My kung fu journey

I began training at the very early age of six years. This does not sound very strange at all in this stage, however, back then it was almost unheard of to see a child in a martial arts school.

My mom told me that I had a desire to train in martial arts, but she didn’t really know what that was . My dad had knowledge of it because he was a prisoner of war in Japan, after the battle of Hong Kong. He he absolutely knew what I was talking about.

They were baffled where I got the idea from, but most likely it was from early James Bond movies or a series called the “man from uncle”, anyways, I had a desire and my mom began to look for a martial art school that would accept me.

Sensei Tug Wilson
My first instructor was a gentle giant of a man named Tug Wilson. He was the chief instructor of the Winnipeg, school of judo and karate, at that time located across in the City Hall where the Pantages theatre now sits. As I can remember, he trained at the Kodokan in judo, in Japan, and also did his training in Shito ryu Karate. his background was military police in Japan after World War II, and he was 6 foot three of chiselled steel. His training came from a style of karate that embodied full contact fighting, with body armour.

The very first day that we visited the school, I remember seeing a line of about 20 students running down, Main Street, dead of winter, barefoot. They were all getting ready for a championship, karate tournament, and I was already in awe. These guys were hard.

When we met my instructor, he Had no qualms about training me however, he said he first had to find me a uniform, small enough. A couple days later he contacted my mother and I was on the mats, learning judo.

After the class was over, I always wanted to go up to the second floor And find out what was going on up there. During my judo class, I could always hear people, yelling, and the sounds of impact hitting bags and other apparatus. It sounded like some sort of mediaeval torture chamber going on up there. I was actually not allowed to go up there, but one day I crept up the old wooden stairs and peaked into a whole New World for me.

The place was generally packed and it was sparring day. To me, it looked like it was a kind of a mixture of one group doing possibly like jujitsu and the other group was doing some very hard contact sparring, with lots of yelling, contact and intensity.

Wow, I thought that’s what I wanna do.
No go!

My instructor absolutely said no way. He would not entertain that until at least I was a teenager. Although, luckily, he did relent, and said I could go upstairs and watch whenever I wanted to, just as long as I sat on the edge of the stairs, and did not enter the training floor.

Every chance I could get, I would scoot up those stairs and watch, especially if sparring was going on. Sparring was savage, especially the Randori in the judo. Getting choked out was common place on that mat. They trained with intention, however, the brotherhood and Martial code was never forgotten. They all genuinely cared for and encouraged each other. That was a great life lesson. Something important for a young child to see. I understood then that it was not a culture of fighting, it was a culture of progressive improvement through perseverance.

For the next several years, I trained in judo with Sensei Wilson, and then at a couple different satellite locations that were located in various YMCAs.

Sensei Jerry Marr
When I was a bit older, I began studying karate at the Midwest karate Association, under Sensei Jerry Marr I felt it was finally in my element, and enjoyed the extremely technical and competent instruction from this knowledgeable instructor.

The vibe in the early days of Midwest karate Association was incredibly electric. The floor was always packed. The school was giant and spacious, with 20 foot ceilings. At the end of each session, the floors were covered in sweat, and the mirrors were dripping.

I think that there are many lessons that I derived from training there, but maybe the most important was a strong work ethic. Also, I remember receiving technical corrections, and even the odd heart-to-heart encouragement, from the many amazing senior students that were populating the floor each class. It was an amazing time for martial arts, and that school was simply alive with electricity, and enthusiasm.

I would say that I enjoyed the training under this top-notch instructor, however, I was at the age where I was probably not the best student. Even though I was passionate about martial arts, I was probably a little bit lazy. Probably. Not casting any shade on this excellent school, and top-notch instruction, it just did not ignite a passion in me.

My fault.

After a couple years of training, I remember a classmate telling me that there was a new kung fu instructor in the city. He suggested that we go down and “make fun of him”, This probably wasn’t the brightest idea but, at the time it sounded like it might be a lark.

Master Richard Kudding
http://kuntaomatjan.altervista.org/KMKudding.html
We walked into the club of Master, Richard Kudding, a recent immigrant from Holland, by way of Indonesia. Master Kudding was a practitioner of Kuntao. This was a unique blend of southern Shaolin and Indonesian Silat.

In Holland, they called the art Shaolin Kempo. It was disseminated through Holland, and taught to him by an extremely famous master named Patje Fullhaber. It was further made famous throughout Europe by his top five students, known as the ring of five. Master Kudding was one of the RING of five that immigrated, and landed up in Winnipeg.

Must’ve been my lucky fate because the family was originally slated to go to Montreal, and fortuitously it stopped in Winnipeg overnight. As fate would have it, they were quite hungry and walked across the street to a new burger place, at the time, named VJ’s.

We all know now that they are a bit of a touchstone for Winnipeg burgers to this day. Anyways, it must’ve been quite a evening as they met a lot of new people and had some great burgers. The decision was made on the spot to stay in Winnipeg. Why not? The food was great, and the people were friendly.

Being an electrical engineer, he landed on his feet quite quickly and secured a job with Bristol Aerospace. Once his family was secure and they had housing his mind turned towards his passion, kung fu.

It wasn’t long until he was teaching his own group of students in Chinatown, in Winnipeg.

