Combat v34i09

ESTD.

1974

THE BEST IN MARTIAL ARTS COVERAGE

MARK STRANGE

Home grown talent makes it big in Hollywood!

WING CHUN SPECIAL

ENEMY UNSEEN How Wing Chun saved my life!

KNIFE CRIME

Is martial arts the answer?

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COMMENT This month we would like to focus on one aspect of content, and I hope you will understand why. It’s impossible not to be moved by the, seemingly endless, numbers of youngsters dying, at the hands of fellow teenagers, often the victims of knife crime.

Earlier this year The Campaign Tackling Knives Action Programme was set up to address knife crime, in 10 key police force areas. The latest move in that campaign, “It doesn’t have to happen” has recently been launched.

The Deputy Assistant Commissioner Alf Hitchcock said, “We need to find ways to channel youngsters, to give them a sense of structure, enhance their life skills through education and training. Getting involved in sport is one of doing this”.

Over the years we have lost count of the numbers of successful martial artists, who have quite openly admitted that had it not have been for getting involved in martial arts that they might easily have gone off the rails as youngsters. They often cite not only the discipline and camaraderie they found at their club but also the influence and guidance of their instructors as to the reasons why they didn’t get sucked into crime, petty or otherwise.

As well as teaching discipline and respect, martial arts can give youngsters self-confidence, an element all too often missing in the lives of those who seek their self-worth from joining a ‘gang’.

It is often the case that those youngsters who most need martial arts in their lives, don’t have either the money or the support structures to enable them to join a club, so this is where the Combat Challenge comes in.

Will you offer a place or two in your club, free of charge, to a child or teenager, that needs help. Perhaps you could volunteer an hour a week to run a free, after-school, group in a deprived area ( or an in school group if you are a full time instructor with time in the day).

YES We’ll give you you’re next issue FREE if you subscribe now! to COMBAT Magazine.

PLEASE send me my copy of Combat magazine every month.

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It will take time and effort on your behalf to get involved. You might have to contact your local Council, Education Department or Police Community Liason Officer,but if enough of you up and down this country got involved, just think, what a difference we could make. Martial arts isn’t simply the answer to youth crime but with a concerted effort, we could sure as hell make a difference.

Go on get involved, we challenge you. For more details of the combat challenge go to www.combatmag.co.uk after 1st September.

Send your subscription request to Martial Arts Publications Ltd, 135 Aldridge Rd, Perry Barr, Birmingham B42 2ET.

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(U.K / N.IRELAND) (EUROPE) (REST OF WORLD)

COLUMNISTS Mike Finn Dan Docherty Michael Tse William Sanders Simon Hazeldine Dr. James Fisher Anton Van Thomas Chris Samuel Keith Gilliland Dan Green Don Heatrick Brian Dossett Andy Hopwood Andy Bryant John Graden Nino Bernardo

Sean Viera Paul Allen Richard Dimitri Helen Stranzl Mark Cortnage Kerry Louise Norbury

CONTRIBUTORS Paul Burkinshaw Matt Sylvester Frank Mensah Tom Hibbert Patrick Rault Carl Fisher Mic Clark Rob Nutley

Neville Wray Jim Fung Leon Dogan Peter Lewis Paul Hennesey Iain Abernethy Alfie Lewis Iain Armstrong Julian Dale Danny Guba Richard Thomas Rhee Ki Ha Steve Proctor Neil Holden Gavin Mullholland Ross Iannocarro Cris Janson-Piers Jeffet Jenkins

CONTENTS

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VOLUME 34 NUMBER 9 SEPTEMBER 2008

REGULARS 7 -

MARTIAL ARTS NEWSLINE

30 46 94 102 107 155 -

COMBAT FILM + COMPETITION!

PUBLISHER/MANAGING DIRECTOR Paul Clifton

EDITORIAL TEAM 0121 344 3737

MIKE FINN - Magic of Martial Arts, part 5

SENIOR DESIGNER

LESSONS FROM THE CAGE - With Gavin Mulholland

Mark John Davies

THE NEGOTIATOR - By Aran Dharmeratnam CALENDAR CLUBS DIRECTORY & CLASSIFIEDS SECTION

GRAPHIC DESIGN

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Kevin Thompson

ADVERTISING/SALES

FEATURES 10 14 18 22 36 40 48 -

52 57 58 64

KNIFE CRIME - Is martial arts the answer?

RAMBO RETROSPECTIVE - By Rich Badley - Part 2

NEWS ITEMS

SILK & STEEL - An interview with Grandmaster Rene R. Tongson

For all news related items, simply mark your envelope “COMBAT NEWSLINE” and together with a photograph (if required) and a covering letter, send it to: COMBAT, Head Office. or E-Mail: combat_news@martialartsinprint.com

BABES WITH BLADES Actress & martial artist Cecily Fay tells us how she aims to show that martial arts performance can be sexy & original LA DOLCE VITA - A Tale of two coppers

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SUITABLE OR NOT? - By Brian Dossett

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EXPLORING FLEXIBILITY - By John Swift

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REDUCE STRESS & INCREASE YOUR MENTAL TOUGHNESS With martial arts principles

74 80 -

HOW TO GET WORK PUBLISHED To have your submission published in COMBAT couldn’t be easier. Supply your written material either on disc (ASCII), typed or on audio tape.

