International WingTsun Association - North American Section

Sidney Yik

I couldn’t have imagined that I will be a Wing Tsun Technician back then.  At the age of 53, this is one of my greatest accomplishment so far. Initially, I was looking for something to do to reduce my stress from work.  I am glad that I found Wing Tsun.  I still remember the first time I met Sifu one Friday night at the gym more than 3 years ago.  I always wanted to learn martial arts and I wasn’t sure I will do it, but Sifu’s friendliness and sincerity made it an easy decision to join.

I like the training because I can work out and at the same time learn something practical and unique.  Once you get into senior level, you begin to appreciate Sifu Lau’s in-depth knowledge of Wing Tsun and self-defense.  It is a great privilege for me to learn from Sifu Lau, the highest ranked IWTA instructor in North America.

I would like to thank Sifu for his guidance and I will need it more in the coming future for the advance level.  Also, I would like to thank all the Si-hings, Si-dai, Si-Je, Si-mui for their support throughout the years.  We are just like a big family, helping each other out.  Of course, I won’t forget to thank my wife and my kids as they allow me to go to Wing Tsun.  Lastly, the red stripe pant and golden WT logo T-shirt really look better in style.  Folks, please keep up the good work and if I can do it, so can you!
 
 

Alan Tang

After 3+ years of Wing Tsun training, I have finally reached an important milestone(Primary technician). I am so excited and happy, that I have an opportunity to learn more advanced WT skills.

Wing Tsun was the Martial Art I always dreamed to learn when I was young, but lack of schools in Canada, instead I had the Taekwondo training.

Wing Tsun training has provided me an opportunity to exercise regularly, and more importantly enhanced my self-defense/hand fighting skills. But this is not possible without SIFU’s instructions, and support from all my training partners.

Thank You SIFU and all SI-hing/dai/Je/Mui.

Let’s all train hard, have fun and progress.

We are so pleased to announce that Edwin Lau and Marcus Joo have passed the First Level Technician exam!

Both of them would like to share some of their thoughts and experiences, in their WingTsun journeys.

Edwin Lau

Thinking back to the day of my first Wing Tsun class, I was a beginner with no prior knowledge of kungfu. The learning curve seems steep, and I would never dare to think that one day, I may reach the Technician Level.

Insurmountable odds can be overcome through hard work. Today, I have proudly become a Wing Tsun Primary Technician. Not only is this possible because of the mentorship of SIFU Lau - North America’s highest ranked IWTA Instructor - throughout these years, but also, I received tremendous amount of helps from my Wing Tsun brothers and sisters. They are not training to compete against each other to see who the best fighter is. Instead, they are there to help each other improve, as we all seem to believe that helping others achieving their goals is equally as important as achieving our own goals.

Without my WingTsun family where each memeber is always willing to give up his/her own training time to help me with my practice, I would never have been received sufficient training to become a Primary Technician. Thank you very much all.

Marcus Joo

After over 10 years of martial arts training in a variety of styles, I was introduced to WingTsun in Fairfield, Iowa, USA. There I trained with Sihing Sam Shary and my Sihing and Sidai in that school. The philosophical concepts of WingTsun made so much sense that I took every opportunity I could to travel the 3 hours to see my Sifu Mike Adams in his school in Bloomington Illinois. After attending the 2007 GGM Leung Ting seminar in Toronto, I realized that I wanted to be a part of Sifu Lau’s WT family.

When I arrived, there were large periods of time where I wasn’t learning anything new. I was used to training with protective gear, and was very unsure of the style of teaching at the Toronto Branch. I was asking myself questions like, “How could you learn to be an effective fighter if you weren’t even hitting your training partner?” These questions made me feel uneasy. I was having doubts on WingTsun’s efficiency and if the Toronto branch was in some way not as effective as other schools I had
trained in. But after a few months of training and starting to learn chi sau sections directly from Sifu Lau, I finally realized the intelligence in Sifu Lau’s teaching method. I was now in the gym long enough to be training with people in their 2nd - 3rd month of training and I couldn’t believe how good these students were after such a short period of time.
If we rush into learning WingTsun, we will inevitably be held back from attaining higher levels of skill. Starting WingTsun with quickly training in a full contact setting will undoubtedly instill elements of fighting spirit and toughness, but at the expense of slowing down one’s ability to reach the higher planes of skill and proficiency that we all aspire towards.
I am extremely proud to have reached the level of Primary Technician, I could not have accomplished this without the constant support of my Si-hing, Si-dai, Si-Je, Si-Mui, and of course Sifu Lau. Although I didn’t start my WingTsun training in the Toronto Branch, Sifu Lau and his students have opened their arms to me and I truly feel like a member of the family.

So everyone, let’s relax, take our time, and conscientiously train.

Goal setting is a very important ingredient to be success in our lives. It can be personal like giving up smoking or losing weight. Or it could be a professional goal such as achieving a particular level in your workplace. Below is a story of Vahid Zolfaghari-kondori who dream of open a WingTsun school in his mother country Iran.

Migration to Canada marked a turning point in my life. Despite of ups and downs of adapting to new environment and culture, I was determined to excel in both education and martial arts. Having practiced in different martial arts styles, I knew that it would be a great means to overcome to the obstacles in my new life both physically and spiritually. I started to search for a practical and straight forward concept which allows me to keep practicing regardless of flexibility and age; after scrutinizing amongst styles, concepts and arts the conclusion was Wing Tsun.  Coming across with Sifu Lau changed my entire perspective about martial arts. Practicing under supervision of highest level instructor in North America and even in the world is not an easy chore. A detail oriented person that even the smallest mistakes of his students would not be ignored from his sight. Reaching to technician level would not be made without enormous amount of patience and dedication from Sifu Lau’s side and personal effort and practice from my side. It was not an easy journey without all my Si Sok, Si Hings, Si Jes and Si Deis cooperation. I am thrilled and very proud of this accomplishment. Hereby I would like to express my deepest appreciation to Sifu Lau and my lovely Wing Tsun family.