The first day I saw him, he was demonstrating a technique standing in front of one of his senior students. The senior student was probably 6 foot one or 6 foot two, next to his much smaller stature. In a blink of an eye, in what looked like a levitation trick to me, he jumped, straight up and kicked straight out at the face. Landing with literally no sound, he looked at the Students with a glance, to see the reaction. It was so effortless. He floated up and delivered one of the most devastating kicks I have ever seen, or maybe will ever see. That was Master Kudding! Smooth and effortless.

Master Kudding was an enigmatic pioneer of the martial arts circles in the early 70s, Winnipeg. His school was rough, tough and absolutely no nonsense. Back in those days, there were zero protective equipment, and sparring was insanely, stressful, and even dangerous. But what the heck? We were kids!

Elder Kung Fu Brothers- SiHings
The floor at that school regularly saw some of the most amazing martial arts people that I can ever remember. Two notable figures that stand out for me, are my elder, kung fu brothers, whom I looked up to, and held incredible prowess. Sifu Martin Askew and Sifu West Cameron were my seniors, that I looked up to, and taught me a lot about kung fu, and practicality. Thank you, Martin and Wes, for the lessons taught, and the insight gained. Training on the floor with you was always productive as you kept me on my toes, and pushed me to be my best. (Deep bow of Respect)

Sifu Wes Caneron
As sidenote, years later Sifu Cameron founded and headed the Shaolin West kung fu school for many years until he retired from teaching, and moved from the city. That school was the premier, kung fu school in Winnipeg’s Chinatown, providing lion dance, and kung fu instruction to the local community for many many years. During his tenure as chief instructor at the school, he produced some amazingly talented, kung fu protégé. It’s my hope, that one of his talented senior students will continue to pass on the depth and breath of knowledge that he possessed. Wherever you are Sifu Wes, I hope you are well, happy and healthy.)

To this day, every time I perform a spinning back kick to a heavy bag, my mind conjures up video images of Sifu Wes, and his absolutely savage turning back kicks.

Lessons learnt from my SiHings are indelible.. I

think I learned many valuable lessons from my first kung fu instructor, but one that still resonates in my head is “never ever quit”. Secondarily, I think that he helped me to understand that the lessons acquired through hard work and discipline should and must be applied in your daily life.

I remember he once asked me what I wanted to do with my life. Did I want to go to university, become a professional? I told him that I hadn’t really thought about it too hard and I didn’t really know. He told me that day that, I should remember that I’m a black sash. As such the strength and determination that it took to acquire such a skill can be transferred to anything. Literally! He told me that if I wanted to be a lawyer, doctor, engineer, or whatever, it is absolutely within my grasp and I could do it easily, because I had already acquired the skills of concentration and dedication.

I have no doubt that this one simple conversation changed the course of my life dramatically that day, and set me firmly on a trajectory towards achieving my science degree, then my doctorate of chiropractic, and finally my doctor of Acupuncture accreditation.

Never ever quit!

That was perhaps The single, most important lesson that I learned from training in martial arts, and from Master Kudding.

After training for seven years with Master Kudding I achieved instructor, black Sash status with his organization.

Master Kudding, thank you so much for finally accepting that skinny kid, as a student that day. I appreciate the expert tutelage and the opportunity to train under someone as competent and wellversed as yourself. I count myself as one of the very lucky few that not only had the opportunity to train under you, but to, be one of the very few that achieved black sash status in your school. Training under you, in my teen years taught me a lot about growing up as a man, and accepting responsibility in life. You helped me achieve my dream of becoming a chiropractor, and acupuncturist through your encouragement, and also the example you set as a professional, successful engineer.

Thank you Master Kudding

While training under Master Kudding, one fortunate day during practice, one of my kung fu brothers, Emil Sohor, whom I had not seen for several months, returned to the floor. He had been out in Edmonton, and while there was training with a well-known, kung fu, master, named Master Mark Chan. He had been training intensely in Edmonton for the past few months, and Master Chan gave him many insights into the art of kung fu that he taught

A quick demonstration by my classmates in some extremely practical techniques from the Southern Shaolin five animal system had me immediately excited.

Road trip!

It was 1979, and my kung fu brother Kurt Pyrch embarked on a month-long meet and greet, with fingers crossed that everything would go smoothly.

Master Mark Chan
https://www.greendragonkungfu.ca/history.html
We showed up at the original old club on Jasper Street in Edmonton, approximately 7 o’clock in the evening. Master Chan was not there, but the club was packed. I was intrigued because the drills and exercises they were doing were completely foreign to me, as I was looking at a completely new style of kung fu that I had never seen before.

Master Chan is the grandson of Great Grandmaster Wong, Cheung Yip. Known to be one of the great pre-eminent masters of this century. He was expert in Hung Gar, five Animal southern Shaolin and their famous village variant of Choi Li Fut Kung Fu. He taught Master Chan from a very young age. Later in life, Master Chan would escape from mainland China to Hong Kong during the cultural revolution, and ultimately end up in Edmonton, Canada, where he still resides today.

Kurt and I sat in the corner and wondered who Master Chan was. Sifu Jonnie Hui was there an informed me that Master Chan would be along momentarily. He was wondering what the two scruffy young guys wanted, and we said that we wanted to “talk” with the Master. Completely oblivious to cultural implications, we did not understand that this might actually be perceived as a challenge or a threat.

