By Sifu Lloyd Fridenburg

Editorial

Every instructor at WKFA wants you to be successful. Here are a few things for you to consider when you start to look towards your next grading:

1. I’ve been going to class 3 – 4 times a week prior to the grading and now I’m ready. That might be OK up until the time you reach Orange or Green, but after that it isn’t enough. If you’re grading for a rank of Blue or higher I strongly recommend that you develop a training plan that includes at least 7 hours of training a week, outside of your regular classes.

2. Instructors aren’t making classes tough enough to get me ready for a grading. The instructor’s job is to teach Kung Fu; getting ready for a grading, especially a high rank grading is your job. Make every class a tough class, regardless of the pace the instructor sets.

3. I felt good in my last grading so I’m going to do the same thing to get ready for this grading. Whatever you did to get ready for your last grading is not good enough for your next grading. WKFA gradings become exponentially more difficult; but so does your fitness and knowledge.

4. I earned my black stripe so I’m ready for the grading list. Receiving your black stripe is always a milestone on the way to your next rank, but the primary purpose of the black stripe is to let instructors know that you have learned the gross moves of your current forms. At WKFA you will be required to present every curriculum form that you know at every grading, so until you can perform every form with confidence, every sequence with confidence, every drill, and every technique with confidence, you’re not ready.

5. I can perform all my current and past requirements with confidence so I’m ready to grade. Our gradings are demanding and knowing your requirements, regardless of your confidence level is not enough. Now you need to work on your overall fitness so that your forms and techniques look sharp even when you’re tired…because you will be.

6. I was allowed on the grading list but didn’t pass my grading. Why would I be allowed on the list if I wasn’t ready? Having your name put on a grading list only means that an instructor feels that you “have the ability” to pass. It doesn’t mean that you will pass! “If you fail to prepare; prepare to fail!”

7. What is the advanced rank commitment list, and why is it necessary? This may come as a surprise but it’s primarily a way for Sifu to determine if we will be holding an Advanced grading (Blue/Brown) in the spring, or and Intermediate/Advanced grading (Green, Blue, Brown).

8. I pass or fail based on my grading day performance. Nothing could be further from the truth. I’ve seen advanced students completely crumble on grading day and still pass. Is that because the instructors were playing favorites? Absolutely not! It’s because 50% of your grading result is based on your day-to-day training.

9. I’ve been at my current rank for a long time, so I guess I should grade. Go back and read this article from the beginning.

10. I don’t feel quite ready but don’t want to wait until the next grading. Again, “If you fail to prepare; prepare to fail!”

11. Instructors don’t understand what I’m going through in order to grade. You may be correct; but do you understand what your instructors went through? Particularly at higher ranks everyone has made sacrifices and until you’re ready to make your grading a priority you’re not ready. I know students that were Brown for 3, 5, 8, years, or longer; there’s no time limit. We’ve all been through it and your circumstances likely aren’t unique.

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By Sifu David Moylan, Owner, Waterloo Kung-Fu Academy

Sifu’s Corner

With our competition season in full swing, demonstration season fast approaching and upcoming gradings on the horizon, I want to focus on a relevant topic that needs some exploring: performing Kung Fu for others.

I feel like many of you at our Academy practice Kung Fu for your own personal journey and often the thought of having to perform in front of others can be confusing and even terrifying. I remember chatting with one of our adult students following a performance of the Short Dragon in our annual tournament. In his profession, this guy was a veteran school teacher and successful business owner – no stranger to being in the spotlight. However, he expressed how nerve wracking it was having to demonstrate his form. Once through it, he was exuberant with how much he learned about the art and himself: a humbling and educational endeavour.

Kung Fu practitioners come to realize (or already know) that subjecting ourselves to adversity is what makes us develop.

So often students tell me that they can perform technique or forms proficiently on their own, but as soon as we ask to see it, something happens, and they cannot replicate the performance. My advice is that this phenomenon is simply feedback that they need to train more to develop sureness in the face of pressure. The prospect of performing crystallizes your training. My teacher would tell us that after a thousand repetitions, we were just starting to grasp our forms.

It’s common knowledge that public speaking is a major fear. Kung Fu is a language of its own and it goes without saying that “speaking” in public is adrenalin inducing. I believe there is great value in testing yourself to see how you cope with this extra hormone in your bloodstream. The consequences of not effectively managing the stress of performing are much more forgiving than the consequences of not managing the stress of a real combative encounter. I can also say that with continued exposure, you become more relaxed and your confidence improves—which, like many benefits of Kung Fu, has carryover into other areas of your life.

Prior to starting my Kung Fu journey, I was a shy kid. I credit the gradual and repeated experience of demonstrating my Kung Fu to giving me the confidence I feel today. Initially my development was through gradings and competitions, then progressed to demonstration team performances and assisting with classes. I eventually moved on to leading the demonstration team and instructing classes. These experiences gave me the requisite poise for presentations in university and in my former career in business.

