Jow Ga

[ShaolinTiger00]

ttt

[Lost_Disciple]

Hey,
I'll be in Baltimore on the 15th at around 3 in the afternoon if anyone wants to pick me up from BWI airport, and hang out before going in for more processing on the morning of the 16th.
I'll be stayin at the BWI Holiday Inn btw.
I'd like to hang out with you guys out there. :)

Just some thoughts from an ignoramus.

[ShaolinTiger00]

Sorry big guy, the 15th is next Monday and I'll be up to my eyeballs in work!

btw, you are relocating to Balimur (the local pronounciation) aren't you? When you get settled look me up! I'll show you around DC!

[Lost_Disciple]

See I don't know...
This is the third time the NSA people have delayed me. The trip up there on the 15th is to go sort out something i thought I'd resolved 5 weeks ago; they just took this long to tell me my explanation wasn't good enough.
So unless they tell me I'm hired and give me a start date as soon as I get up there; I'm thinking i'll go with another company- that is of course if I can get hired by anyone else.
It's a shame though, cuz i was getting real stoked about going there; but nothing's settled yet, so who knows?

Just some thoughts from an ignoramus.

[RENEGADE_MONK]

LD,

good to see things are starting to move forward for you ;)

I wouldn't mind showing you around, but unfortunately thats a work day for me, so it would be kinda hard. But if you happen to stay a little longer just drop an email or post here

[Disciple108]

RENEGADE_MONK: post from 05-16-01 06:19 PM
"Dean Chin... passed away in 1985.. from a swimming accident.."

interesting and euphemistic way of putting it ;)

I remember Sifu Randy, when i used to train under him, as a fast mover. We used to joke that if you blink, you'd miss what he was showing you. :)

Back in the beginning he used to teach a fair bit and do privates for a reasonable price. As the decade(s) rolled on, his wife and himself ran it more like a business and he stopped teaching lessons. Doing the occasional seminar on northern staff or wushu broadsword.

I was told by an elder brother that's still there that Sifu Randy had started teaching on Tuesday nights (surry hills) again for awhile (last year some time). Which was appreciated and much liked by the students. But essentially he administers the business and trains himself and his son Azuma (?how to speel?)

A lot of the seniors have left over time due to one issue or the other and the school consist largely of lower to medium "sashes" spread over Leihardt and Surry Hills.

Fun mix of weapons and empty hand forms spread over a curriculum that has changed over time and is much more compressed than it was. Spear appears to be taught wrong as it uses same hands as staff.

I found that there was too much emphasis on grading quickly and not on quality. That's not to say that there wasn't quality.

IMHO, more emphasis needs to be placed on correct training and less on grading quickly and money issues.

i wouldn't train there again due to personal (bad) experiences.

Aldo Santorelli who was a student of Randy's started up a school in riverwood... well, paid randy for a franchise. The name of the school is actually a registered business name. He no longer trains other students after an unfortunate accident that injured his back (rollercoaster ride at wonderland i think). The guy was one tough character. Easily one of the toughest ones there. (The other i can think of left Jow Ga after an.. incident.. and now trains with Chuen Chak Fei of Double Dragon fame).

As a side note, training Jow Ga in Hong Kong was a funny experience. Attitude was totally different as was the atmosphere of the school. weights equipment and weapons strewn over a medium size apartment. They were real tough guys over there :) (the kind i wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley).

Ramblingly Yours,
  Disciple108

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<<-- The person who is afraid of asking is afraid of learning -->>

[Fish of Fury]

hey Disciple108
did you know Neil Elliot? i trained under him for a while.
what do you train now?

__________________________________________________ _________________________ "I'm just trying to lull you into a genuine sense of security!"

[mysteri]

FYI- sifu randy has a website: www.jowga.com.au if u were not aware.. since u trained under him, i jus wanna ask a question. okay, obviously, there is a contemporary wushu flare to his forms. could u elaborate a bit on his martial arts background? also, do u know of him being a fighting champion or anything? please don't take it the wrong way, it's just a question. i like to hear about jow ga sifu's from previous students. thank you much for your time.

In a fight you should never stick to principles; they should stick to you!

[Disciple108]

was neil at leihhcardt or surry hills? sorry, i'm not familiar with the name. I do remember cassie (eldest), phil and thomas. some of the other guys and girls i used to train with are now seniors there from what i heard.

at the moment, i'm concentrating on fujian arts (though i'm still doing pinches and dashes of other things on the side :p)

Respectfully,
&nbsp;&nbsp;Disciple108

btw, i like your nick :D

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<<-- The person who is afraid of asking is afraid of learning -->>

[Disciple108]

One of the students (Jeremy--and elder now) did the website awhile ago. Him and his wife train there. One of three students picked to be seniors about 2 yrs ago (another of the three left and is now a mantis practitioner, the other is still there and is in the latest hyundai(?) ad on tv :p)

The site reads like an upgraded version of Sifu Randy's brochure :D Nice layout from Jeremy though.

sorry, I'm digressing.. :)

Sifu Randy competed one time over in SE Asia in a tournament where he came third. I don't recall whether it was a international jow ga tournie or a general kung fu one. he was happy with that achievement and often said to me that the people that beat him live, breathed, trained kf all day long. he's happy to have his health and time with family etc etc.

he has also appeared in those kung fu get togethers from last century (when it was actually economically viable to do). There are videos out there of him doing spear and steal whip (at darling harbour or the ent cent.. don't remember).