Yes! Young and dumb.

Master Chan entered the school with his typical Jovial demeanor, and while he was joking with some of the students, he was beckoned over to the other side by Sifu Hui. During the chat, his expression suddenly turned very serious. Little did I know that he was informed that there was probably two troublemakers that just entered the school, probably looking for a challenge match. (What??)

Master Chan glared at me. Walked directly over to the weapons rack, and pulled a sword off the rack. Not a toy sword……a real sword!

He hastened his pace towards me all the wild scowling and looking me directly in the eye. When he got super close, he brought the sword up and put it directly into my groin. I could feel the point. And I literally got the point. He raised his voice sternly And said, “are you looking for trouble?”

I usually don’t have a problem finding my words, but in this instance, I absolutely was in shock, and even a little bit of fear. A Hurried explanation of who we were, and what we were doing there, and we were friends of Emil rushed out of my mouth.

Suddenly he let out laugh, dropped the sword tip, and had a giant smile on his face. There was a nervous laugh from us, but we were quite relieved that didn’t turn in a bad direction. He Invited us on the floor and we trained hard. His knowledge of Southern systems of kung fu was encyclopedic. Master Chan was known for his prowess with his hands, and one of the students at the club told me his nickname was “Ghost hand” because his strikes were incredibly fast… Almost invisible

When I left there that evening, I was on cloud nine, and probably practiced everything I learned till the wee hours of the morning, anticipating going back the next day,

We trained hard for the next month, and I was sad to leave back to Winnipeg I knew in my heart that I would see a lot more of him.

It’s not something that I felt, it was something that I knew.

Life in Calgary
Shortly after I returned to Winnipeg master Kudding informed us that he would be moving to Calgary. Awesome! The plan was already unfolding in my head. My plan was to follow Master Kudding to Calgary and continue training, and to also train with Master Chan in Edmonton every single chance I could.

In 1979 I moved to Calgary. Shortly after arriving, master, Kudding set up the Calgary chapter of the flying dragon Institute at the Crowchild army base.

That training environment was quite intense as it was populated almost 90% with military personnel. There even were some elite Paratrooper types that would train along side me every class. Everyone was in peak, physical condition, and Master Kudding would lead every class directly. He was always inspirational, as he moved like a cat even though he was in his mid-40s. He also could hit like a semi trailer, and would regularly do some bag work before the class. Everyone would just stand in awe Because the power on every strike was just devastating. As I said before, inspirational to train with someone so skilled, that made it look so effortless.

At that time I had a job where I worked three days on three days off. A new girlfriend in Edmonton gave me the excuse to go at least once a week and spend three days in Edmonton, seeing my girlfriend, but more importantly, training with Master Chan

This process continued for a couple years, and it was informative and transformative. However, one other very important connection was made while I was living in Calgary. One day at a local coffee shop near me, I saw a poster for Shaolin martial arts at the local technical college called SAIT. It was just right around the block, and the poster said, the class started at seven that evening. I had 15 minutes to get down there and check out this class.

In the class was a Sifu that taught, southern Fukien style Shaolin. I went to many of the classes and learn some basics of this unique system, but most importantly, I met the senior student of the school, Sifu Roy Schneider. Roy was an accomplished graphic artist by trade, but a kindred spirit in that he was also a bona fide, kung fu nut. The first day I met him, his instructor. Instructed us both to spar in front of the class. There was a lot of give-and-take but still respect and smiles after. He suggested that we lament over our bruises with a cup of coffee. That cup of coffee turned into a friendship that included us exchanging kung fu knowledge and him introducing me to the rich and vibrant kung fu scene of Calgary, in the late 70s.

During the period I met many notable instructors and was exposed to a lot of kung fu. Looking back I think that the important take away is that Calgary was a melting pot for Chinese and kung fu culture in the late 70s. It was like a giant smorgasbord of styles that resulted in many friendships and a deeper understanding of the culture of kung fu through their sharing.

My deepest, thanks, to you, my friend, Roy.
(It’s been many years since we have connected, and I have reached out to Calgary many times to try to find you. If by some chance, you or a close friend, is reading this and recognize him as being my friend, please reach out to me as I would love to re connect.)

Sifu Tim Chang
https://www.facebook.com/share/pyvnY31SbPRfd1Yy/?mibextid=YMEMSu
In 1981, I returned to Winnipeg, to enter university of Winnipeg, and pursue my requirements to become a chiropractor. Master Kudding suggested that I reach out to his good friend Sifu Tim Chang, so that I could continue training at his Chinatown school. I was ecstatic that Sifu Tim welcome to me unconditionally and taught me without reservation.

Sifu Tim was an amazing individual that learned kung fu, in Hong Kong, during the rough-and tumble 60s and 70s. He was an amazing storyteller, replete with tales of rooftop gang fights and rivalries that sometimes accompanied the learning of kung fu, in Hong Kong during that period. while in Hong Kong, he also had opportunity to be involved in the blossoming kung fu movie industry. He once told me that he even helped coordinate many action scenes while he lived there.