Send it together with a covering letter and some good quality photo’s (digital photographs must be 300dpi) to the Head Office (address below).

CHEAT TO PASS A GCSE, NEVER! Well, you might just have to if you want to include TaekwonDo GOING UNDERGROUND With martial arts movie star Mark Strange - Part 1

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70 -

Julie Davies (0121) 356 7616

PADBOX COMPETITION

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CALENDAR If you have a forthcoming event that you would like published in COMBAT Calendar. Send your entry, giving dates, times, and contact numbers, to “CALENDAR” COMBAT Head Office.

HEAD OFFICE: COMBAT, 135 Aldridge Road, Perry Barr, Birmingham. B42 2ET. Tel: 0121 344 3737 Fax: 0121 356 7300 E-Mail: combat.magazine@btclick.com

UNLOCK THE SECRET OF SHAOLIN KICKS How to boost the power & speed of your kicks - By Shifu Yan Lei

CLUBS DIRECTORY

ENEMY UNSEEN - By Matthew Mills

Advertise your club, school, group, Association or classes for just £5.00 per word for 12 months!, Simply layout your details (using the current advertisers as an example) including a good example of your logo/emblem if required and send it together with a cheque to the Head Office. Please mark the envelope “Clubs Directory” or E-Mail: combat_clubs@martialartsinprint.com

WING CHUN SPECIAL FEATURE FEATURE A brief history of Wing Chun

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FEAR & SELF DEFENCE Wing Chun is the ideal martial art for conditioning the body against the physiological aspect of fear

90 97 98 104 -

TRAINING IN THAILAND - What’s all the fuss about?

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ADVERTISING DETAILS

NEVER BACK DOWN COMPETITION

If you would like to advertise in COMBAT write or telephone the Head Office to obtain details, deadline dates and costs.

THE COLOSSUS - Combat talks to MMA star James Thompson THE NEED FOR HIGH RISK TRAINING It’s a matter of life and death!

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INTERNATIONAL JUDGEMENT DAY Total Eclipse night show 2008

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CIMAC BRITISH OPEN 2008

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SUMMER SEMINAR 2008 Training with “the world’s most successful coach”

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TOOLS OF THE TRADE Shime Waza - Choking techniques - Part 4

126 129 132 -

THE WAY OF SANCHIN KATA - Rooting

139 144 -

JESSICA R. MANDEL - Never give up your dreams!

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ITF: EVOLUTION OR SEPARATION Tae kwon do - 3 times as interesting?

MARTIAL ARTS PIONEERS - Yoshinao Nanbu WINNERS NEVER QUIT, QUITTERS NEVER WIN! An Interview with Jonathan Mottram

NEW HOPE & A NEW FUTURE FOR WTF IN THE UK On the record with Nigel Hudson chairman of the newly formed UKTDC

DISCLAIMER COMBAT is published by Martial Arts Publications, Regent House, 135 Aldridge Road, Perry Barr, Birmingham. The publishers reserve the right to reject editorial and/or advertising material as they see fit.

The Publishers accept no responsibility for the return of unsolicited material. However, the Publishers will endeavour to return such matter providing that it is accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope.

Any material accepted by the Publishers shall be revised or altered should the Publisher deem it necessary to do so. The act of submitting manuscripts and/or materials shall be considered an express warranty that such material is original and in no way infringes upon the rights of others. It is expressly forbidden for any part of the magazine to be reported whatsoever without the permission of Editor / Publishers. The views or comments expressed in these pages are not necessarily those of the editor or Publisher. Distribution by COMAG, Tavistock Works, Tavistock Road, West Drayton, Middlesex UB7 7QE.

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PADBOX COMPETITION The kind people at Padbox are offering 2 amazing prizes to 2 lucky readers of padbox equipment 1st prize is a full set r of boxing gloves, including 1 t-shirt, 1 pai 1 set of hand wraps 1 pair of focus pads and

2nd prize 1 set of boxing gloves

To enter this great competition and stand a chance of winning all you have to do is answer this simple question:

Who is the professional boxer pictured on the equipment page of the padbox website? go to

www.padbox.co.uk

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Email your answer together with your name, address and daytime contact number to

New Amendment allows purchase of Samurai Swords visit web site for details

padbox@martialartsinprint.com

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Knife Crime sang in a church choir and had comrecent spate of teen stabMonique Morrison, 21, also plained to police about an earlier bing deaths has sparked agrees. She was one of a group of assault. Jimmy Mizen, a popular 16fears of a knife crime epiyoung people who met rec-ently with year-old, was stabbed with a piece of the Prime Minister to discuss the demic among Britain’s glass outside a bakery at Lee, in young, and spurred the government problem. She told reporters, “It’s south-east London following a dispute increasing! It’s stupid things like ‘you to announce tougher penalties for over a mobile phone. A 19-year-old is have spoken to my girlfriend, I’ll slash teens caught carrying a knife.

