News

On Saturday 23rd April 2016, I ran another small-group Wing Chun workshop in New Malden, Surrey, this time solely for those very senior students who have completed an apprenticeship in Kung-Fu, and who are now studying the Journeyman Level of their art.

At this point I must admit to a scheduling error: Firstly, I didn’t check with everyone before putting this date in the events diary, and secondly it was St. Georges Day. So, big thanks to Joe, Ben, Sasha and Scott (pictured above with me) for managing to make it along, and big apologies to Matt, Shao, Ryan, Marcus, Gary, Andrew, Steve, and Dan for running the event when you simply couldn’t attend – my bad. It turned out to be a smaller group than expected – five instead of thirteen – but we had a great session anyway. I’ll schedule an extra one very soon, so we can all get together properly! 🙂

The focus of this session was all-things Biu-Tze, the third ‘Toolkit’ of the Federation Wing Tsun System. We started with the form, then explored attacking options using these specialised tools, then explored several options to overcome such attacks. Top entertainment.

Biu-Tze techniques require a great deal more body movement and overall control than those of the other forms. It became very clear why the system is structured the way it is, and why our warm-ups are the way they are. Without the ability to precisely control your entire body, you are better off NOT using Biu-Tze tools – just change the range and keep using the tools from the Siu-Nim-Tao and the Chum-Kiu that you’re already skilled with.

A common mistake with Biu-Tze is the thinking that it is somehow better than the other forms. Nope. It just provides another range of options. Just like the classic game of rock-paper-scissors, there is never one ‘best’ option – something is only the best in context, at one particular time. It can be a humbling experience to discover that in many situations, your best option may be something far simpler than the Biu-Tze tools.

That said, the Biu-Tze tools do have an incredibly valid place and a great many wonderful uses. But unless you’re training with someone capable of creating the situations in which they are required, it can be very hard to practice their applications. Thanks to everyone who made it down to provide a few hours of high-level work. It was a great workshop, and i’ll schedule another very soon.

LPH

On Saturday 27th February 2016, I ran another small-group Kung-Fu Workshop in New Malden, Surrey.

This time the focus was on the Chi-Sao training programmes of the Federation Wing Tsun System. Chi-Sao is a series of sophisticated training exercises which develop the ability to recognise and react correctly to pressure – it’s one of the four components of my system’s Technical Element.

Over time, the continual practice of correct Chi-Sao creates excellent practical combat reactions. This process forms part of the Creation Cycle of the system, in which good technical skills have a positive effect on practical ability.

Within the technical element, if the Forms of Wing Tsun Kung-Fu can be compared to toolkits, then Chi-Sao is comparable to the instruction manuals for each of the tools and techniques.

Each of my short, concise Chi-Sao cycles delivers real-time instructions for how each technique should be used, and these cycles are then practised with a training partner, and linked together. This process develops the ability to see when and where each technique is best used, which is the essence of good fighting skills.

My continual research over the past decades has yielded well-developed, complete Chi-Sao programmes for each of the forms, which move progressively through the techniques of the Siu-Nim-Tao, the Chum-Kiu, and the Biu-Tze. Each covers different ranges, different tools, and different situations, slowly building into a complete encyclopaedia of skills covering all possibilities. It’s a lot of fun! 🙂

Big thanks to those who attended and trained hard with me for the three-hour workshop. Hope to see you all on the next one in May 2016.

LPH

The samples of our brand-new T-Shirts have arrived, and I think they look awesome. Our new colour palette works brilliantly, and the new logos come across very well indeed.

As you can see, there is a clear progression through the different stages of training within the system, both in the fabric colours and the logo colours too.

Instead of putting the same logo on the left-chest position, I have chosen to feature the Chinese text (which says “Kung-Fu”) along with a graphical representation of the completion of each of the five martial elements.

Starting at the Apprentice Level of the training programme, students at the Foundation Stage (Grades 1-3SG) are working on their Practical Element. They have not yet completed any of their Five Martial Elements, which are illustrated by the five empty circles.

Students within the Basic Stage (Grades 4-6SG) are now working on their Strategic Element, exploring different ways of coping with combat problems. One circle is filled, representing completion of the Practical Element.

Students within the Intermediate Stage (Grades 7-9SG) are now working on their Technical Element, focusing on precision and economy in all things. Two circles are filled, representing completion of the Practical and the Strategic Element.

Students within the Advanced Stage (Grades 10-12SG) are focusing on their Physical Element, which is where we add speed & power to all movements. Three circles are filled, representing completion of the Practical, Strategic and Technical Elements.

Once past the Apprentice Level, we move into the Journeyman Level (Grades 1-4TG). This focuses on the Theoretical Element, understand WHY everything is the way it is. Four circles are complete, representing the Practical, Strategic, Technical and Physical Elements.

Once the Journeyman Level is complete, all five elements have been studied. The final Master Level of the system contains no more training programmes, but instead of being the end, is actually just the start of a lifetime of practice and refinement within the art of Wing Chun Kung-Fu. Like a Doctor graduating from years of medical school, now comes the years of practice leading towards true, complete understanding of the discipline.

Anyhow, that’s the concept behind the new uniform designs and colours. If you want one, i’ll be taking orders over the next few weeks. 🙂

LPH

Our new uniform colour palette has now been finalised! The designs have been sent to the printers this week, and we are expecting samples to arrive in the very near future.

Since 2006 we have used the old White-Grey-Blue-Black-Red palette. It served us very well, but frankly is now looking a little dated. All things must develop and improve, and so as part of our 2016 rebrand I have redesigned the entire uniform range using technical fabrics, our new logos, and of course the new colour scheme as shown above.

