Finally, a mantis school in Las Vegas?

[Yung Apprentice]

I've always been interested in mantis style, but there has only been one sifu in my area. Sifu Baugh of the Lohan school. He is a good guy and a good teacher, but his school wasn't for me.

I was bored tonight, so I decided to search the net to see if any new schools in my area have a website of some sort. And this came up. Supposedly this school has been around for three years, but I had not heard one thing about it.

It's called the Winded Fist Temple of Martial Arts. The person who runs the school is Terrance A. Bilal, who is authorised to teach under Song Jang Soo. There is a sifu Freddie W. Maryweather and a sifu James Willis Jr.

I came on here to see is anyone had heard any of these names or studied with or under one of them, and if they have a good rep or not.

I was able to see the website under this. http://www.kungfusites.com/wftma1/index.cfm?

Check it out, and tell me if it seems authentic, or if you think it's hokey. Thanks.

[Scythefall]

Why not just go over there and take some classes? I'm a bit curious about them myself because I've been doing kung fu here in Vegas for a long time and I don't recognize their names. I'll try to remember to ask Sifu if he knows any of them.

[Hua Lin Laoshi]

Well, I've never heard Mantis called Peng Pu before.

Never heard of the Plum Flower Arena held every seven years either but then I guess I'm not good enough to get invited. Probably just internal to his school only.

I wonder how much the World Rank Recognition and the membership patch cost. Not that I'll be joining, just curious.

I do take exception to this comment though "Other styles are soft and circular and do not appear useful for combat".

All-in-all it sounds like the usual excessive marketing. Whether they know anything or are any good remains to be seen.

Drop by the school and give us a report. I'm currently waiting on a possible job offer in Vegas so I'm interested what schools are out there.

[mantis108]

Regarding the mantis portion. I see red flags - 5 out of 7.

Plum Flower Arena is a first for me too. :confused: Where's the invitation? Are there going to be tatoos on the forearms or something upon graduation too? Your choice of Taiji on the left forearm plum flower on the right or 7 stars etc.... That will be cool! lol...

Mantis108

[BaldMonk]

Sounds like a bunch of smoke and mirrors to me. I'd be shocked and astounded if you walked into this place and found authentic kungfu. Note the mixing of Chinese and Japanese terms. You gotta guy calling himself a sempai in the mix with all the Sifu's. And what's this finding yourself crap? They talk about how one of their people averaged fourth place in forms. How do you know there weren't only four people competing in his division. As for unparralled combat expertise, only one second place finish, they never said how he placed the other times they just let you assume it was first. I've heard Tony Yang's student, Andy Lianto is opening a school in Vegas. I'll try to get more info for you.

[Yung Apprentice]

I too thought it sounded hokey as well. There were red flags coming up when I went thru, but I figured to ask the mantis guys first. I might drop by to see how things are run, but I doubt I will study with them. I had hoped for a mantis school.



Bald Monk- Thank you, I would like that info!

[Yung Apprentice]

Hua Lin Laoshi- There are some great schools out here.









Scythefall- Where do you train at?

[baji-fist]

Man, after reading that site, I felt like passing some wind.

I heard almost the same thing Baldy, but I thought that Master Yang was the one who was moving to Vegas?

Either way, I think Yung Apprentice will benefit learning from either of them. Andy Lianto is excellent in mantis and bajiquan. His movements are very crisp and fast. A very good representative of Tony Yang's teachings! You can find out more info on their material visiting their website or checking a book called "Nei Jia Quan"

[Three Harmonies]

Tony Yang has been saying he is moving to Vegas for years now, but I am not sure it is panning out. If anyone it would be Yang Laoshi not Andy, but things may have changed since.
Robert Baugh has a school there, but I do not know of his skill. I am good friends with one of his students here in NM., and his skills are decent.(not much knowledge in the fighting arena, but that seems to be SOP in the CMA lately!).
Nice to hear from Baldmonk, the craziest mo-fo north of the border!! Whats up with the Pugs? ;)

Cheers
Jake :D

[tanglang69]

In my opinion,

This guy is modeling his stuff after a kung-fu/tai chi instructor in, I believe is Michigan or Minnesota, that teaches only adults. He has close to 500 students. He was featured in one of the Industry Magazines, MA Success or Professional Martial Arts Mag.

Their website is similar in content in regards to the finding yourself stuff.

Winded Fist site is powered by MartialArtsSites.com, so I know they must be part of some big org., like Martial Arts Industry Association or National Association of Professional Martial Artists.

The funny thing is we as TCMA practitioners might make fun of them. But regular people don't know any better, so they probably will be flocking to his school.

Well gotta go,
Oved
tanglang69:)

[Hua Lin Laoshi]

Yung Apprentice
My interest is in how much competition is out there. If I do go I will most likely be opening a school. I should know in about 2 weeks.

I too heard, from my Sifu, that Tony Yang is moving there.

What else is there besides the usual TKD/Karate?

[Oso]

...and does 'winded fist' sound like they are too tired to anyone else?

[BaldMonk]

Yung Apprentice,

:( Sorry but it looks as if Jake is right. Got in touch with Andy and it looks like he's not going to Vegas. Perhaps you may want to check out Robert Baugh's school. If Jake says his student's skills are decent then you should be okay. But I wouldn't ignore the fact that the students fighting skills are non-existent. You may have to look elsewhere if fighting is what you're after.

Jake,

The revolution will be televised. You better stop clownin' or you're gonna wake up to a pair of Pug eyes looking down at you:D

Baji-Fist

I sent you some Piqua clips with me hitting the bag. Check your email.

Peace
BaldMonk

[Yung Apprentice]

sifu Baugh has a good school, but like I said, it wasn't for me.

I'll be going back to my old sifu, Jack Soiderberg.




Hua Lin Laoshi- Yeah, there are a lot of Tkd/Karate schools here. But there are also a lot of WC schools (many are pretty good) some Shaolin school (the shaolin monk at the russbo place, and Baugh just to name a couple) A couple of JKD schools, a couple Muy Thai gyms, a few boxing gyms, a bunch of BJJ schools.

There is also a Hsing-Yi school here too.

[yu shan]

So there you go, Mantis in Las Vegas! :cool:

[Yung Apprentice]

That would be cool!:)

[RAF]

About 3 years ago, Tony Yang's sister moved to Los Vegas. Later Tony's parents moved there and there was some initial talk about Andy and Tony going out there with Tony splitting his time between Los Vegas and Akron, Ohio. Currently Tony Yang's son is attending Kent State University (12 miles from the school) and will finish in about 3.5 years.

With regard to a school in Los Vegas, currently all plans are on hold but Tony does visit his family.

Andy Lianto would make a fine teacher and owner. He has also learned praying mantis from Sun De Yao, in addition to what Tony has taught him. His baji/pigua is well on its way and you just never know which way the wind blows.

[Yung Apprentice]

Well, I rolled by the school just to check it out. I couldn't even find it. I searched the surrounding areas for thirty minutes and still couldn't even find it. Probably is a bunk address.