Vahid Zolfaghari-kondori

Warning: The action you are about to watch has not been digitally enhanced in any way; only edited and cut for suspense and drama!

More action can be found in the videos section.

Congratulations to Jaime Loo and Alex Lee on passing the 1st Level Technician’s test!

They both were being tested under a very rigorous testing scheme, which consist a form and sparring section. The sparring section was further divided into three parts, where the student has to demonstrate and apply the culmination of their WingTsun skills. The three sections included: Sparring against a single WingTsun practitioner, sparring against a single opponent in a street situation, and sparring against two opponents in a street situation.

Visit the photos section for additional photos from this event.

Thanks Sidney for putting together another amazing highlight video of the past 1st Technican Exam. A special award goes out to the White T-shirt Machine who took a punch to the face and still kept on going at 1:13!

Check out the rest of the videos!

It was hard to imagine myself being a WingTsun instructor, let alone the first female WingTsun instructor in Canada!

It started out as an interesting alternative to my Taekwondo training. Then it began to appeal to me as an exercise that I can continue to practice into my retiring years. They say time flies when you are having fun. Three years has gone by, in a twinkling of an eye. It has been much more than moments of fun and learning. It has also been moments of hard work and endurance. But most important of all, it was a time to grow as part of a family, a WingTsun family.

I am thrilled to enter the rank of technicians. But this is just the beginning of real WingTsun learning.

Congratulations to Fernando, Jacky, Gloria, Jason and John (same order in picture) on passing their First Technician’s test! Special honours go to Gloria, who represents the first Canadian woman to obtain 1st Level Technician status.

Similar to the previous 1st Level Technician test, the test involved 2 sections: A forms section and a sparring section. The sparring section was further divided into three parts, where the student has to demonstrate and apply the culmination of their WingTsun skills. The three sections included: Sparring against a single WingTsun practitioner, sparring against a single opponent in a street situation, and sparring against two opponents in a street situation.

None of the students had it easy. The Si-Hings and volunteers who stood in as opponents, also stepped up to challenge. Sometimes it was hard to tell who to cheer for, since both student and opponent put forth such impressive efforts! One of the highlights was during Gloria’s two-on-one challenge, where two opponents came at her at once, but after a blur of movement, she effectively had one opponent afraid to move while ducked, because Gloria and the other opponent were exchanging blows over-top!

In the end, IWTA Toronto now proudly boasts five new Qualified Instructors! I think everyone who attended the test, both spectators and participants, could not stop from getting caught up in the energy. With all the cheering and support of fellow students, it really hits home how much our school has grown, and how it feels very much like a WingTsun family.

Congratulations again to the new 1st Level Technicians!

The recent grading this past Saturday, September 27 at 7:30 P.M. and Monday, September 29 at 1:30 P.M., held at the Richmond Hill Branch of IWTA-NAS, not only resulted in the promotion of many students but also produced five new Primary-level Technicians!

Student exams are held every quarter-year in the curriculum-styled structure of the Leung Ting WingTsun teaching system. These exams serve as an opportunity for the review of a student’s abilities and techniques, so that they can advance to higher levels of learning.

Sifu Carson Lau (7th level Practician, the highest ranked instructor in North America) is an examiner who always surprises the students with creative exams. For example, the exam for 1st-level Technician was divided into four seperate tests.

The first test examined the student’s familiarity of the Si-Nim Tao and Chum-Kiu forms. Instead of just asking the student to perform the entire form, they were asked to perform excerpts of sequences chosen from arbitrary starting points.

The second part required the student to perform the first three Chi-Sao forms. Sifu Lau expected each form to be performed accurately, as they are fundamental for most of the Chi-Sao sparring movements.

The third part involved the famous WingTsun Chi-Sao sparring. In this part, examinees were required to apply all the Chi-Sao components learned thus far. Two students teamed up to spar in three, 1-minute sessions. Both students were expected to demonstrate their achievements in technique application, economy of movement, physical endurance, and the use and control of power.

The Chi-Sao sparring was both exciting for the spectators to watch, but also exhausting for the students — However, the exam did not stop there. It continued into the finale, which was the dramatic simulation of a 2 vs 1 ambush. This required two additional participants to simultaneously attack the examinee with a punch and/or kick, in a free-from environment. It definitely gave the gym a fight-club vibe with the spectators standing at the edges of the room, trying not to get caught in the middle. In this test, examinees were evaluated based on how well they controlled their attackers with angles by using WingTsun foot-work.

Special thanks go out to: Jaime Loo, Roger Lam, Isaac Lau, and Vahid Zolfaghari, who participated as attackers in the 2 vs 1 scenario. They did an excellent job and showed no fear, no pain and no mercy to the examinees. We have hence forth dubbed them the “Invincible White T-Shirt” team — a new breed in our gym.

Last but not least, all of the students from the Richmond Hill class would like to thank Sifu Lau for his dedication in teaching us what true WingTsun is.

Update! - Watch some highlights from the Technician test!

Good news!!! Our next student grading is here. It takes place on Saturday March 22 at 6:30 p.m. and March 24 at 12:00 p.m. For many of us, as we get a little nervous before a test, we may not always categorize it as good news, but more something that we have to do. But in reality, the grading is good news. Because it means we are moving forward (and of course we all know the importance of moving forward in WingTsun). Sure, it is always a little nerve-wracking before a test, but we have to try to change our mindset and look at it as a chance to get together and display what we have learned and how well we’ve progressed. Best of luck to everyone on test day!