–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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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.

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