His knowledge was both deep and wide. His short power was explosive and memorable. Anytime I practice a form that he taught me, my mind can still clearly see clearly the way he generated the power, and put his full essence into the techniques. (Then, of course, I’m saddened because I will always fall short of his abilities.) His movements, in my mind, still provide a very clear blueprint on how to train properly, and with intention.

Tim taught the white eyebrow style of kung fu. A shorthand, close quarter system that is basically stripped from anything that is not effective. Lightning, fast bursts of throat and eye strikes, peppered with elbows, hip bumps and takedowns. White eyebrow is a devastating system, that was at the time, rarely seen beyond the confines of Chinatowns. This was my first introduction to the shorthand systems of kung fu, and it was eye-opening for me. I am still to this day, enamoured by the power and efficiency of the shorthand systems.

Besides being a passionate instructor, I was always humbled by his deep understanding of the culture and history of kung fu. Sifu Tim taught us lion dancing, and martial arts, but one of the greatest lessons I learned from his school was that of kung fu brotherhood. The school was tight, friendly, and you could tell that everyone was fiercely loyal to both Sifu and each other. At the time I was a bit of a starving student, and in many instances people fed me and looked out for me.

Lessons I will never forget. Thank you.

Although what I learned in that intimate Chinatown setting has stayed with me to this day, I think the most important memories for me, were the friendships and deep connections that he formed within his club. His club felt less like a gym, and more like a family. He was older than me, and every other student there, even though he was only a little bit older. But he was kind of like our kung fu dad. He looked after us. Many of us were students and didn’t have a lot of money. he would feed us. If we needed something, Sifu was always quick to offer his help. He was generous, with a big heart.

Training under Sifu Tim, at the Chinatown school, is one of my most cherished memories. Thank you Sifu Tim For training me, and helping me in so many ways, beyond kung fu.

Sifu Barry Richardson
In the early 80s, I established my first school, on the outskirts of Chinatown, at 87 King St., third floor. I named the school, northern wind Chinese boxing institute.

In the 80s I was extremely active in the tournament circuit, through Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and parts of Ontario.

During my competition phase, I happened to travel to Regina Saskatchewan to attend a tournament that I heard was being promoted by a well-known local, kung fu promoter.

Sifu Barry Richardson, was the owner of the Bak Hsing kung fu school, School and ran semi annual tournaments that were quite rough and tumble. I snickered when I arrived, because parked outside the venue were two ambulances. This Definitely gave me pause, but they turned out to be incredibly diverse, competitive, but yes, quite martial.

I won my black divisions at the tournament, and even captured the grand championship trophy. But there is a bit of a side story to this tournament. I attended the tournament with many fellow black belts from different schools that were making a pilgrimage up from Winnipeg. We had also heard the rumours that the events there were a bit savage and uncontrolled. During the black belt fighting, the tournament lived up to its reputation.

I was fighting in middleweights and one of my friends from Winnipeg, was fighting in light heavyweight. I watched this fight and he took a savage beating. Plenty of blood, and not much interaction from the judges. After a sound thrashing, his opponent won the light heavyweight division.

I won my middleweight division and when it came time for the grand championship trophy, Sifu Barry told me that I would be fighting the lightweight champion for the lower weight grand championship, and the light heavyweight and heavyweight would fight for the upper weight championship.

I told him that I would not attend unless he let me fight the light heavyweight champion. He told me that’s impossible because that would ruin the entire structure of the grand championships. I didn’t care. I wanted some payback.

A general meeting was called and lots of negotiation. Anyways, they would not let me participate in my ideal sporing scenario, because Barry told me he sensed I had “a bad attitude, mixed with some bad intentions.”

I guess he was right.

Anyways, I fought the lightweight champion and captured the under weight grand champion belt. Later, as I got to know him, he told me it was quite funny, and thought I was a bit of a character with too much attitude.

Perhaps correct?

As I was leaving the tournament Sifu Barry told me that he spends quite a amount of time in Winnipeg, to my surprise, and invited me out to supper in the near future.

A great friendship unfolded between us, and I got to know him as an astute innovative businessman, and an accomplished martial artist with a powerful intellect.

His style of kung fu was related to mine, however, he showed me the spirit power and ferocity of the Bak Hsing style. His strength as an instructor lay in his ability to dissect, analyze and present material with amazing depth and clarity.

Any conversation with Barry would expand your philosophical parameters, and challenge you to grow in all directions. My personal kung fu lexicon is peppered with his “fist lessons“ to this day.

I would consider him the most intellectually, brilliant kung fu person that I have ever encountered.

His students were fiercely loyal to his school, his teachings and style. I admired this because it was all born out of respect for his abilities, and the hard work put into teaching his students. All of his students were strong, and hard. Everyone could fight for sure, but their kung fu was beautiful and powerful.

Daily, I thank Sifu Barry for teaching me how to analyze my kung fu, and for ultimately, making me a much better martial artist. A class never goes by without me sharing at least a few of the pearls of knowledge that I garnered through training with this accomplished martial arts instructor.

Thank you, Sifu Barry.

Sifu Henry Suen
Sifu Henry was the senior classmate of Sifu Barry. Both were disciples of Grandmaster Leung Yap Yau, of the Bak Hsing Choi Li Fut system.