Regardless of your age, I encourage you to challenge yourself; take a risk and push the boundaries of your comfort zone by embracing opportunities to perform. The downside is as big as you want to make it in your mind, but the upside is positively transformative and will stay with you for a lifetime.

Sihing Rahul holding boards for Jo’s flying side kick!

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Sifu Anne Vandrus

Youth Student’s Corner

Before a grading, I always ask students how they’re feeling, and more often than not I hear “nervous” as their answer. If you’ve ever said that to me, you might recall my answer: good. Being nervous is a good thing. While the feeling of nervousness may not be very fun, being nervous is actually really powerful.

Whether it’s before a grading, before your first class with a new instructor, or before facing any challenge, being nervous means that you care; it matters to you. As a martial artist, being able to take something seriously is an important skill. For example, if you take sparring seriously you can improve your Kung Fu technique, or if you take your grading seriously you can set a new personal best. Those butterflies in your stomach are saying that what you’re about to do means a lot to you. Caring about your Kung Fu journey helps you reach your goals, and makes each success feel worth it.

Being nervous also means that you were willing to take a risk. Sometimes you have to step out of your comfort zone or try something challenging in order to grow. If you never took any chances, then you might never feel nervous… but you’d be missing out on all the opportunities to push yourself beyond your limits. Maybe it takes a really hard grading to help you realize you’re stronger than you think!

Being nervous doesn’t make you weak or unprepared, nor does it make you any less capable of success. I think nervousness is a sign of courage. Having courage doesn’t mean you don’t get nervous, it means being afraid but still trying anyway. Just by taking that risk – showing up and doing your very best, no matter how nervous you are – you can grow as a person and as a martial artist.

Still feeling nervous? Here are some tips that might help:

1. Breathe – Take a minute to just think about your breathing, keeping it nice and slow like when we meditate at the start of every class. Sometimes we hold our breath or breathe too fast without even noticing.
2. Focus your thoughts – Find somewhere you can sit quietly and calm your mind down a bit. Tell those nervous thoughts (like “you’re not ready”, “things will go badly”, etc.) that they’re not true. Remind yourself why this is important to you, and why you can be excited about it!
3. Talk about it – Tell someone how you’re feeling, and what you’re worried about. Just talking with someone you trust might help you work through it.

I’ll let you in on a secret: everyone gets nervous. Some people get more nervous than others, but it’s very normal and very okay to feel that way. Even your Sifus get nervous! Next time your nerves get you down, remember that it’s a good thing; so have courage.

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Sifu Greg Weir

Junior Student’s Corner

Here’s a funny question for all you kids out there: Are you a Tree Learner or a Forest Learner?

Before you answer, some clarification would probably help.

A Tree Learner is a person who, when training a new form, wants to learn one move at a time. They work that move over and over again, until they’re entirely comfortable with it, and only then do they progress to the next. It’s as if they’re moving through a forest one tree at a time.

A Forest Learner, on the other hand, wants to learn the entire form as quickly as possible, then go back and smooth out each of the moves. In other words, they try to negotiate the whole forest as fast as they can, then go through it repeatedly to find the best path.

The technical terms for these types of learning are Analytic and Global. It’s important to note that neither is the right way. They are simply different methods for getting to the same place; that is, to the point where you know the entire form and feel confident doing all the moves.

Hopefully identifying which type of learning you tend towards will help you in class.

For Tree Learners I think it can be difficult if instructors and Leadership team members try to move you along faster than you’re comfortable with (I know that I’ve been guilty of that myself at times). I hope you’re aware that it’s perfectly acceptable to say, respectfully, to whomever is teaching you, “I think that’s all I want to learn for now.” No instructor is ever going to insist that you move faster than you’re comfortable with.

If you’re more of a Forest Learner, however, you should not expect your instructors to teach you faster than they’re comfortable with. Generally we won’t take you further in a form until you’ve displayed a basic level of competence with the moves you’ve already learned. That said, you can always ask a Sifu or Leadership Team member to take a look at your current form and—if all is good—perhaps they will take you a little further.

I don’t think a person is entirely one type of learner or the other. Most of us probably have aspects of both Tree and Forest within us. I believe I was mostly a Forest Leaner when I started Kung Fu, but became more Tree-like as I progressed. Maybe that’s true of everyone? Maybe it changes as you get older? Or perhaps as you move through the ranks, and forms get longer and more complex, your old strategies don’t work as well?

I do know one thing for sure: no one is getting through the Tiger-Crane form very quickly.

Happy training, everyone!

