At the age of 9 my dad would drive my brother and I every Friday to the local YMCA for Tae kwon do classes. Pretty dedicated of my dad in doing so, since every journey has a beginning and he was the one who started it. Not only was he the chauffeur, but 1-hour classes eventually turned to 3, and he would patiently wait and watch me. Back then, I didn’t know any better, since stuff like breaking boards and belts were my main focus. But, regardless I trained pretty hard and spent roughly 5 years with my first teacher David Duval. But with youth comes stupidity and for some reason, name brand counted at the time. Keep in mind, it was the 80’s and so Jordache, La Cross, Polo were the in things. So, I felt that studying at the YMCA wasn’t so hip. Eventually, I found a new teacher, Master Kim. I spent most of my time training with his son Jae Kim who had won a World Championship in Tae Kwon Do. I vaguely remember but I believe it was in 1983 and took place in the Philippines. The styles were very different, since Jae was more geared towards tournament fighting. But fortunately for me, he had experience of using it on the streets as well. Till this day, I hold Jae’s kick in high esteem, he was a mere 5’3” maybe 125, but I have yet seen anyone who could generate the amount of power he has in his kicks. It was during this time that I eventually got into tournaments and trophies. At first, just like everyone else, I enjoyed the competition and the winning. But in the end, I really didn’t care so much for the trophies. However, it was through the tournament events that things changed, for it was a match where I felt I lost to an inferior opponent. He was a stumpy bulldog looking guy, a bit shorter then me, and had ½ the kicking skill I did, but in the end I lost. How? He simply closed the gap, jammed up my kicks, and punched. I had spent a good 10+ years or so, training in Tae Kwon Do, earned a 2nd degree black belt, but in the end, it was time to go and try to find some answers.
I tried briefly other styles like Judo, but realized I needed some skill in close counter situations. So, I looked and looked, and decided to try a well known school Degeberg Academy. The sell was good, basically a blend of every Martial Art you can imagine from Muy Thai, Jui jitsu, boxing, Wing Chun, etc, just to name a few. Keep in mind, I was Bruce Lee influenced in the whole concept of fusion fighting. So, I signed a 1-year contract, and decided to give it a go. Now, when your 20 years old, 2nd degree black belt, use to teach, and are now ask to start from scratch. Ego definitely kicks in. And, I always felt, if your going to teach me, make sure your better then me. Anyway, as I mentioned, I was taught very well in Tae Kwon Do, so on the first day of class, when we were asked to grab kicking shields, a thunderous Godzilla sound came at my area. Who was this white belt bringing on the heat. It was me, I knew I could kill them with my kicks, they new it as well, and literally I was a terror for a good 6 months at the academy mainly to the instructors. So after 6 months, I decided to look, while still locked in to my one year contract.
Back in the days, the internet was running at a blazing 1200 baud rate, so the yellow pages was the in thing (1990 or 91 I believe). So, I finally found a Wing Chun school, like many didn’t really know much about the art other then it was Bruce Lee’s original style. So, luck was on my side since I found a Wing Chun school in the Northwest suburb. While, I’m not going into the specifics of the school or my teacher, for the mere fact that if you don’t know Wing Chun is riddled with tremendous politics, it ain’t gonna take the CSI crew to figure this out. I’ll simply say, my former teacher helped me with one simple thing, he never claimed to be a master, and said keep seeking one out. And, fortunately for me, that’s when things started to change, when fortune shined on me and Sifu Augustine Fong ended up doing a Chicago seminar for the first time in 95 and guess where at Degeberg Academy….hehehehe. For the next 4 years, I continued to train and seek out other well known teachers, you name it I’ve seen them… Boztepe, Leung Ting, William Chueng, Yip Ching, etc. I always looked forward to seeing Sifu come at least once a year to Chicago seminar, which were held in Southport. Eventually, I had a fusion shift, taking something from everyone and keeping only what’s good. Well, what happens when one of them is always right, all the time. So, in Dec 1999, I found out Sifu Fong, had been hosting seminars in Arizona. I gathered a group of Wing Chun buddies, and headed down there. Everything changed, I that instant. And in 2000, we started hosting Seminars for Sifu Fong in Chicago, and continue to do so till this day.
5 identical questions were given to each of the 3 instructors in Windy City Wing Chun, see how each one responded to them.
Why Wing Chun over other martial arts?
Had, I been ask this question early in my teaching, my answer would've been coz Wing Chun makes sense. But, in the reality of things, that can't be that good of answer, take for example war, it exist coz both sides think their cause makes sense, so whose right whose wrong. The fact is I enjoy Wing Chun, because of its challenge. To me it is both the most difficult art to teach as well as to master, and the challenge of being great in it is a driving force.
Any suggestion towards students thinking about joining?
Trust what you feel. Normally those who come to watch the class have already made up their mind that they want to join. From my experience, Wing Chun is a love at first site more often then not. In the end, you won't get any sales job from me, join if you want, watch the class and this is how we do our Wing Chun, you decide in the end.
What’s your approach to teaching students?
To answer this, I'll give you a little glimpse in the past of how I hated taking B.S. classes in College, just for the sake that a bunch of tree hugging hippies, think it’ll lead to a more well rounded education. Like my previous answer, you come to class because you want to be here. There are no contracts to ever bind you to Windy City Wing Chun, and you'll never hear me nag, "why haven't you been to class?" In the end, its all about you. You want to be good, then you work at it, and I'll share everything with you that I know to help you to be good.
Can anyone learn from you?
No. Even if the student has the desire, and the teacher has the skills, if the energies don't match between the two, then the relationship will not last. That's the reality of things.
Why choose Windy City Wing Chun?
If the desire is to burn calories while doing Martial Arts, get belts or trophies, or have someone yell at you in a militaristic fashion so you do something, then definitely this is not the place for you. We teach in a style that allows you to develop yourself. Once again the emphasis is on you wanting it, not us making you want it.
