Sam Masich

[apham4]

Hi.. I was curious if anyone has heard of this fellow. I've recently done some searches and found him affiliated with the taste of china and some qigong material. I ask b/c there is a school near where I live and they mention him as the head instructor of the school. But this is in Minnesota and I've heard that he lives in Canada, so i'm assuming that either he used to teach at this school or the instructors are students of his.

Also, for those who have experience with him, what is his curriculum like? I looked at the website of his former instructor, Liang Sho Yu, and LSY's curriculum is as follows:

First Period Requirements:
24 Posture Taijiquan, 32 Posture Taiji Sword, Stationary Peng Lu Ji An
Push Hands

Second Period Requirements:
48 Posture Taijiquan, Moving Peng Lu Ji An Push Hands, Large Roll Back
Push Hands

Third Period Requirements:
42 Posture Taijiquan International Competition Routine; Sun, Chen, and
Wu Style Taiji Competition Routines; and Free Push Hands Training-1

Fourth Period Requirements:
One routine from traditional Chen Style Taijiquan; One routine from traditional Yang, Wu, Sun, or Wú Style Taijiquan; and Free Push Hands
Training-2

Fifth Period Requirements:
One additional routine from Chen Style Taijiquan; Chen Style Taiji Push Hands-1

Sixth Period Requirements:
Yin-Yang Taiji Qigong, Chen Style Taiji Push Hands-2, and Free Push Hands Training-3

Seventh Period Requirements:
Advanced Qigong Training (Taoist or Buddhist Method), Free Push Hands Training-4, and Taiji Sparring Training

taken from the following website:
http://www.shouyuliang.com/classes/taiji.shtml

Just curious if you've noticed that Sam's curriculum closely follows this. I plan on observing this school next tuesday, but just wanted some background info before I went.

Thanks for your input.
A.

[Kevin Wallbridge]

I know Sam personally and have trained quite a bit with him.

He is a formal disciple of both Liang Shouyu and Yang Jwingming (traditional ceremony and all). However his curriculumn is not too close to either of these teachers. Sam began Taiji with Brian Gallagher in Vancouver, who was himself a student of Raymond Chung.

Sam has spent the last several years teaching seminars, mostly on topics of the Yang Chengfu curriculumn. He teaches the 108, weapons (sword sabre and spear), push-hands (8 basic drills, dalu, moving-step, 4-hands (foward and backward timing)), 88 two person form, and Qigong. Sam usually returns several times to a location to offer specific topics. So a school more removed from the West-Coast/Pacific Northwest, may not have covered all of these topics.

As well, Sam put together some small forms for seminar teaching. He calls them 5-section forms. The 5-section solo form is designed to be trained as a two person form as well, acting as a bridge into the much more involved 88-move two person form. There is a 5-section sword form that also can trained with a partner to study two person sword work.

Sam did train Chen, Xingyi and Bagua from Liang Shouyu, but I suspect he would probably not have taught any of them in a seminar context out east.

I don't recall ever meeting anyone from the club you mention, so I can't speak about it, but I will say that Sam has one of the most complete undertandings of Push-hands in the business. His touch is subtle and capable of great... I'll say "vitality." His knowledge of the 24 energies of push-hands is detailed and very clear.

[apham4]

Thanks for your reply, Kevin. The school in question has a website located here:

http://www.westbankkarate.com/taichi.html

Thanks for your insight. I called the school and spoke with the head instructor of the school (not the taiji instructor) and she mentioned things like the 5 section form. I've never heard of this form and initially assumed it to possibly be the 24 PRC form, but I take this to be otherwise based on your information. The school is located in Minneapolis, MN and the instructor mentioned that Sam comes there about 4 times a year.

Thanks for your opinions. I will observe a beginner and intermediate class on tuesday (9/17/02) and will ask more detailed questions there. There was some mention of the chen styles when i inquired as well as competition routines.

My background in martial arts is about 9 years of wushu and about 2 years of taiji. In taiji, I mainly did the 24 and the 48 form, which I enjoyed. I've visited a couple of Cheng Man Ching affliated schools in my area, but I just didn't feel that it was the right school/taiji for me. I think my wushu background has made me more partial to the larger frame taiji styles. I hoping that this school might be a good fit for me at this time in my life.

Thanks again.
A.