His school was located in Saskatoon, and, although I had never met him, I had heard a great deal about his teaching and his physical prowess. I had seen some of his black sash, Students competing at a local Regina tournament, and I was incredibly impressed with their performances.

His students had tremendous flow and a great grasp on how to generate power with fluidity. Secondarily, like students in Regina, everyone could fight, and if you were squaring off against them, you knew you were in for a bit of a tough day.

The night before a Big tournament we were all practicing together and one of the students, stepped on my foot while we were doing some light sparring. He snapped my big toe in half. My toe is broken and I had a tournament in about 12 hours. I packed it with ice and went home. I Got literally zero sleep, as it throbbed all night long.

When I got to the tournament in the morning, I was limping and that’s when I met Henry. Once the formality of meeting was out of the way, he asked me what was wrong with my foot. I showed him my toe, and he asked me if he could take a look at it.

Looking back at this incident, now as a chiropractor, I would acknowledge that he expertly reset my toe. I had Immediate relief.

It was kind of like the lion that had the thorn pulled out of its paw. There was a Debt of gratitude and an instant friendship.

Sifu Henry was a little bit out of my geographic boundary zone, and I did not see him very often. However, whenever I had a chance I would go up and do some training with him.

Hard to describe Sifu Henry in a few sentences, but I will try.

He moved like no other martial arts figure I have ever worked with. He was built like a small mountain, and his arms moved like pistons. When he was teaching, he could easily switch gears from Northern Shaolin to Choy Li Fut and perform each style perfectly with correct nuance and even attitude. He could really shine when getting the very fine details across regarding usage of the techniques in real life.

Pragmatic and technical is a good way to label him. I also found him to be very kind to me, and quite understanding. He did have a special gift of being able to watch you and immediately identify your weaknesses and what you needed to work on. That’s usually the way he delivered some key points. He would point out where you were weak and explain how you needed to correct these things so that they did not hinder your development. It’s a gift and a sign of a great master to be able to look beyond all the superfluous data, and identify the kernal of truth within it.

He was always a gentleman, but when you looked in his eyes, you saw a warrior.

If you know …you know.

Sifu Henry, rest easy.
Thank you for the many gifts, and the countless hours you have taught in the passionate pursuit of sharing the art of kung fu to your many students.

May God hold you in the palm of his hand

Sifu Curtis Taylor
When I met Sifu Barry I became fast friends with his top student, who was a brown sash at the time, Curtis Taylor.

Both being students of the art, with the love of combat and Chinese philosophy, we became tight friends.

At the time, I was a university student that was running the kung fu school on 87 King St.. Somehow it came about that Curtis ended up spending the summer in Winnipeg, looking for work, and looking to train at our school.

I helped him secure employment, and offered him the couch in the school to bunk in as his homebase. We spent the summer training together, and he kindly shared all his knowledge of CLF, and his lessons from Sifu Barry and Sifu Henry with us. In return, we shared our knowledge of kung fu with him. reservation

I don’t think I did much studying that summer, but I sure did a lot of kung fu training. It was amazing to have him there training into the wee wee hours more often than not.

Like fine wine, some relationships, improve overtime, and endure.

Sifu Curtis is still the same rough and tumble, no nonsense, young man that was my training partner so many years ago. He has an amazing wit, but more importantly is a student of combat and self preservation. More importantly, his approach to the lessons he learned is always insightful and perceptive.

He was already a great teacher, even at a young age

While at our school, my senior students gave him the nickname, “terminator”. No doubt derived from his aggressive and accurate sparring techniques. Sifu Les once told me that sparring him was like standing in front of an oncoming freight train. I would agree.

Yeah
Savage.

Sifu Curtis still carries the banner of his two instructors, Sifu Barry and Sifu Henry, teaching at his kung fu school in Regina Saskatchewan

Students training under him are lucky to have an instructor that was taught such in-depth lessons, and to be associated with with such a powerful kung fu lineage.

Master Mark Chan
https://www.greendragonkungfu.ca/history.html
Master Chan was my main instructor And Sifu from the years 1982, till the year 2000.

I formally changed the name of my school to Green Dragon kung fu group, in the mid 80s, to honour his teachings, and align myself with his organization.

For close to 20 years, I had the privilege of studying Southern Shaolin, Choy Li Fut and the Dragon Shadow system under Master Chan’s expert tutelage.

To this day, I will suggest that I am still yet to meet anybody that could best him with regards to his handwork. His sticky hand abilities were quite legendary within the Martial circles that I traveled. He told me that he always strived to be “hand specialist“. I would 100% agree with that status. Nobody taught me more about the intricacies and complexities of southern Chinese boxing then Master Chan. His knowledge was matched by his abilities

Coming from an amazing kung fu pedigree, as the grandson of Grandmaster Wong Chun Yip, he had the opportunity to observe, and train kung fu, literally, since he could walk. Kung Fu was iliterraly ntegrated into his DNA tand personality. When he would demonstrate a form/technique You could easily identify that this is someone who has dedicated their life to the pursuit and development of Chinese martial arts.

Master Chan, for me, was always the living template of how to emulate and perform technique, flawlessly, and be technically accurate.

