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Lung Ch'uan Fa of Northern VirginiaDragon's Fist Style of Kung Fu |
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January 2008 Adult Dragons and Parents of Young Dragons of Lung Ch'uan Fa: Welcome to the Winter session of Spring Hill RECenter's Kung Fu class! As you know, we meet on Thursday nights from 8-9:30 pm for adults (or young dragons 6-13 years old by special arrangement) and/or Saturday mornings at 8am, 9am, or 10am, in the mezzanine area. In addition, sparring training is scheduled on Friday nights on a 1 time per month basis as an adjunct to reinforce the skills practiced in group classes. Look for upcoming classes on Chinese grappling and wrestling. Look for more information on the upcoming 4th Annual Students Friends and Families Demonstration on 9 February 2008 from 8am-12 noon. This will be a great time to see the Lung Ch’uan Fa students demonstrate the various levels of empty hand and weapons forms, self-defenses, and sparring! Dragons, try to eat at least an hour before you step onto the practice floor, and hydrate prior and rehydrate as necessary during class. Regular water breaks are included for all young dragon classes, especially during vigorous exercise and workouts. Save the sweet sports drinks until after the workout, when it can best add energy after a tough workout. Bathroom breaks by necessity only, and young dragons (under 13) must be accompanied by another young dragon to and from, to maintain safety and accountability. Of course, the accompanying parent(s) of young dragons can accompany their youth and return them back to class. For those without uniforms, wear loose fitting pants and t-shirt with sleeves and cross trainer sneakers or martial arts shoes. Uniforms will be arriving shortly and tend to run long, so pants will have to be hemmed. For those students who are given the opportunity to spar (supervised and controlled by black sashes or black sash candidates in regular class or “fight night“ only), a fitted mouth guard and groin cup for males is required, along with headgear, hand and foot guards. If you have earned a sash, please wear it with the knot to the right hip and not too long to avoid tripping on it. Some may have to wrap several times around the waist. If you wish to check out martial arts gear here is one site - www.awma.com consider seeing me to purchase items as I can usually get them more inexpensively than you can - bulk rates and discounts etc. We have long and shorter staff weapons in our storage locker available for all to borrow during class. Some training days can be fun and yet exercise intense too. So adults, if you have muscle soreness after a class, don't hesitate to use an ice massage for 1-2 minutes or an ice pack for 10-15 minutes on the affected parts. (Parents of Young Dragons, you make the call about ice or heat: children tend to be much more sensitive to both, so use care and consult a pediatrician if you are unsure.) Don't use the heating pad for at least a day after sudden muscle soreness to avoid increasing the swelling. Then make sure for both the ice pack and heating pad that you do not fall asleep on either to avoid cold or heat injury! Let me know if you have any injuries so that I may help modify workouts if necessary to keep your interest and attendance ongoing. For those interested, I have been learning northern styled Kung Fu for 35 years, and have been teaching for over 25 years. Lung Ch'uan Fa has branches in Winston-Salem NC and 29 Palms CA, and I have been promoting students to Black Sash since 1987. Senior student 4th Higher Level Shih-Hsiung Bryan Grayson and 3rd Higher Level Shih-Hsiung John Tubbs and 2nd Higher Level Chris Weeks recently visited and trained for a “Warrior Weekend“ described below. "To teach once, is to learn twice" is a favorite maxim of mine, and I am happy to meet all of you new students and greet all returning students! Typically in a Chinese Martial Arts Kung Fu or Tai Chi school, the teacher is addressed as Shih-Fu, or Shifu or Sifu, which basically means "learned man" and has the connotation of "master". As the traditional requirements dictate that a "master" have trained vigorously for a period of 25 years and be at least 42 years of age, I passed the age requirement 8 years ago. (I passed my first half-century, this past year :>}) So I have hopefully gained much information along the way, that I can share as you progress in the martial arts. But training goes on! In March, several Lung Ch'uan Fa students and I during a “Warrior Weekend” did either a 24 hour workout or an all-night workout, one of many in the recent past. Training challenges go on and on, and the challenge-bar keeps on rising! With your participation, we can go far! In July 2007, many of the LCF students completed the 2nd Annual Reston YMCA All-Night Fitness Challenge too! My teacher, Ch’uan Fa Grandmaster Lao Shifu Steve Clark, now of Tomah, Wisconsin, has been studying the martial arts for close to 50 years! He is a wealth of knowledge and writes prodigiously, and has an ongoing e-mail “Review for Tonight” column that relates to his areas of interest and scholarly research. Several of the LCF students had the opportunity to share time with Lao Shifu and add to their understanding of the martial arts this past summer at the USKSF/TWKSF International Tournament in Hunt Valley, MD. If you are a novice or White Sash, I ask that you practice and review at least one time outside of class each week; yellow sash - two times outside of class; green sash three times ...- brown sash four times... - black sash candidate five to six times per week. If you are not sure what to practice, please ask. As some of you know, I had the opportunity 2+ years ago to demonstrate Lung Ch'uan Fa and the advanced Dragon form at the Kuoshu International Tournament as a guest Master, with other Master and Grandmasters, and so our presentation to the world has begun. Train hard and attend and participate in LCF school demonstrations and organization tournaments along the way, and the possibilities remain open for your future too! Several times per year, a couple of the senior students and I have also led seminars for some of our nations finest servicemen. Perhaps you may develop to be an assistant at one of these future seminars. In addition, several articles have been published by Lung Ch'uan Fa teachers on various aspects of the martial arts world, and there is room for your creativity as we continue our path together. We have Kung Fu schools in McLean, VA, Winston-Salem, NC, and 29 Palms, CA! The Lung Ch'uan Fa family tree is listed below and continues to grow!
Doug Moffett, Shih-Fu
Bryan Grayson, Shih-Hsiung
John Tubbs, Shih-Hsiung
Chris Rubnich, Shih-Hsiung
Chris Weeks, Shih-Hsiung
Bob Greene, Shih-Hsiung
Michael Schatz, Shih-Hsiung
Alex Siragy
Tarique Siragy
Lung Ch’uan Fa
1) 4th Annual Student’s Friends and Families Demo
2) CACMA Regional Tournament
3) USKSF International Kung Fu Tournament
Yours in the Martial Arts, |