Springtide Scrolls

Here are some impressions of Sifu Lau's recent seminar from two of our hard working students;)

Enjoy!

Daniel Zwilling (11th SG)

“These are my very positive impressions of the WingTsun seminar with Sifu Lau on November 1st The seminar started at 1PM and was held at Sifu Elmond’s school in Millbrae, CA. Students from all northern California branches (San Jose, Millbrae, San Francisco and Sonoma) came together to experience the incredible skills and enthusiasm of Sifu Lau, the highest ranking WT practitioner in North America (7th PG). The seminar started with a general warm up with WT drills. Then everyone greeted and welcomed Sifu Lau and the students were grouped into beginners and advanced students. Every student was able to learn according to his/her abilities and ranking.

For the higher students Sifu Lau split the seminar in two parts: a review of techniques that he had taught in past seminars and chi sau. The review included the defense against a knee attack, (which should be countered with a Gum Sau with turning stance from Chum Kiu), and later a strong push against the chest (and subsequent stepping backwards to control balance). Each part was explained and demonstrated in detail by Sifu Lau on one of the students. He showed everything in slow movements and the explanations were easy to understand. Sifu Lau made every point crystal clear. The atmosphere was very relaxed and friendly but still; one could feel that everyone was completely into the exercises and fully concentrating. A very effective learning environment!

After the first half of the seminar we practiced the 1st chi sau section. Most of the advanced students knew one or the other variation of the 1st section and I had the impression that Sifu Lau wanted all of us to be on the same page in terms of sequence and application of this section. He went over all the important parts he wanted to emphasize and showed for each part how it should be executed. For me it was a very good review of the 1st section (Si-Sok Kuo is teaching the section according to Sifu Lau’s guidelines) and it was great to see chi sau performed on such a high level. I only wish we had spent more time on learning chi sau and its applications...next time!

All in all it was a great experience! Several interesting and important exercises were reviewed and everybody had a chance review the 1st section Chi Sau. I can only recommend attending Sifu Lau’s seminars as one can learn firsthand what WingTsun is about from one of the most powerful and highly skilled masters of WingTsun. I am looking forward to (and training hard for) the next seminar in Spring 2009.

Daniel Zwilling”

Christian Mirescu (6th SG)

“Developing the ability to flow through the first section of chi sao (and subsequently apply these techniques) is an important hurdle for all beginner students. To learn the sequence is not too difficult, but to respond to pressure appropriately is the trick. So it's critical that both training partners know HOW to train each other's reflexes, rather just following a sequence and going through the motions. It is here that the discriminative eye of your sifu, and his ability to communicate the "little ideas" built into the chi sao sections, really shape the progress of each WT student. So when you have the chance to receive the critical input and instruction of Sifu Lau, things really start to make sense and take shape.

As expected, Sifu Lau brought out the best of us this past seminar. He attracted students from all corners of Bay Area and even up in Sonoma. He provided intermediate students with detailed explanations of each chi sao attack and reaction, and ensured that we were each able to apply these aggressively. He also reviewed multiple defenses against knee attacks (often employed by muay thai kickboxers and MMA fighters). If you catch it early, gum sao (pinning hand) and turn off the knee. If you're a bit late, better use a double lan sao (bar hands).

Additionally, Sifu Lau also put a premium on how to stay balanced and recover from an attack, so that you can quickly react and shoot forward like an arrow into your own counter. So we each were taught things we should work on until his next seminar: form, sensitivity drills and applications. Let's not forget that between now and then!

While we will not always impress Sifu Lau, his experience and eagerness to teach people at all levels always impresses his seminar students. It pushes us to train with more focus during the seminar and motivates us during our regular WT classes. When you're training with the highest ranking member of our system in the western hemisphere, you know you're in the right place. To that end, we should all thank Sifu Elmond and Sifu Haw for organizing this event. As always, I'm looking forward to the next time Sifu Lau comes to town.

And by the way, if you missed him this past seminar, do yourself the favor and make sure you don't miss the next one.... You'll only be handicapping your own progress.

Best,

Chris”