While writing this kung fu biography, I always try to think of one important salient point which describes accurately the teachings of each instructor. It would be nearly impossible to do for Master Chan, due to the deapth and breath of kung fu that he taught me in the approximate 20 years.

However, I would say that the singular most important skill/lesson that I learned was his “sticky hand” system. His approach was natural and allowed it to Percolate deep into your paradigm of movement. His sticky hand system was a powerful springboard, by which you could integrate all of your kung fu teachings into your innate reflexes. It was designed to let the kung fu flow out of you naturally, when you needed it the most.

Master Chan, during the 25 years that I trained under him , to my knowledge, was never bested In this area of combat. His sticky hands were unbeatable.

In my youth, I often playfully tested him during sticky hands practice. However, it always ended up with me being shown that I have a long ways to go, and I’m still a student. Lessons learned, but never forgotten.

Master Chan.
Thank you for the opportunity to train with an authentic Chinese kung fu master. Thank you for accepting me into your innermost circles, and even treating me as one of your family for so many years.

Your current students are incredibly lucky to have such an opportunity to train under you, and be part of your, amazing organization.

I wish you many more years of health, and hopefully ability to pass on your knowledge and the deeper secrets of kung fu to your most dedicated students.

A heart felt thanks from myself, and my students, for the lessons given, and the knowledge gained.

(A deep bow of respect)

Grand Master Doc Fai Wong
In the year 2000 I met Grandmaster Doc Fai Wong.

Grandmaster is the most published kung fu practitioner of this century. Known forhis mastery of Yang Style tai chi, and Choy Li Fut kung fu, his international organization is arguably one of the biggest kung fu associations in the world.

I have been a direct student under Grandmaster since the year 2000, and as such have developed a profound respect and admiration for my teacher, who has dedicated his entire life to studying, teaching and promoting the arts of Chinese kung fu worldwide.

It’s hard to quantify, and distill down the important things that I have been taught through my association with Grandmaster, in short form. But I will try.

I have spent the better part of my life, learning and training in Chinese martial arts. Doing so I have had the Pleasure and honour of being taught by incredibly gifted and knowledgable teachers. Each teacher seemed to bring their own unique insights and skills to the table, and for that I am grateful.

However, there have always been lingering questions and deficits to the depth of theory from each of my instructors. After many years of study, I had questions that they could not answer. To be fair, it wasn’t them, it’s just that this is the way it has always been in Chinese martial arts. If you wanted to get answers to certain questions, you had to go to, seek different avenues, and connect to different resources.

This is what drew me towards grandmaster and his organization.

Grandmaster is a direct lineage holder in CLF kung fu, and Yang style Taiji. As such he had the privilege to be able to train under some of the famous preeminent masters ofthis century. And being one of their top students, he was an inner circle student, with access to deeply held family manuscripts, and knowledge in both systems. If there is anyone who could fill in knowledge gaps, Grandmaster would be the one.

I was compelled to meet him and train under him if possible.

As in with all things of life, not everything goes smoothly, or as expected. When I met Grandmaster, he was gracious and allowed me to train at his school in San Francisco, when I was there for a two week extended stay. I immersed myself in the resources in the school, and trained as much as possible. His instructions to me were to train hard, and that he would help me technically in anything that he could. He would be my coach, but not my Sifu. In other words, he refused to take me on as his direct Student.

I was disappointed in this, but I thought if I was given lemons, I would make lemonade.

So I trained, and learned.

As time rolled on, I enjoyed an amazing trip filled with training, karaoke and even ballroom dancing. I trained at his school twice a day, and anytime I could connect with one of his students for extra training.

I found him to be exactly what I was looking for in a mentor and instructor. Kind, insightful, and compassionate. he was extremely generous and thoughtful in every regard, however, he made it very clear that he was only a coach, and would not accept me as a direct student.

One of the final days that I was there, he invited me out to dim sum, to meet his feng shui instry, Master Rui. During this meeting, his master asked to feel my pulse, do tongue diagnosis and chart my cosmology/birthdate. He asked a litany of questions regarding my life, about my parents and my health.

After a long time, studying me, he engaged in a extremely lengthy conversation with Grandmaster. This conversation involved charting, and an extremely serious discussion ensued. After this discussion, Grandmaster took a very solemn demeanour and said he wanted to talk to me.

He told me that his feng shui master has studied me and my life and these are his findings. He outlined my life in great detail to me, more specifically, my shortcomings, and my strengths. He then told me some things of my past, that he would have had no way of knowing. Private things regarding past relationships and resolution of them. Then outlined what cosmology, my palm and face diagnosis reveals about my future, with warnings and cautions attached to them

Thankfully what shone through Was a sense that my intentions were clear, and my heart was truthful.

It was at that moment that he formally accepted me as a direct student. I will never forget that day. It was one of the most important days of my life, in many respects.

Since then I have been a member of the international Federation, striving to uphold his standards of teaching, and present our school as a shining example of his efforts.

———-

The History of our school

In 1982, as a pre-chiropractic science student at University of Winnipeg, I founded my first kung fu studio.

It was located on 87 King St - 3rd floor, just on the outskirts of Chinatown. It was a large industrial storage space, rough, and dirty when we first saw it.

