When did you first get involved in Martial Arts?
At the age of 9 my dad would drive
my brother and I every Friday to the YMCA
for the local Tae Kwon Do classes. Pretty dedicated of my
dad in doing so, and I'm extremely grateful to him for getting me
starting into Martial Arts. My first teacher was named David
Duval (ITF), then after 5 years with him I switched to Master Kim
(WTF). I spent most of my time training with his son Jae Kim
who had won a World Championship in Tae Kwon Do. For the next 10+ years I
devoted my time and effort studying Tae Kwon Do. At the end
of my Tae Kwon Do career I had earned a 2nd degree black belt,
yippeee!
Here's a video of
me doing a form. 3.4mb
1st place at this tournament.
2 mb
Here's a great
video of my 2nd teacher in Tae Kwon Do, Jae Kim. 1.98mb
What got you started in Wing Chun?
I knew there was a limit to my Tae Kwon Do. I was fine in
kicking range, but once the gap was closed, I knew I was in
trouble. Thus, I looked at other arts to answer my question,
like Judo, Kali, JKD, and they still didn't do it for me.
Fortunately for me, a little research and the yellow pages lead me
to my first experience in Wing Chun.
When did you finally meet your
teacher Master Augustine Fong?
I met Sifu in 1995/96 at a seminar that was being held
here Degerberg Academy in Chicago. I can't
recall the exact date, but it was definitely his first trip to
Chicago. Thus, once a year he would come to Chicago and I
would see him at each seminar. I finally became a full time
student of his in 2000 when I went down to Arizona.
Now, instead of being a guest to seminars, we host the seminars
for Sifu here in Chicago.
What made you decide to teach Wing Chun?
There are actually several reason I started teaching.
Learning is teaching, and thus to improve your skill in Wing Chun
you can't remain a student forever. If you want your skills
to grow even further in the art, you have to teach. At
the same time, you have to have a love for teaching as well.
Wing Chun in my opinion is the most difficult art to teach.
While the concepts are simple to grasp the theories and principles
are deep. Finally, to spread the art to those who want to learn
it.
You said specifically "to those who want to learn
it", can you explain further?
The goal of Windy City has nothing to do with being the biggest
school out there. While some may say, 300 to 1000 students would
be great financially, at the same time you end up watering down an
art that has given so much to me. Thus, I already know
how good an art Wing Chun is, but if your set on taking some other
art, like Tae Kwon Do, Karate, or whatever, then by all means do
what your heart tells you.
What kind of students do you attract?
Each of us at Windy City have our own students that we
teach. I believe students join the teacher not because of their
particular skill, but the energy they get from the
teacher. Thus, one thing you'll notice is that
my students get along with each other in the school as well as
outside the school. For the most part, the
students I have aren't concerned about belts, certificates, or
breaking boards, they want to train and learn the art.
I believe all to often, there are those who love to talk about
martial arts and there are those who like to do it. I think that's the
difference between a martial artist and a martial arts enthusiast.
It sounds like your sorta selective?
I don't think selective is the right word, but truthful.
And for many the truth is something that's hard to swallow. If your arts good, you'll never get bored, and its a lifetime
learning process. But if your looking around, you know already
know some things wrong, you don't know what it is, but its
there, it is this feeling that has brought that individual
to Windy City Wing Chun. When I first meet a student and show them
this is Wing Chun, most feel a bit like Alice, tumbling down the rabbit hole.
The most common reaction is stuff like, "it can't be, this
makes so much sense, but its too simple." If your open minded and
ego less, then you'll know right
from the start that our Wing Chun just makes more
sense. But all to often we have people who check out
the school, with 10 to 15+ years in Martial Arts, when you believe
what you were doing for so long was the best, and find out the
truth, most people can't handle it. Thus, at the end you
could say I'm sorta like Morpheus from the Matrix. You take the blue pill, the story ends, you
wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to
believe about Martial Arts. You take the red pill you stay in wonder land, and
I show you how deep the
rabbit hole goes.
Is all wing chun the same?
All Wing Chun that is being taught out there is
Wing Chun. The real question is what level of Wing Chun are you
learning? Thus, you can say there's many ways to skin a cat,
but there's definitely a superior way to get the job done. In the end, all the certificates, years, the
lineage, all that comes to truth the moment you touch.