Chan Tai San stories

[lkfmdc]

out of town for holidays with very limited internet access, but more will come in January when I return

[cerebus]

We're looking forward to it. Enjoy!

[Newb]

Great addition to the thread. Thanx.

[cerebus]

Thanks, that was great!

[lkfmdc]

I did not realize that Chris was on here, but I am so happy to see him and to see him add his thoughts. The life we led was not normal by anyone's standards so it is nice that someone who was there can sort of "testify" that it is all true!

Hey, Chris, if you are still reading, I just heard about the little addition, my best wishes, I am happy for you.... we'll chat soon

[Newb]

(Chanting)

More Chan Tai San Stories!

More Chan Tai San Stories!


Where's my Burrito??

[lkfmdc]

... be careful what you ask for....

If Chris is still around, he'll get a kick out of this one. Michael Parrella and Gus Kapros came to me one day just after the school in Mineola had been opened. They wanted the primary course for the school to be Choy Lay Fut but they had no short CLF forms as beginners sets...

I simply suggested they teach some of the shorter, more beginner Lama sets Steve Ventura and I had learned, or, baring that, MAKE UP a short set, no big deal...

They wanted to ask Sifu Chan for a set... my advice, based upon knowing Sifu for years, was not to bother... Sifu rarely taught sort, beginner forms, he was much more into showing off what he had... as I said earlier.. I told them, they would likely end up with a very long and complicated form so Sifu Chan could "show off" the quality of the stuff he could teach, rather than what they really wanted...

YOuth is about being stubborn, so they insisted, and off we went to talk to sifu...

I tried to explain that we wanted a "chouh kahp" (beginner level) set for the school. Sifu Chan, as I expected, said "no, we need a "Kyuhn Jung" (fist seed) set to show off the new school, show we are doing something special, a CLF lineage not taught here before, etc etc

I translated back, "he wants to do a fist seed set"... I added, "he's going to give you what I told you he would, NOT what you want really"...

Parrella was suddenly in love with the idea of getting a "kyuhn jung" set.... I tired to warn him against it...

So, the die was cast, the set ended up being well in excess of 150 movements, with very complicated variations, pretty much a taste of the entire style. It was impossible for beginners to learn. Over they years, Parrella and Kapros broke it up, it was broken up into two sets, then three sets.... it was the total opposite of what they had originally wanted... be careful what you ask for...

A similar experience, this time with Lama and my classmate Stephen Innocenzi... he wanted to get some more advanced fighting techniques... so on Sifu Chan went with two VERY LONG Lama sets know as "Batt Duhn Go Sau" and "Sahp Duhn Go Sau" (eight section advanced hand, ten section advanced hand)

Innocenzi, Ventura and I all ended up doing these sets, very long, very complicated, lots of advanced techniques.... a lot of it pretty obscure or esoteric. Innocenzi said "when we're done, I guess we'll drill all this stuff...."

But, in typical chan Tai San fashion, when we were done with the sets Sifu Chan said to Innocenzi "there, you have advanced techniques, which is WHAT YOU ASKED FOR".... Innocenzi then said "well, I was hoping we'd drill stuff"... but, of course, that had not been WHAT HE HAD ASKED FOR...

[ngokfei]

man wished he sold cars


happy new year dave, give my best to the guys

eagle boy

[MonkeyBoy]

lkfmdc,

Thank you for sharing.

Gloria anum nova.

[lkfmdc]

I had the pleasure of having Steve Ventura and Steve Innocenzi over for dinner this weekend and we tossed around Chan Tai San stories....

Innocenzi reminded me of ANOTHER "brick story"... this time we were in Florida... we once again had like a day or so to get the bricks, but Chan Tai San was going nuts again, this time going nuts on Innocenzi! I must have been hiding or something

Apparently, Sifu Chan corners Innocenzi in the hotel lobby... Innocenzi again says "relax, we've got time"...

Sifu wigs out... I forgot this, but he went outfront of the hotel and flagged down someone's car, not a student, not even a kung fu person, not even someone we knew, just a total stranger, a white guy who spoke no Chinese and had no idea what the heck was going on, just some crazy Chinese guy had jumped in front of his car and was carrying on...

Of course, after this scene, we HAD to take him to get his bricks... but Innocenzi was mad as heck...

so why then, you might ask, did Sifu Chan ask Innocenzi to take the sledge hammer that night? One of sifu's tricks was to pile bricks on his head and have them broken with a sledge hammer. Why he chose Innocenzi, who was fooming at him, well, it is anyone's guess...

I forgot this whole story, but I was dying remembering it, Inno took the hammer and in a GIANT SWING cracked Sifu on the head during the demo.... darn, remembering that was funny...

[cerebus]

[cerebus]

So, Sifu Ross .... did you ask him how his head felt afterwards?

[Newb]

Originally posted by cerebus
So, Sifu Ross .... did you ask him how his head felt afterwards?

Apparently he had his extra strength Tylenol handy.

[Shaolinlueb]

Originally posted by lkfmdc
Why should I even care what a BJJ zombie says? He's probably got like a year of training and thinks he is the deadliest person alive... It is, after all, bull sh it do forum isn't it?

If you listen to some of these people, and most act like they are 12 and just got their first computer, no one ever fought before Helio Gracie appeared on the planet.

The proof is in the pudding, one of the largest and most successful FIGHTING programs in the US is run by two of Chan Tai San's disciples. The newspapers, the many masters who knew Chan Tai San, the many people who actually met the man, they don't lie.

well said sifu ross. well said

[SifuAbel]

Just to add a bit and not derail the thread. A "what do you do" thread came up over there. A majority of memebers revealed that they were college students.