A lot of work in elbow grease later transformed it into a beautiful training area. The amazing wood in those old buildings lent it perfectly to refurbishing and polishing. When finished, the floors look like a bowling alley. Absolutely stunning.

It was the height of the aerobics craze, and I decided to increase the schools revenue and create my own version of aerobics training. It was high intensity, kung fu, stances, stretching, kicking, punching, etc. All done to music, and became wildly successful every lunch hour for the exchange district, and downtown clientele.

Mon thru Friday lunch classes were packed to the brim every day.

My day was spent at school in the mornings, kung fu aerobics at lunch, more classes in the afternoon at University and finally finished off with adults classes at the school starting at 7 o’clock every evening.

We didn’t have many kung fu students at the time, so we arranged for a kung fu open house on a Saturday afternoon. It was Billed as a school open house to the public, teaching traditional authentic kung fu.

We were offering a free introductory class, and short demonstration from some of our students. Actually, the demonstration basically boiled down to myself and a senior student, Joel Shimoji doing forms back to back.

We were basically the whole show.

It was even plugged on the local radio station, as I had two students that were involved in the aerobics programming that were also connected to the radio stations.

That morning I went to open up the school to prepare for the open class, I was greeted with a lineup, stretching all the way down three floors, and emptying out onto the street, waiting for the class to begin.

I was stunned
I was not expecting to be this successful

This was a wildly successful concept. Actually, I cannot take any credit for this at all. It was my CLF instructor Master Barry Richardson that had original idea, and helped me laterally think it to its conclusion. The school went from 10 students to 60. We literally signed up 50 students in one day.

Insanity, but absolutely exhilarating.

I guess it was that day that I formally realize that I actually had a thriving school, and suddenly was thrust into concentrating on Quality and Service for the students and the Parents. The focus really shifted from being a group, loosely knit, training in kung fu, to a professional Academy. That day, my sights and my standards were raised.

That was the beginning, In 1982.

In 1986 I left for Minneapolis, after I graduated with my undergrad science degree, to study chiropractic science. The Winnipeg school was left in the capable hands of Sifu Les Mcwha, and senior student Jay Smith.

While I was in Minneapolis, I connected immediately with a thriving kung fu community, through an amazing martial arts store called the Rising Sun.

I became fast friends with the owners, John and Lynn Myers. Lynn took me under her wing and often even fed me on the Friday afternoons that I would go there and hang out and drink coffee with her. I have a spot in my heart for both of them Due to the kindness that they showed me, and the amazing people they introduced me to The Rising Sun, became my second home in Minneapolis, and through it I met many many amazing martial artists.

It wasn’t long until I was sharing with the owner Sensei John Myers my art and he reciprocated with his amazing knowledge of multiple Japanese based arts to me.

Back in the late 80s there was a thriving kung fu community in Minneapolis, and John knew all the players. He introduced me to everyone and I was so blessed to have someone like him and his wife Lynne to help me navigate the martial arts landscape there.

In your first year chiropractic college, it is the equivalent of taking eight full-time courses in regular university study. Literally no time to do anything other than study. The college knows this and to prevent students from becoming completely burned out the first year they would always recommend that during your lunch hour, which was an hour and a half, that you do some physical exercise like swimming or jogging. Really important to stay grounded and keep your body healthy because the demands of studying take their toll on everybody, with the late hours and stress.

As it happens, one of my kung fu students from Winnipeg was up visiting me and brought my heavy bag up from Winnipeg. Perfect! I could hang this in the gym and do some bag work during lunch hour.

Unknown to me, because I hadn’t wandered into the gym yet, being too busy studying, every lunch hour had the gym utilized for basketball. The games are fast and furious with Stands packed with the other students hanging out socializing, and eating their lunch.

I had no idea that when I arrived early at the gym and hung my heavy bag at the very end that a basketball game would start in five or 10 minutes. I hung the bag and started working on it. It felt great to get some of that stress and anxiety out and I was slamming it with all my might. Then I realize that, I was so intently working on the bag that gym had filled up and all the basketball players were sitting at the other end of the gym, patiently waiting for me to finish.

I felt really embarrassed and I apologize profusely for holding up their game. But I wondered why they didn’t come and tell me that the gym was already booked and was being used?

One of the students said, “we were watching you pound that bag, and everyone was too nervous to come and tell you to stop “.

Made me laugh.

So we worked something out, and I hung the bag on a hoop at the end of the gym was not being used, and did half an hour of work every day for my first year there, while the basketball games played. Gradually I also included forms and weapons training. My workouts gave me the notoriety of the “new Canadian kung fu guy” on campus, and that generated a lot of interest in many people wanting to learn kung fu, and martial arts.

This was the beginning of the Minneapolis Green Dragon school. Throughout my first year, many classmates and other school mates approached me and asked me if I would teach them kung fu. The school itself, embrace it, and gave us a dedicated room to train in. that was not being used for any other purpose, in the lower levels of the school.

It was interesting because almost every student that I had was already a black belt in some other style. Everybody had trained in multiple styles, wrestled or did some form of combat of training prior. The school started with an all star line up.

That was an amazing lineup of talented students. And it was the perfect head start for the Minneapolis school.