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By Sifu Rebecca Knapp

Adult Student’s Corner

Next year (2019) I will turn fifty. FIFTY. Wow. I’ve noticed over the last decade, that my body and physical abilities are changing significantly. As we grow older, certain things become inevitable:

As we age, muscular development is increasingly constrained. Our tissues lose resilience – muscles lose elasticity; consequently, we develop shorter ranges of motion. Our wounds heal more slowly. Our blood carries less oxygen, so we have less overall energy, stamina, and speed. Our reflexes decline as our neurons transmit their messages less efficiently so response time becomes impaired. Our ability to remember promptly and accurately deteriorates as our cognitive functioning starts to decline. Wear and tear on joints causes pain and inflammation.

So as martial artists, we move more slowly and acquire more wounds–if for no other reason that because we get hit more often–and need more time to recover from them.

After digesting all the lovely information I researched, I actually didn’t feel so bad about the tendonitis in my shoulder, jumper’s knee, osteoarthritis in my hands and feet, low back and pelvic pain, and general achiness I experience daily now.

There are benefits to growing older in Kung Fu though: I am wiser, more strategic, more intuitive in my movements and have developed a more holistic understanding of my art. I no longer feel I have something to prove to myself or anyone else for that matter, so I am more relaxed and more confident as a person and a student of Kung Fu. I know my body well and I understand the value of good health, so I honour what it tells me…and although I am still fairly impatient when it comes to rest and healing, I am making strides in that too.

Getting older doesn’t mean you have to or should stop training. I will quit Kung Fu when I’m dead! Hopefully that’s not for a while. There are ways, however, to adapt your training as need be:

• Emphasize skill and technique refinement over continued physical development.  Efficiency of technique becomes even more important when speed, resiliency, and overall physical potential decrease.
• Condition for health instead of performance – that means strengthening the smaller muscles and stabilizers more than before, doing stretches specific to those muscles, and incorporating relaxation/regenerative techniques to delay the inevitable physical decay.
• Focus more on low/no impact training.
• Take your rest days and give your body time, and permission, to heal when injured.
• Cross train for more well-rounded physical maintenance, and don’t be afraid of incorporating disciplines such as yoga, and Aikido, where you are using your opponent’s momentum rather than your own strength.
• Don’t stop stretching, be kind to your joints, and overall, take good care of yourself.
• Follow medical advancements in treating and managing age related degeneration
• Finally, just know your body (and your abilities), be kind to it, and honour what it tells you – it’s the only one you’ve got!

Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light!
~ Dylan Thomas

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Sifu Adam Volpe

Parent’s Column

In my last column, I spoke about fitness requirements. In this article, I wanted to focus on one of the technical basics of Kung Fu – Stances!

Here at the WKFA you will likely hear many instructors say that stances are the foundation of what we do. It is not just something we say so our student focus on them more, but it is so true that during nearly every warmup we have the students go through the “stance sequence”. We build on these depending on rank and age.

Initially there’s the 3-stance sequence: Horse/Forward/Cat Stance. Then students progress to the 4-stance sequence: Horse/Bow/Cross/Female Stance. Finally we add an additional 4 stances to the 4-stance sequence to become the 8-stance sequence: Cat/Crane/Dragon/Triangle-Horse Stance

Stances are truly fundamental to everything we do, but many youth and junior students struggle with these basics even after training for several years averaging of 2 classes per week. Maybe it’s because we do them so often that they feel that they’re not “new” or “cool” or maybe it’s because we do them so frequently the students end up going through the motions and not realizing how they will help them progress.

We need good stances in our forms, our techniques, our sparring and even our self-defense. Without good stances, a student isn’t able to move effectively and efficiently, can be off balanced and, quite honestly, will just not be able to progress to more advanced (and interesting) parts of our curriculum.

Like fitness, stances are something that your child can practice at home even with little time or space. I thought I’d use this article to review the 4-stance sequence and things you can look for to help your child ensure they are executing those stances well.

Horse Stance: Feet should be about double shoulder width apart and pointed forward; knees pressed outward and aligned directly above ankles; tops of thighs should be close to parallel to the floor; hands in closed fists, chambered just above the hip bone.

Bow Stance: Feet no more than 1-2 fist widths apart; hips squared to the direction the student is facing; back leg completely locked out (straight); front leg bent so that the knee is over the ankle; both feet should be on the same 45° angle.

Cross Stance: Hips square to the direction you’re facing; front foot planted and flat on the ground; on the ball of the back foot; back knee tucked behind the front knee; stance should be wider than it is long.

Female Stance: Front leg bent, foot parallel to direction you’re facing; most weight is on front foot; hips and shoulders square to front; should be on the ball of back foot; thighs should be squeezed together.

*Remember, if your child isn’t able to perform their basic fitness requirements as discussed in my last post, stances are going to be more difficult for them, so please don’t neglect the physical fitness in pursuit of good stances*

Also read Part 1 of this article.

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