–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.

I attended the first class, which was run by Matt, one of Sifu Fong’s long-time students. We all practiced Siu Lim Tau together. This was the first time I had practiced Siu Lim Tau in a group, with a wall of mirrors, in a very long time. I enjoyed implementing some of Sifu Fong’s pointers, and attempting to adjust to the way the form was practiced in Sifu Fong’s school. After the form, we partnered up and practiced our chi sau roll. We worked in some basic chi sau breaks (technique openings), and then did some free flow. I kept my chi sau as light and flowing as possible for this. This was for a few reasons. I have not been able to practice a lot lately, and I wanted to focus on being relaxed and not too heavy. I also wanted to pay more attention to the other students, as I was there to learn from them. Finally, I didn’t want to do anything that would disrupt the way they normally trained or cause any disrespect. I was pleasantly surprised to find the chi sau was much the same as I had practiced at home. Some people might point out minor differences, but having been to Wing Chun schools with vast differences, I found the minor ones to be of little significance.

After this first class, I purchased some school shirts (a blue student shirt and a black instructor shirt), gossiped with Simou, and headed home. As I still had left-over Mexican food, I went straight to the hotel room instead of stopping for food. I struggled to focus in the hotel, and simply ate and read some Sun Zi.

The night has cooled. I shall turn off the air conditioning, lay down on this massive hotel bed, and sleep.