In 1991, I left Minneapolis after graduating my chiropractic and Acupuncture studies. I left the school in the capable hands of Sifu Nat McIntyre. The agreement that it would also be co Run with the help of fellow black training, brothers: Sifus Steve Salek, Barry Wagner And Dan Hunt.

The school is still in operation today, however, it is operated solely by Sifu Eric Muchowski, the top student of Sifu Nat.

When I returned in 1991. the club was thriving in Winnipeg, under the expert tutelage of Sifu Les.

We soon found a good commercial location to continue our efforts. The Ching Wu school was located at 244 1/2 Main Street, and was relocating to Chinatown. This is a great opportunity and we snapped up the location for our school. And then once again, it was renovation time.

The never-ending cycle of renovating kung fu schools began again.

Training in that Main St .location was full of colourful characters and stories.
Sadly, that amazing architecture was torn down, and now a hotel stands in its place.

Perhaps the most cherished memory was the inception of the Manitoba kung fu association. This lofty goal was achieved with the union of all the kung fu schools in Manitoba under one banner. Shared lion dances and demonstrations supporting the Chinese community at large. The organization even include shared seminars , and an all kung fu/ Taiji tournament. A monthly newsletter was circulated, and even yearly modest dues were collected from all members which gave a little bit of Financial breathing room to create innovative and interesting projects.

I often lament the passing of this association, as these were truly the halcyon days of kung fu in Manitoba.

But I digress.

Eventually we moved to Scurfield Boulevard, where we shared space with a new school, and a relatively unheard of art. Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Winnipeg’s first Brazilian jiu-jitsu Academy was established at that location, and we shared the space with them for several years.

Training at this location also Heralded the birth of our kids programming. Prior to this, our kids programming was sparse at best. Most likely due to demographics and location. Being in Chinatown or the exchange district did not really lead to many parents being ecstatic about the location. Kids were so rare back in those days that we literally didn’t have anybody in our school under the age of 14.

Suddenly, on Scurfield, we had a burgeoning kids program. With a kids programm came competition at local tournaments. I would say that we enjoyed a tremendous run on the tournament circuit during that stint at the Scurfield school. Our approach to teaching, and the materials presented became more solidified, and our curriculum was established.

In the early 2000s we moved our programming to the Dakota community center. In this facility, we enjoyed about 7000 ft.² of wide open space, and grew the club tremendously.

It was here that we developed our own unique tournament to fill a void here in Winnipeg. The tournament was called for kids only martial arts championship. It ran for 10 years and was innovatively far ahead of its time in terms of it’s presentation.

The tournament was advanced registration only, and divisions were scrutinized to ensure increased fairness in all divisions. Lastly, it utilized my own proprietary scoring system that insured objective mathematical evaluation of each contestant to ensure that the winners won, and to eliminate subjectivity.

The creation of the tournament was quite a lofty goal, and absolutely would not have been possible if it weren’t for the incredible contributions of senior students like Nelson, Gordon and Tammy. My heart felt thanks goes out to them for the help that they provided and countless hours of technical expertise. Thank you.

to this day, people still tell me how much they miss our tournament, because it was always an incredibly high-quality affair.

Sadly, the tournament proved to be something with so many moving parts that it became more and more difficult to manage each year, as it relied upon volunteer manpower.

It’s missed, but perhaps the torch will once again be carried, and the tournament revived. Time will tell if there is interest and will .

10 years ago, our agreement with Dakota community Centre was in question, and we decided to begin looking for a more permanent space once again. Several searches with real estate agents and leasing professionals came up with nothing substantial. It was either the wrong area or out of our league in terms of Rental price. We can never really find a good fit, but kept looking.

One day while driving down Pembina highway I casually glanced to see whether one of my old acquaintances still had his chiropractic office in that building. The building was 2989 Pembina Highway, and I noticed that there was no chiropractor in the building any longer. He must’ve moved. However, I glanced to the second floor and saw giant sign that said in the window “for rent”.

It was just one of those moments where I drove right by, but a minute or two later, I had this overwhelming urge to turn my vehicle around and just go look. I walked up to the second floor and be held quite the scene. There was a large space for rent on the second floor that previously held a medical laboratory of some sort. It had undergone a partial demolition and was used as a storage space. It was a giant mess, but I could see the potential.

The landlord was a newcomer to Canada. He had arrived from China recently and bought the building. I sat down with him and chatted and some very broken Chinese, and we became fast friends instantly. We hammered a deal whereby we would provide all the manpower to fix the space, and he would give us a great deal on our rent.

The contract was signed, and the work began.

The list is too long to mention all the contributions friends and students provided in the construction of our school. However, it should be said that it took approximately five months to build out that space and renovated into the beautiful presentation that we have now. During that five months, my good friend and student. Ron Price was there more often than not lending his expertise and everything from plumbing to framing and drywall. It was a great experience hanging out and working with people that shared in the belief that this would be an amazing training space one day. Many thanks.

Present day.

It has been 10 years in this space. They went by so fast.

In this facility our instructors have impacted the lives of so many kids and adults, through the teaching and sharing of traditional kung fu training and values.

It’s my hope that this past 40 years, teaching Authentic kung fu in Winnipeg will serve as a springboard to ensure the traditional arts will never be lost or forgotten.

So, we continue.

Train Hard!

Sifu Neil
May 27, 2024