–Preface–

The following text is part of a series documenting my time in Tucson, AZ, in the Spring of 2025, for Augustine Fong’s Wing Chun Gung Fu Federation Annual Seminar. The series is broken into short digestible parts, some describing my experience in Tucson generally, and some with detailed notes from the seminar.

Final Thoughts:

During the lunch break, I heard a harrowing story about life and death from one of the students there. I then purchased some “dangerous weapons” from Simou’s shop. I mean, why not. Really, I had just been talking with someone about purchasing a nunchaku. I remember there always being one in my school growing up, and thought, if I started a school, I should have one lying around to play with. Well, Simou had many to chose from.

Continue reading →

–Preface–

The following text is part of a series documenting my time in Tucson, AZ, in the Spring of 2025, for Augustine Fong’s Wing Chun Gung Fu Federation Annual Seminar. The series is broken into short digestible parts, some describing my experience in Tucson generally, and some with detailed notes from the seminar.

The Seminar – General Notes:

I asked about the plum flower footwork. Sifu Fong said there wasn’t really much cultural significance to the plum flower. It was simply a guide for placing your feet when practicing footwork. An entire room could be filled with the plum flower pattern to practice movement on.

There is no internal or external martial arts. All martial arts have aspects of each. My personal opinion on this is that the terms internal and external don’t really mean what they are taken to mean. But I digress.

Continue reading →

–Preface–

The following text is part of a series documenting my time in Tucson, AZ, in the Spring of 2025, for Augustine Fong’s Wing Chun Gung Fu Federation Annual Seminar. The series is broken into short digestible parts, some describing my experience in Tucson generally, and some with detailed notes from the seminar.

Sunday, 27 April, 2025 – Morning:

This morning the temperature had dropped considerably. I stretched and ate my delicious pork and shrimp spring rolls. I performed a gongfu tea sit to prepare my mind. I put on an extra layer, as the room inside the hotel was a little chilly. I set out with my earbuds in. No sooner did I reach the street, then I realized the extra layer was entirely unnecessary. Oh well.

Continue reading →

–Preface–

The following text is part of a series documenting my time in Tucson, AZ, in the Spring of 2025, for Augustine Fong’s Wing Chun Gung Fu Federation Annual Seminar. The series is broken into short digestible parts, some describing my experience in Tucson generally, and some with detailed notes from the seminar.

The Seminar – More Chi Sau Notes

Throughout the seminar, we would stand and practice chi sau with a partner. Generally, we would try to work with a different partner each time. I found the groups near the rear of the gym, the Europe group and the Chicago group, tended to work together. I ended up working with a few people repeatedly. Finally, one of Sifu Fong’s instructors, Rob, invited my to roll. I felt this went very well.

Continue reading →

–Preface–

The following text is part of a series documenting my time in Tucson, AZ, in the Spring of 2025, for Augustine Fong’s Wing Chun Gung Fu Federation Annual Seminar. The series is broken into short digestible parts, some describing my experience in Tucson generally, and some with detailed notes from the seminar.

Saturday, 26 April, 2025 – The Seminar – Day 2

The Seminar – Chi Sau Notes

A student asked how to handle all the competing suggestions from different teachers. Sifu Fong suggested when being corrected by different advanced students and instructors, listen and try the correction. Adjust and use what helps. I might add, it is wise to give the recommendations a fair hearing, as there might be some less obvious lesson there.

Continue reading →

–Preface–

The following text is part of a series documenting my time in Tucson, AZ, in the Spring of 2025, for Augustine Fong’s Wing Chun Gung Fu Federation Annual Seminar. The series is broken into short digestible parts, some describing my experience in Tucson generally, and some with detailed notes from the seminar.

Saturday, 26 April, 2025 – The Seminar – Day 2

Well, it turns out I’m not the best correspondent. I can hardly keep up with my task. If you want the truth, these letters were written after the trip. I was unfocused and tired during my time in Tucson, and struggled to do more than take notes.

Morning Walk

I woke up early today, and had time to practice my forms prior to leaving. I wanted to have time during the lunch break to train and ask questions, so today my plan was to eat breakfast, skip lunch, and eat at the Vietnamese restaurant I found on my way back to the hotel. I made my tea, a strong Da Yu Ling, high mountain Taiwan Oolong, packed my bag and went down to the hotel lobby to see what there was to eat. I ordered a small egg and bacon sandwich and an iced Americano coffee. The sandwich was awkwardly packed into a large cardboard box, which didn’t really fit well into my backpack. I made do, put in my earbuds, and began my trek to the school.

Continue reading →

–Preface–

The following text is part of a series documenting my time in Tucson, AZ, in the Spring of 2025, for Augustine Fong’s Wing Chun Gung Fu Federation Annual Seminar. The series is broken into short digestible parts, some describing my experience in Tucson generally, and some with detailed notes from the seminar.

Friday, 25 April, 2025 – Evening Class

After going over some basic chi sau and partner practice, the seminar portion of the day was over. I was preparing to leave, when Simou informed me that there would be two classes that evening which I could attend if I wished.

Continue reading →

–Preface–

The following text is part of a series documenting my time in Tucson, AZ, in the Spring of 2025, for Augustine Fong’s Wing Chun Gung Fu Federation Annual Seminar. The series is broken into short digestible parts, some describing my experience in Tucson generally, and some with detailed notes from the seminar.

Friday, 25 April, 2025 – The Seminar

—Siu Lim Tau Notes:

Sifu Fong has developed many minute details to practice when performing Siu Lim Tau. I did my best to document them.

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–Preface–

The following text is part of a series documenting my time in Tucson, AZ, in the Spring of 2025, for Augustine Fong’s Wing Chun Gung Fu Federation Annual Seminar. The series is broken into short digestible parts, some describing my experience in Tucson generally, and some with detailed notes from the seminar.

Friday, 25 April, 2025 – The Seminar

At around 1000 hours, Sifu Fong walked to the front of the room, and simply asked what questions people had. This caught me off guard. Having never been to a Fong seminar before, I didn’t really know what to expect. I expected we would be re-organizing the room, with chairs in the back. I was hoping for some introductions from everyone. With such a small group, twenty to thirty people, it would have been easy to go around the room with names, school and experience level. I didn’t know that blue shirts were for students and black shirts were for instructors. I didn’t realize that some people came with others from the same schools, and so on.

Continue reading →

–Preface–

The following text is part of a series documenting my time in Tucson, AZ, in the Spring of 2025, for Augustine Fong’s Wing Chun Gung Fu Federation Annual Seminar. The series is broken into short digestible parts, some describing my experience in Tucson generally, and some with detailed notes from the seminar.

Friday, 25 April, 2025 – Arrival at Sifu Fong’s School

I woke early for my gongfu cha practice (this is a Vipassana, or insight meditation, with Chinese tea). I stretched, and practiced some Wing Chun forms to prepare for the day.

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