By Sifu Lloyd Fridenburg
Editorial
It was a long time coming, it took a lot of work, and it took a lot of careful evaluation and consideration, but the result is a revised set of adult requirement sheets that are much more tuned to the current state of evolution of WKFA. Like life, kung fu is never static and constantly has one foot anchored in tradition and one foot moving with modern reality. At WKFA we have always adhered to this truth and from time to time our curriculum has been adjusted to reflect modern training habits, needs, and realities. This iteration of changes is without a doubt the single most significant change at one time in over 20 years, but personally I’m excited with the result.
Take time to review your new sheets and see what has changed, what has been added, and what has been moved. Some requirements were added to ranks where the curriculum was a bit light; some things were deleted from ranks where the curriculum was a bit heavy; some requirements that were not truly a reflection of our discipline were removed; and some completely new requirements have been added to complement our overall syllabus of study.
One of the most significant changes was to move beginner sparring from Yellow Sash to Red Sash. This is actually a bit of a regression, because traditionally students at WKFA began sparring as soon as they received their first sash. The change will allow instructors to take a more focused approach with novice students learning to spar and will remove the intimidation sometimes associated with sparring for the first time in a class of mixed ranks. Red sash students are only allowed to spar in Novice I classes and are not permitted, without express permission from Sifu, to spar in any other classes.
Sifu Bob Schneider added a line to the bottom of all requirement sheets stating that requirements are subject to the laws of evolution. I hope you join me in embracing these changes.
Happy New Year!
T’was the night before Christmas and all through the school not a creature was stirring not even Rahul. All the students had gone, save for a few, who stayed late to spar without any rules. They examined their bruises in the mirrors with care while poor Sifu Dave started pulling his hair.
Karna did pushups while Arya stood watch, he just couldn’t figure how he kept losing his sash. Then out on the road there arose such a clatter they jumped to their feet to see what was the matter. Away to the window they flew like a flash, tripped over Ryan and went down with a crash.
The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow gave a luster of mid-day to objects below. When what to their swollen black eyes did appear but the whole demo team each swinging a spear. As they drew in their heads and were turning around, they were smacked from behind and were back on the ground.
Their eyes slowly opened and started to focus when Sifu Anne said, “you must pay attention”. She was dressed all in black from her head to her foot; her hair was pinned back beneath the black hood. She had a broadsword strapped cross her back; she said “back to pushups there’s no time to slack”.
“My arms are so sore”, Karna said with a frown, as Sifu Anne helped him up from the ground. She whirled and gyrated like a dragon possessed and then turned to our friends and said “this is your break, so keep up with me, for heaven’s sake”.
Just as they thought their end must near their eyes flew open and gaping with fear. They were soaked with sweat from their heads to their toes, Arya’s fist clenched tight around Karna’s big toe. Still trembling with fear Karna slowly looked down and tied tight round his waist was his sash safe and sound.