Good schools / masters in San Diego, Ca?

[BigWave]

Can anyone recommend any good kung fu schools or masters to study with in San Diego.

I'm new to Kung Fu and was wondering if there is some great wisdom out there?

Thanks,
Dave

[Black Jack]

My best friend lives in Point Loma, he is a martial artist and knows a LOT of the schools and teachers down in that area, maybe I can help you?

I know of a very good 7 Star Mantis guy who really trains to fight down their in that neck of the woods, their is also a Southern Dragon teacher, White Eyebrow, Wing Chun, Choy Lay Fut, White Tiger, Kenpo, Ninjitsu, Aikido, Tai Chi, Hsing-I, good Muay Thai, Great JKD Concept schools, Excellent Judo/Ju Jitsu clubs, Boxing, Shooto, let me know what you are interested in and I will get reviews if I can and tell you where they are.

[BigWave]

Thanks for the quick reply Black Jack!

I'm not quite sure which style is best. I'd like to take a style that has alot of variety to it. Something with both hard and soft styles.

I'd also like to learn a style that would be suited at some point for comp. sparring if I eventually decide to go in that direction.

From what I've heard Choy Lay Fut, Hsing-I and Shoalin sound interesting.

[Kempo Guy]

If you're looking for a Kung Fu school, I'd recommend Mike Patterson's school in La Mesa. He teaches Xing Yi as well as Tai Ji.
You can find out more at: http://www.hsing-i.com/

If you aren't necessarily set on traditional Kung Fu, I'd also recommend checking into Ron Harris' school in San Diego. I believe he teaches JKD Concepts, Filipino Martial Arts and BJJ.
His schools link is: http://www.royharris.com/

There's other teachers that are pretty good like: Sam Kuoha (Kara Ho Kempo) in El Cajon, there's a CHA3 Kempo school in SD as well.

Good luck.

KG

[Black Jack]

My buddy has trained down their with Harris and yeah, it is a great school, if you want a lot of variety, well your best bet in any case is to go visit the school/teacher and make sure you find what they are doing to be what you want.

The 7 Star Mantis teacher is supposed to be excellent, he also goes down to TJ I believe and fights in bar tourneys down their, his lineage from what I am told is top notch, his h2h skills razor sharp, and best of all for the chinese arts, the guy has an open mind.

Not to mention, his Sifu, lives in the same area, so their is a good line of knowledge down their for that system, from what I understand is that he starts you on two person drills right away, and even gets you into controlled sparring very soon, the first form I believe is a Shaolin form called "small circle", used to help with your foundation, after that you get into the first Mantis form, Bong Bo.

Let me know if you are interested, my buddy has good taste and has trained with this guy before, they are friends, he recommends him, he does not recommend the White Tiger or Choy Lay Fut school down in that area, not enough reality I think my friend stated, no contact.

Give me a shout and I can see if I can find you some info.

[kungfuyou]

Depends on where you live in SD area. In North county there is a KungFu San Soo in Oceanside. A good hung ga/Bagua in Escondido (my old school! :D) There is Aikido in San Marco's and Vista.

In Mira Mesa there's a lot as well. Some Hapkido, some Choy Li Fut (White Tiger), LOTS of TKD and Karate (Big surprise right!).

In SD there is 7 Star Praying Mantis, Yang Style Tai chi in Balboa Park, Hsing-I in La mesa, blah blah blah. I think everyone else said a lot of this to. Believe it or not there is a LOT of MA in SD. Wish I could move back!! :(

Oh well. Take your pick. Most are pretty good and have good reps. Of course you will have to see for yourself.

[Ima Pseudonym]

kungfuyou,

woah there buddy! ;)

just a clarification, the choy li fut is called White Dragon school, our White Tiger school is real Bak Fu Pai (White Tiger System). It is also located in Mira Mesa

Bigwave,

though i am terribly biased to what i do ;), feel free to check out our website or call the school to see if we have what you are looking for. you can also e-mail me direct.

website: www.tigerkungfu.com

[BigWave]

Hey Black Jack,

Yeah that would be great if you could find some info. for me.

That 7 Star Mantis teacher sounds quite interesting!

You can email me directly at dave@heistein.com

Thanks,

Big Wave

[Jimbo]

The 7-star Mantis teacher you are talking about is a friend of mine named Sifu Mike Dasargo, who is a student of my friend Sifu Tony Puyot. As befits a student of Puyot, Dasargo is a very good sifu of Mantis with a heavy emphasis on realistic applications. I've known Sifu Puyot for many years and he is an awesome martial artist though you will not hear him say so.

There is also good Lung Ying (Dragon) style, and yes, there IS good, real Choy Lay Fut in San Diego, but you have to know where to look, and a good school doesn't necessarily have to be part of a large commercial chain. Also good Hsing-I, good Yang(?) style Taiji, and I've heard there is some good Wing Chun, too (supposedly also have to know where to look). Also there is supposed to be a good Hung Gar school in Encinitas.

[Black Jack]

Yeah thats the guy my friend recommends, supposed to be the real deal, and a nice guy to boot.

Can you e-mail Bigwave Mike's specifics, the schools website, and so on to help him out?

I was going to get the info, but it will have to wait intell Tuesday, thanks.

