by bailewen on Wed Aug 27, 2008 8:49 am
YC Wong is carrying on YC Wong's line. I dropped by the school for a couple classes this last year and YC himself was still teaching. He's in his 80's now...I think. His age is a big secret. Last I checked, his son Raymond was teaching the weekend classes but was too busy with his "real" job to teach every night. When I was there, Sifu would mostly watch and assign various senior students, whoever was there that night, to teach the juniors and then sort of jump in and make corrections throughout the night. He's got a lot of senior students though. Lots of 20-30 year students who train there regularly but they don't do so much of the teaching as the 5-10 year "kids".
For Choi Li Fut, the Hung Sing guys are all over town. There's Dino out in the sunset. He's the head of the entire Hung Sing in America. "Hannibal" likes to lay low and teaches a wide variety of stuff along side Choi Li Fut but mostly with a heavy dose of philosophy along side it. He's kind of a rasta. Make no mistake though, he is one of the Hung Sing's top fighters along with Frank. Frankie is more of a Choi Li Fut purist than Hannibal. He's also a fantastic fighter, a real powerhouse. You can find him keeping the faith over at KFO. He'll have no problems getting you sparring and doing heavy pad work right from the get go. A real stickler for form too.
For Wing Chun I have 2 words: Chris Chan.
Chris Chan is hands down the most amazing Wing Chun I have ever seen. He's a 70 year old fighting, hard drinking, whoring powerhouse of a man. Tiny guy with incredible power. His guys tend to be a bit power obsessed but they are quite good. Lots of police officers and stuff like that in his classes. . . police officers and thugs. lol. The man has incredible iron palm skills too btw.
If you want to get introduced to any of these people, since I am not in SF anymore, you need to go check out Doc Andy. Doc Andy is a chiropractor/artist/guitar player/kung fu expert in Chinatown on Clay street just up the hill from Stockton, across the street from the elementary school. He is one of the top students of both Hannibal AND Chris Chan. He has been officially listed on Chris's lineage now and was recently awarded a kind of "lifetime achievement" award from USA Wing Chun. He's the man to make the introductions. Make sure you get a "first time free" chiropractic adjustment while you are there and DEFINATELY tell him Omar sent you.
Then, of course, we can't forget the White Dragon school on Fulton near 5th. (White Eyebrow and Dragon style taught together: White Dragon) This is the guy who can take you into the MMA ring with CMA. A pure southern fist guy who is the founder of the "underground kung fu" fights you see on youtube. You don't have to to go MMA with him and you will not be brushed aside because you just want to do the traditional stuff but if you want to fight, he can get you fights as well....and fights that you may win. His students always do well in the cage.
I can STRONGLY recommend any of the people I just mentioned:
YC Wong - Hung Gar, Guangping Yang Taiji and Pek Kua (southern branch of Piguazhang)
Dino Salvatera / Frankie / Hannibal - Hung Sing Choi Li Fut
Chris Chan - Wing Chun.
Zhong Luo - White Eyebrow / Dragon / MMA