Weapons Training - Filipino Martial Arts

INSTRUCTORS

Guro Steve Grantham - Head Instructor
Guro John Sul - Senior Instructor
Guro Angie Harvey
 

BACKGROUND

All of our Instructors are certified under Guro Dan Inosanto, indisputably one of the greatest Kali teachers in the world.  Guro Steve Grantham has been training in Guro Dan's system of Kali for 19 years and has been teaching it for 14 years to hundreds of students.

  BENEFITS                                               

The best way to defend against a weapon is to understand how it can be used against you.  Ignorance is your greatest enemy.   Once you develop the ability to strike with power, accuracy, and speed, you will also learn to defend against similar strikes.  With an accomplished Eskrimador's stick moving in excess of 100 mph, you become much more comfortable with a punch coming at significantly slower speeds.

Kali was developed as a battlefield art, not in a dueling environment. It was necessary to be aware of your entire surroundings.   As such, training in this Art will develop your ability to deal with multiple attackers, both armed and unarmed, as quickly and efficiently as possible.

 CURRICULUM

The curriculum consists of training with empty hands, swords, sticks/batons, knives, staffs, and two-handed sticks. You will be taught to use footwork to outmaneuver your opponent, as well has how to defend strikes when you are unable to avoid the attack.  Classes incorporate drills to help develop many attributes such as timing, range control, and body mechanics.

Close Quarter Training - Wing Chun Kung Fu

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   INSTRUCTORS

    Sifu Steve Grantham
    Sifu Angie Harvey

BACKGROUND

This Chinese art is a Close-Quarter system designed to develop sensitivity and leverage. The art was developed for self-defense and, unlike more sport-based arts, Wing Chun techniques assume that your opponent is already fairly close to you. Many confrontations start at close range.  This system is the primary material from which Bruce Lee developed his original Jun Fan/JKD curriculum.

Sifu Steve Grantham has been studying this Art for 19 years and is one of 3 Senior level instructors under Sifu Francis Fong, who is well known in Kung Fu circles for his amazing skills.
 

BENEFITS                                            

You will gain an awareness of the space between you and your opponent, and your ability to manipulate that space without expending excessive energy. Your goal is to use efficiency, sensitivity, and leverage to control and dominate your opponent while not over committing yourself.  You will learn to maximize your leverage and power while using sensitivity to deprive your opponent of his leverage and structure. Wing Chun allows you to flow with your opponent as combat is fluid, not static.   Learning to relax in stressful situations is one of the most obvious, and most rewarding benefit of this training!

HISTORY                                              

Legend has it that Wing Chun is named after the Chinese nun who developed the art. Whether this is true or not, the fact remains that Wing Chun allows the student to use leverage and body mechanics rather than brute strength to control his/her opponent.  There are many branches of the Wing Chun family that trace their lineage back to Fut Shan, but the most well known and widespread trace their roots back through Yip Man.  Bruce Lee's popularity helped the spread of Wing Chun tremendously when it became known he had studied under Yip Man for 5 years.   The lineage of our Academy is through Sifu Francis Fong, and through his sifu, Jia Wan, who was originally from Fut Shan, and was a Kung Fu training brother of Yip Man's.

CURRICULUM                                     

The curriculum consists of three hand forms (Siu Nim Tao, Chum Kiu, Bil Gee), one wooden dummy form (Mook Yeung Jong), and two weapons forms (Luk Dim Boon Kwan, Bot Cham Do). While all forms can be  and are practiced by oneself, most of the training is done with a partner to develop the sensitivity and leverage needed to understand the art. More advanced training consists of chi sao, or “sticky hands”, which focuses on developing relaxed energy, and a good horse (grounded stance).  Other drills are "Bong Lop Da", "Dan Chi Sao", stance training, focus mitt drills, and hand trapping drills.