WT and his previous instructor did not hold the same standards or knowledge that we require. Despite starting with a deficit in knowledge and training methods, Casper stepped up and brought himself up to our standard. Since Casper joined us, he has visited the NYC HQ many times for instructor classes and seminars in addition to taking private lessons with me as well. Casper has easily logged in 80 hours of training with me in my school and privately in addition to his regular training with Ryan in North Carolina.
Things are about to go down! Roland a split second before demonstrating how WT does things on the ground.Please note that at CWT we make a distinction between “technicians” & “trainers/instructors”. Those who wish to learn WT to a high level may do so without becoming an instructor. We call all non-instructing high ranking members “technicians”. Only those who have undergone special training on how to teach and who have experience teaching get the label of trainer or instructor. We do this because not all people are suited to be an instructor, nor does everyone want to be an instructor. To force people to teach or run classes solely to advance in rank does a huge disservice to both the students and the unhappy “forced instructor”. All those who tested this past weekend also happen to help teach and are thusly qualified as “primary level trainers”. At second level they will be deemed full-instructors and thusly “sifu” with the additional training and testing required for that.
Only quality counts! Sifu is proud of you guys!!
Kung Fu, alex richter, authorized, city wing tsun, instructor, nyc, sifu, technician, test, wing tsun