Wing Chun Has Come to Buffalo NY!

[Mark Kune]

ave you been interested in Wing Chun Kung Fu and not been able to find any in Buffalo NY?

It is here! With 10 years teaching experience I have relocated to Buffalo and am starting a training group. If you are interested contact me, Mark Stoddard at happyknucklesandwich@verizon.net.

To kick things off, members from the Rochester Wing Chun Student Association and I will have an open class in Buffalo.

It will be on Saturday August 26Th starting at 11:00am until 1:00pm at Hoyt Lake near the Casino in Delaware Park. Stop in and ask questions, observe and even participate. Then enjoy the Elmwood Ave Art Festival and Buffalo Old Home Days events!

Wing Chun is a southern Chinese martial art the focuses on close range striking through using the opponents power against them. It was created by women to give the smaller, weaker person an advantage. It is the only martial art that Bruce Lee formally studied.

The Wing Chun I teach comes from Kenneth Chung who learned from Leung Sheung who learned from Yip Man in Hong Kong in the early 50s.


Thanks and I hope to see from you soon


Mark

[rindge]

Mark, I've been in Clarence / Buffalo NY for 2 years and have bemoaned the fact that there is no WC except for the boys and girls in Rochester -good group. What is your background if you do not mind me asking. I can never tell how long I will remain in the area, but I'd love to potentially train with your group.

Rindge

[Mark Kune]

Hi Rindge,

I'm one of the boys from Rochester. We met once during one of Ken's visits I believe. Anyhoo, if you're interested, let's make it happen.

[Mark Kune]

Just because you're all dieing to know...The open class went well. About half a dozen or so people showed up. About an equal number heard about it online or from a few flyers I posted.

We briefly went over the pole and knife sets, center line and other basic concepts, stepping and turning and some principles of application and of course sitting in the stance going through a quick Siu Lim Tau.

The results being there is interest in a Wing Chun class in Buffalo. We will start meeting on Tuesdays and Thursday at 6:00pm, for now at Hoyt Lake, while I look for a training space.We will start on Tues Sept 5Th at 6:00.

If you or anyone you know are interested drop me a line at happyknucklesandwich@verizon.net

Thanks

Mark

[leejunfan]

I am curious as to why you went over the pole and knife sets in an open class. They are considered by many schools to be the advanced sets and normally are only shown to senior most students. Were there beginners there or was it an advanced class gathering?

[Mark Kune]

There were some experience martial artists there and they wer asking about them so I started with that. I don't believe there are secrets in Wing Chun, just hard work.

The class was open to anyone.

[leejunfan]

"Some" experience can mean many things..... a few months.... a year..... who knows. The question is.... did they have the widely accepted requirements of SLT, CK and BJ that lay the basic foundations for the BJD and LDBK?

You can teach however you wish and I agree there are no secrets... BUT.... teaching something that requires as much skill as the blade and pole sets too early and without the understandings learned by the 3 hands forms is well..... skin & hair kung fu. Know what I mean? ;)

Good luck in Buffalo :)

[Mark Kune]

I don't believe "teaching" anything was mentioned. If you want to make assumptions go ahead. Or you could ask for more specifics.

And it was my typo, I meant to say "experienced martial artists".

[Sihing73]

teaching something that requires as much skill as the blade and pole sets too early and without the understandings learned by the 3 hands forms is well..... skin & hair kung fu. Know what I mean? ;)Good luck in Buffalo :)

Hello,

While I would tend to agree regarding the Knives I would have to differ regarding the Pole. IMHO, the pole can be taught at any time within the training as well as completely outside of Wing Chun. While there are concepts which overlap, the Pole itself is very different than the empty hand sets. Not the same with the knives which are an extension of the hands.

[kj]

Thanks for having us out to join you, Mark. It was nice to see such a good turnout, especially with so many competing activities in Buffalo that weekend. It was great to see Rindge again too, though I regret missing my chance to say goodbye.

You did a great job orienting the new people and giving them an preview of Wing Chun. I was delighted that so many of them paid serious attention to the stance and were receptive to your corrections while they were in the class. It was nice to see such interest from other experienced martial artists too.

Keep up the good work.
- kj

[kj]

You can teach however you wish and I agree there are no secrets... BUT.... teaching something that requires as much skill as the blade and pole sets too early and without the understandings learned by the 3 hands forms is well..... skin & hair kung fu. Know what I mean? ;)

Hi Lee Jun Fan. <giggle>

I know what you mean. Mark is savvy enough to appreciate this too. Have no fear, he did not attempt to "teach" anyone the weapons as implied.

Mark did a great job of providing the newcomers with a general overview of Wing Chun. He touched on a wide variety of topics, offered some demonstrations, and furthermore explained the appropriate training sequence and prerequisites for more advanced work such as the pole and knives. He made it perfectly clear that a well developed stance is the foundation for all subsequent work. This in turn was the perfect segue for the participatory part of class: an introduction to stance training.

So I don't think you need to worry. :)

Regards,
- Kathy Jo

[Faruq]

KJ, what the heck is that avatar all about?

[leejunfan]

Hi Lee Jun Fan. <giggle>

I know what you mean. Mark is savvy enough to appreciate this too. Have no fear, he did not attempt to "teach" anyone the weapons as implied.

Mark did a great job of providing the newcomers with a general overview of Wing Chun. He touched on a wide variety of topics, offered some demonstrations, and furthermore explained the appropriate training sequence and prerequisites for more advanced work such as the pole and knives. He made it perfectly clear that a well developed stance is the foundation for all subsequent work. This in turn was the perfect segue for the participatory part of class: an introduction to stance training.

So I don't think you need to worry. :)

Regards,
- Kathy Jo

Thanks for expaining. I wasn't trying to start anything but in this world of MacDojo's and cutting corners you never can tell. So many students come in asking when they'll start the dummy, knives, pole and so on.... they ask how long will it take for this and that. That is why if I give a demo I'll do whatever I wish but if I'm doing a seminar it's almost always on the important basics of WCK.

Hope to see you guys soon,
Anthony
www.syracusemartialarts.com

[reneritchie]

Best of luck with the new local!

[kj]

KJ, what the heck is that avatar all about?

Do you know the fable of the tortoise and the hare?

Regards,
- kj

[kj]

<deletia> That is why if I give a demo I'll do whatever I wish but if I'm doing a seminar it's almost always on the important basics of WCK.

Glad to hear it. We are of similar minds on this.


Hope to see you guys soon,

Same here, Anthony. I don't manage to check in as often as I used to; it's nice to "see" you online.

Regards,
- kj