The image above shows the colour & design of the T-Shirt back print (upper image), the colour & design of the T-Shirt left-chest print (lower image), and the fabric colours of the garments. I hope you like them! 🙂

Once the samples have arrived they will be tested in class, and then will become available for all members to order if desired. As always I won’t sell anything that i’m not completely happy with.

At this stage, the new FWTS clothing range is to include:

• T-Shirts
• Vests
• Sweatshirts
• Sweatpants
• Shorts

If you have any requests as to other items, please feel free to drop me a line.

LPH

I’m overjoyed to announce that Version 10 of my Federation Wing Tsun System is now complete, and updated training programmes will be rolling out to all students over the next few weeks, free-of-charge.

This is a major update to the content of the official training programme, and offers many improvements over previous versions. It is formatted so that each student has their very own personal programme, and arranged so they are able to study it at their own pace, no matter whether they train in classes, in private lessons, or via both methods.

The programme is the distilled results of over seventeen years of professional Wing Chun teaching. It solves many problems traditionally associated with group tuition, and in conjunction with the syllabus, allows students to see at a glance the entirety of what is required for each grade.

Downloads Coming Soon

Once each grade has been properly formatted for publication (which always takes me a while, sorry about that) I will again put them up on this website for download, and add the information back into the Knowledge Base too.

This of course was the reason behind the delay in re-populating the Knowledge Base on this new website. It would have been pointless to upload everything from Version 9, only to have to delete and re-upload much of it again once this version went live. You understand, i’m sure. 🙂

Collect In Class

So, please collect the latest programmes from me at your next class. You are welcome to take ALL programmes, up to and including your current grade, just so you’re aware of any changes to previous programmes. Who knows, you may even want to go back and practice?

See you in training!

LPH

Hi all, and welcome to the next stage of development for the Federation Wing Tsun System, or FWTS for short.

The system was originally conceived in January 2005. It grew from my slowly-building, personal belief that the art of Wing Chun Kung-Fu had fallen into some very bad habits. But I didn’t arrive at this conclusion overnight.

I began studying Wing Chun intensively in 1996, gained my first instructor rank in 1999, and turned professional in 2002. I was the regional instructor for the EWTO in England (called the NWTO-GB), with three clubs of my own in Wimbledon, Kingston and Chessington, plus a full-time gym in New Malden, Surrey.

To this day, a high percentage of people across Surrey and South-West London who teach or study either Ip Chun Wing Chun, or Ip Man Wing Chun, or Leung Ting WingTsun received some, or all of their training from me. You may be surprised at just how many people came through my classes, and where they are today.

In 2001 I had my first exposure to weapons training at an EWTO seminar hosted by GM Rene Latosa, of Latosa Escrima. It was then than I experienced my first nagging doubts about the Wing Chun skills and knowledge I had acquired to that point.

If Wing Chun was truly derived from edged weapons (and it is, no doubt – study your history) then why were the movements of Escrima and Wing Chun so different? Why did no less a martial artist than Bruce Lee study Escrima, and then begin moulding his own Wing Chun knowledge into the far more conceptual Jeet-Kuen-Do approach? Could these things be related? I thought it extremely likely.

Throughout the next few years I kept returning to this question, but nobody around me was skilled with weapons. So I continued attending Escrima seminars, reading about historical weaponry, and exploring their movement in my spare time. At the start of 2005 my ideas were taking shape, but an overall concept or purpose seemed lacking to link everything together.

Over time, my interest in weapons had led me to studying military strategy, and this in turn led to classic texts such as Sun Tzu and Von Clausewitz. They in their turn led to various psychological and philosophical works, and from there onto politics. I started to see that many different elements were at work here – the tools of war and the techniques of combat being only one small part of the overall wider picture.

It was the definition of the word system – related elements with a common function – that led me to classical Chinese Five-Element Theory. From there is was only a short step to developing the Five Martial Elements, and the Federation Wing Tsun System was born.

My feelings about weapons remained though. Then, as now, I felt it was impossible to truly understand martial arts without truly understanding weapons, and that was impossible to do whilst held within a Wing Chun lineage. In September 2005 I began laying the foundations for a new non-profit martial arts organisation in which students could have access to weapons and unarmed at the same time, with no constraints. It was to be called the UKKFF – the United Kingdom Kung-Fu Federation.

It turns out that others had similar visions, and I was very interested in the then newly-formed World Martial Arts Alliance. So, in October 2005 I sought out and began training with Steve Tappin, studying his Escrima Concepts System and exploring various aspects of historical weaponry with him as my guide. It remains so to this day.

My UKKFF organisation went public shortly after, and over the next decade it taught the Federation Wing Tsun System and the Escrima Concepts System side-by-side. Correct weapons knowledge informed everything, and students could finally train Kung-Fu and Escrima together, with no clashes. I was fortunate to continue my exploration of Wing Chun via the many different masters within the Alliance, and although each had a different approach, they all gave freely of their knowledge. I owe them a lot.

In October 2015 I decided the time had come to promote each aspect of the UKKFF in a separate, distinct way. For Kung-Fu, the result is this – my new portal for the Federation Wing Tsun System. We have a new logo (as seen on the front page), we will shortly have a brand-new social media presence, and new uniform designs will follow suit too.

If, like me, you have an interest in studying, training, and understanding the beautiful art and legacy that is Wing Chun Kung-Fu, I hope to see you join our mailing list, connect with us on social media, and start training with us very soon. 🙂

LPH