Academy News & Updates July 2009

Thank you

Thank you for your kind gesture with regards to the collection given to me when our new academy opened in Wood Green last summer. I have now used the gift to purchase new Thai pads for the school, which can be used by all our students.


Siu Nim Tao

The Siu Nim Tao (Stage 1) grading will take place on 11 July 2009 at 1.30pm. Please can all students who wish to take part, let us know as soon as possible. The grading will cost £25. Please also ensure that your membership and licence is up-to-date and that you have a full uniform.


Shower Room

I am pleased to inform you that work on the shower room will commence in the next couple of weeks and we hope to complete the work as soon as possible.

We do not expect that this will cause any disruption to the academy.


Friday Training

The Kwoon will now be open 7 days a week, including Fridays from 6 to 8pm for a drop-in session. This is a good opportunity for any student who would like to do some additional training.

Please note that the Friday’s drop-in session will be for a trial period based on demand.


Running Group

A group of students have recently organised a running trip every Wednesday at 8pm. The run lasts for about 30 minutes, starting from the Kwoon and involves a route to Alexandra Palace and back.

You are more than welcome to join them if you would like to improve your fitness levels.


Toilets

To keep the Kwoon tidy and clean, may I ask all students to take home their personal belongings at the end of each day and to discard any paper cups used and rubbish left behind.

In addition, please can you also leave the toilets as you expect to find them. Especially during the hot summer months, it very important that we keep the Kwoon as clean as possible.


1st Year Anniversary – 8 August 2009

It has almost been a year since our Academy has opened. To coincide with this date, we are going to organise the ‘Instructor of the Year’ and ‘Student of the Year’

All students will be able to choose their favourite Instructor (with the exception of Si Fu and Assistant Instructors) for what ever reason. This will give us the opportunity for us to recognise and appreciate their efforts and commitment to the school.

In return, our Instructors will be selecting a ‘Student of the year’ for 2009. This will be based on a number of factors such as attitude, dedication, determination, improvement and generally a student that we should all respect and admire. The choice will be targeted at all levels of training.

Selection will begin in 8 August 2009.


3rd Level Grading

The 3rd Level Grading will be taking place in the autumn of 2009. This grading is at Instructor’s level and it represents the transition for Instructors to become a Si Fu. Preparation is currently undergoing. Master James Sinclair will be assessing the grading on the day.

We will let you know when a date has been set, as I am sure many students would like to attend to support the Instructors.

Kind Regards,

Mark Phillips Sifu

http://www.londonwingchun.co.uk

Self Examination Principles for Martial Arts – By Onder Hassan

When training in the martial arts or life in general, there will come a time where we will feel discontentment at some point in our lives. Whether it’s lack of money, lack of skill or lack of confidence in ourselves to become the person we aspire to be, and what usually causes this is by putting other people on a pedestal or by comparing ourselves with others. There will undoubtedly be someone that will be better than you in some area or another and when you feel that way, chances are, you will always be unhappy. The key to being content is by judging yourself with you only.

I’ve personally found that the easiest way to overcome this is by keeping track of your progress by writing things down. What I usually write in my notes are as follows:

1.Progress reports – These consist of weekly progress of what I’ve learned and my understanding on the techniques and their martial arts applications. The benefits of this is whenever you’re feeling down, you could look back at your progress over the weeks and see how far you’ve come in your development. This would automatically make you feel better about yourself and your training.

2.Short /Long term goals – Write down what you hope to achieve in your training in a short or long term basis. So an example of a short term goal could be to implement and improve your hand and leg coordination. A long term goal would be to take and pass the Siu Nim Tao in a year. I find this beneficial as this would make you focus on your personal goals in Wing Chun.

3.Affirmations – Write down the things you would like to become; your ideal image. They can be positive statements about yourself that you could use to make yourself feel better. The benefit of this is that it could be used to increase your confidence in an upcoming event like a grading or a demonstration. The key however is not to use negative words in an affirmation, for example “I would like to be good at Lok sau” because that would naturally make it seem like you’re constantly striving towards it. Instead what you should say is “I am good at Lok Sau”. What this does at a subconscious level is it reframes your mind into thinking that you’ve already attained that goal. Eventually when you refer back to these notes, you will find that you’re thought processes have naturally pushed you into those ideals.

What this will slowly start to show is how important a person’s frame of mind is towards a goal or task and that it’s a person’s way of thinking that marks the difference between being successful and being ‘ordinary’.

For those of you who are reading this, I challenge anyone to apply these principles in their martial arts or wing chun training and general well being. It will make a difference to the way you view things about yourself and life. You are the person you think you are, and if you think otherwise… Think again!

‘If you think you can or you think you can’t, either way… You’re right!’ – Henry Ford

For more information on Wing Chun see http://www.londonwingchun.co.uk/info.html