As for his background, i learnt from another senior that it's quite... colourful. Something that i'd only hint at ;) and wouldn't be comfortable divulging. (Lest i offend anybody who might want to hunt me down and show me their exceptional jow ga prowess :p )

suffice to say, despite certain disappointment at his other traits, i do acknowledge that sifu randy is a good *jowga* martial artist if nothing else. he's quick and precise. his teaching techniques (when he does actually teach) are easy to learn from whether your an expert or a pleb. IMHO, he is one of the few teachers in sydney that actually appears to train in his spare time ;)

plus the lucky bugger has the cool plates KUNGFU on his black BMW

Respectfully,
&nbsp;&nbsp;Disicple108

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<<-- The person who is afraid of asking is afraid of learning -->>

[thekuntawman]

randy bennett was one of sifu chin's best students in the 1970s. when sifu was teaching regular, he was very interested in perfection, and every posture in your form is like a pose. the classes were two hours classes, and most of the time the class did everything from a horse stance for about 30 minutes to one hour with no break. every person from that time until about 1982-83, has almost perfect movement, and are very strong. nothing like what you would see today. i think raymond wong is the only person around today who got students of jow ga who moves the same way, and fights also. most of the schools have one or two guys who have strong kung fu, but the last time i saw them ALL of raymonds boys looks like that.

back to randy, he was part of a group of young, young men, craig lee, royale __something, ricardo ho, and eugene mackie that were a kind of strong kung fu men you will never see again. sifu took them to taiwan in 1979 and they mop the floor with those chinese guys, but the judging looks like they were korean judges instead, and the us team didnt do so well. one of our people, tehran brighthaupt knocked out a guys, and he lost first place becuase he was "all strength, no technique". we also had many people who went to other places because the promotions is so slow. i not going to say names because you see some of them in movies today and other places in the magazines.

but for randy, his kung fu is very strong, and i dont know about this information that 108 talks about, all i can say is very few people dedicated to making his art so powerful will do a bad teaching just to make a buck. and yes you can make money teaching, and maybe for the people who are weak they get a different outcome from the training, but you cant raise a family on the few dedicated people who come to you, so you have to make your money someway. if can do it all again, i would put my money into a commercial school so i can give my dedicated students a good home, but instead i refuse students, i kick some out, and i pay for it, when it comes time to pay bills.

i would not hold it to randy for teaching the wimps wimpy kung fu, as long as there is the strong class is for the ones who want it.

but for wushu in his art, i dont know. but in the old jow ga school, when you learn northern you really learn northern and can do it like a northern guy. if you dont know the style, its easy to look and say "that's wushu!" but he got the main jow ga forms, then its still the real jow ga.

[thekuntawman]

also, happy double ten.

i live for a couple years in taiwan, and that is a festival day for a lot of people. i dont know if many of you guys celebrate 10/10.

first 18 forms of jow ga
1.small tiger
2.gune lic
3.small tiger 2 man set
4.staff #1
5.flower fist
6.staff vs staff
7.plum blossom spear
8.big tiger
9.tiger tail broadsword
10.tai chi (peking)
11.spear vs. broadsword
12.iron arrow
13.3 section staff
14.small hung fist
15.double broadsword
16.double boradsword vs spear
17.bong bo tung lung
18.jeet kune or tiger and crane (i forgot which one)

the order is not important, but this is the order i learned it, and i think i was at that part somewhere when sifu died. there was one, he did not show the students, only to raymond wong, who showed it to me (i learned it with bong bo) it was a ying jow form that i dont have the name for.

[Fish of Fury]

D108

Neil was at hurstville (he's been out of the club for years now i think)
i was interested in what you where doing cos i'm also doing fujian 'fu now (Ngor Chor)

__________________________________________________ _________________________ "I'm just trying to lull you into a genuine sense of security!"

[ZhouJiaQuan]

Mysteri,
I too can see the wushu flare in his Jow Ga. Since i started these wushu classes my Jow Ga might get that way too, but im trying to not let it affect me(although maybe a bit wont hurt the northern flower fist :) ). Anyway how did he get that drop/slant stance(the one on the weapons page), i want to be able to do that :)

What happend saturday? I should be going to sifu charles' school next week too. i look fwd to seeing how his school is.

peace,
Wally

"Everyone seems so clever and self-assured.
I alone appear unlearned and original,
insistent upon a different direction than other people pursue." -Lao Tzu

[mysteri]

thekuntawman: as always, ur an enlightening one for youngsters like me. i'm always trying to improve myself(esp jow ga combat) so tha i might one day be good enough to fight @ the international level and become a champion. though i know that it is MUCH MUCH MUCH harder than it seems!

zhoujiaquan: ey man, i missed last sat too, had family priorities. as always, family first. but tues and thurs. i agree w/disciple and kuntawman though. i understand what kind of training adn dedication is necessary to become great, but of course not everyone pays to learn kung fu with those same goals in mind. so u can't conduct class as u would have 30 years ago. that's very frustrating and i can see it in sifu's face all the time. right now, i'm jus tryin to start small, specialize, and build. but one day, i'll get there!(hopefully while i'm still young though!)

In a fight you should never stick to principles; they should stick to you!