[wu_de36]

Not a Chinese Martial Art, but...

UC-Tech Tang Soo Do
Master Patrick & Master Clare Marsch
9710 Caminito Calor
San Diego, CA 92131
858-578-4670

good people. sparring in tang soo do is largely point-sparring, so if that's what you want, but not necessarily a focus on... chekc them out.

if all you want is point sparring, find a good tkd school and train there.

[MonkeySlap Too]

Isn't there an Oom Yung Doe school in point loma?




I'm kidding!!!!Really! The Mantis guy sounds great!

[Black Jack]

You know Monkey Slap, one of these days your going to get up in the morning and find a whole wave of these guys on your front lawn doing the 3 hour/never mimic the same move once, Ocean form and just crap in your pants:D

[Ima Pseudonym]

just read one of your earlier posts with your friends recommendations. i think he or you might be confusing our school (white tiger) with the Choy Lay Fut chain of schools (white dragon). we have a lot of contact in class (arm conditioning and such) as well as sparring at least every saturday if not more frequently depending on the week.

have a great easter

D

[bearpaw]

My school (Joel Rizzo's White Tiger) is having their 5th Annaversary this coming Saturday. We are located on Miramar Rd. same parking lot as the Denny's and 7-11. Starts at 6pm you can call (858) 695-1630 for more info. there will be demostrations.

P.S. They don't teach spelling.

[Black Jack]

No offense to you or your school, their could be a good chance I am mistaking your school or my friend did not give enough of a chance to its study, but from what I remeber is that I believe he stated the reason he did not like it, and these are ONLY personal reasons, is because its training is very internal, he wanted something very combative right away, which is more of his personality type, that and if I remeber correctly, I think he stated you only do sparring once the student reaches a certain level, and then the sparring was more like a modified one step, I believe at the time that just was not what he was looking for, he already had a background in Muay Thai (Mells House of Thunder) Kenpo-Jitsu, Western Boxing and a small bit of Chi Dao Ch'uan Gung Fu.

Again if this is wrong, I apologize, the best bet for anyone is to go down to the school, meet the teacher a few times, and take a few basic classes to see if it will fit the student, that should give anyone a indication.

You might remeber my friend, Bryan Griggs, it was AWHILE ago, he was a U.S. Navy Torpedo Loader/High Ordance, stationed on the USS McKee.

[Jimbo]

Please note White Dragon schools are NOT the only representative of CLF in S.D. The majority of the best kung fu in S.D. does not have large ad campaigns or big commercial chains. The martial art with probably the biggest following in S.D. is American Kenpo, plus a lot of TKD, but there is quite a variety of martial arts in the area.

[Ima Pseudonym]

no worries bro, just puttin' my side of things out there ;). we are very internal and i do agree it's not for everyone, and we do wait until the students are capable of a modicum of control before we allow them to spar. actually, your friend's name sounds familiar probably met him at some time. as far as our sparring being a type of modified one-step, we do start out with single opponents and some defense and offense drills, but once a student shows they can handle themselves it's off to the races ;) (multiple opponents and all that jazz), but i can see how someone might get the wrong idea before they get to that stage. usually takes approx. 4 months to get ready to spar.

anyways, have a great easter and keep on trainin'...

[Lice]

Jimbo,

Who would you recommend as a CLF school in SD? I've been looking at starting up in CLF in the near future.

Thanks!

[kungfuyou]

Originally posted by Ima Pseudonym
kungfuyou,

woah there buddy! ;)

just a clarification, the choy li fut is called White Dragon school, our White Tiger school is real Bak Fu Pai (White Tiger System). It is also located in Mira Mesa

website: www.tigerkungfu.com

My bad!! :D It's been awhile!! Didn't know so many from down there posted!! :D kinda nice!! I'm actually considering moving back, hopefully back to North County to continue studying from my old Sifu.

I knew there was som CLF, couldn't remember if it was White Dragon or White Tiger!! :) I know one is from Lineage of Doc Fai Wong. Is this your school?!

Jimbo,

There is Hung Ga in Encinitas?? Didn't know that. The only one that I knew of was the one that I studied at was the one I trained at in Escondido, which he also taught Bagua! Did you mean this one maybe?! ;)
The Yang Style that I know if is taught at Balboa Park taught by a student of
Master Kay Ying Tung (http://www.tungkaiying.com/)

[Lice]

Or if anyone else knows of a good CLF school in San Diego? :)

Hopefully in the range of the north county since that's where I work and live.

Danke.

[kungfuyou]

I believe there is a school in Oceanside. If I remember correctly it's a White Tiger Dragon Kwoon!!

[Lice]

I'm pretty sure there's a White Dragon school in O'side, but it gives me a 'chain kwoon' feeling. That and Jimbo hinted towards better teachers in the area. :)

Anyone ever heard of Master Frank Primicias from http://www.choylayfut.com/? That's the only other CLF school I know if in the area, but I don't know too much about them. I'll probably be visiting his Poway school sometime.

[Jimbo]

kungfuyou:
The Hung Gar school in Encinitas I think is called North County Kung Fu Club, either that or Tiger Crane. It is not the same as the one in Escondido.

As for the CLF, Master Primicias is definitely worth checking out.