For a major city, London has a rel- accused of his murder. you up,’ or ‘If I see him out, he’s havatively low murder rate. Police report ing it!’”

Other victims include 18-year-old 159 homicides from April 2007 to the Rob Knox, who had a small part in the “Carrying a knife is completely same month this year, about a third unacceptable,” Prime Minister upcoming film “Harry Potter And The the number in similarly sized New Half-Blood Prince”. Harry was Gordon Brown said when he York. But the number of victims stabbed to death while trying to break announced an end to Britain’s system under age 18 has risen. According to up a brawl outside a south London bar. of issuing warnings to some teenagers police statistics, 17 teenagers were A 21-year-old has been charged with caught with knives. killed in London during Until now, warnings were 2006, 27 in 2007, and 16 so given to most of those under Young people need to understand that far this year. Eleven of the 16 the age of 18 found with were stabbed to death.

With the change, anycarrying knives doesn’t protect you, it does knives.

Arsema Dawit, a 15-yearone 16 or over who carries a old schoolgirl found dead in the opposite - it increases the danger for all knife with a blade longer than an elevator at a South of us, destroys young lives and ruins families 3 inches will be prosecuted.

London apartment building Those convicted face a penalty was the 16th teenager murof up to four years in prison. dered in Britain’s capitol this year. his murder. Most recently, a 19-year“Young people need to understand Most, like Dawit, were stabbed to old was in critical condition after being that carrying knives doesn’t protect death - and mostly their killers were stabbed in East Ham, East London. you, it does the opposite other young people. A 21-year-old it increases the danger for all of us, student has been charged with killing destroys young lives and ruins famiFASHION Dawit, an Eritrean immigrant who lies,” Brown said.

Two gang members told a news channel that killing someone is seen David Davis, the former Shadow as a status symbol, and mentioned Home Secretary, weighed in with: that the recent trend in knife murders “Tragically, these kinds of horrific inciis just ‘fashion’. dents have become all too common.

We need an overhaul, at every level, “If you kill someone, that just to tackle this scourge on our streets.” makes you bigger or something,” one said, identifying himself only with his London’s new mayor, Boris street-name ‘Little-tastic’.

Johnson, has also vowed to crack The other, a 16-year-old told the down on knife crime. His proposals reporter, “It’s a fashion thing at the include airport-style metal-detecting arches at train and subway stations. moment for everyone to be killing London police recently began an everyone.” aggressive new program to search Evidently these views are widely anyone they wish for knives without held because a 16-year-old student having to justify their suspicions from Bromley, the south London district where Rob Knox was killed, said, beforehand.

Some believe that these measures “It’s not even a shock anymore to are little more than political posturing hear about stabbings. It’s the whole and this author is one. I believe we gang culture, I think. As soon as one need to pause before reaching for person gets stabbed, someone goes knee-jerk responses such as longer after another person.”

A

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custodial sentences for teenagers. We might want to apply what Presidential candidate Barrack Obama said about offenders in the US: “The notion that we are imposing felonies on them or sending them to prison, where they are getting advance degrees in criminality, instead of thinking about ways that can get them back on track in their lives, is expensive, counter-productive, and doesn’t make sense!”

BOOT CAMPS We need to listen to those working closest with the kind of youngsters who get involved in inner-city youth crime, such as Camila Batmanghelidjh of Kids Company, who was recently interviewed in a British newspaper. She does not see boot camps and tougher, longer prison sentences for young people as even part of the solution. Ms. Batmanghelidjh talks, disturbingly, of a new generation of children who are capable of extreme violence as a consequence of, and response to, a combination of neglect and abuse in childhood. These children are chaotic, entirely unsocialised and short, sharp shocks appear unlikely to implant in them the kind of behavioural boundaries needed to stop them from re-offending.

She cautions against resorting to facile-sounding solutions that simply fill up prisons. Repairing the damaged fabric of a generation of children, some of whom have never learned to care for themselves, let alone for others, is a long-term business for which there is no easy answer.

Now let’s look at the type of young people who commit these crimes.

They want to be accepted by their peers and be part of a gang of people they respect. They want to be tough, they want to be recognised as tough by their peers and they want to be respected. So they will do what is needed to achieve those goals.

Remember: these are not the sorts of kids who look forward to a holiday in the South of France with Mum, Dad and baby sister. Aiming to get a place in medical school? Yeah - right! These kids aren’t encouraged to do their homework. What’s the point?...

To read the rest of this article why not take out a subscription by calling +44 (0) 121 344 3737

Is Martial Arts the answer?

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Going Undergro With martial arts movie star Mark Strange Mark Strange’s extensive experience in martial arts spans over 24 years, having represented Britain in the 2002 Chin Woo championships in China; Euro-British Full Contact Champion in 1999; and National Chinese Forms Champion in 1992.

Drawing upon his considerable skills and natural performing style as a talented martial artist, Mark turned to acting and action performing in the late 90’s with a string of TV and film appearances, including a role in the cult series ‘Roddy Smythe Investigates’. Mark took a key supporting role in the feature film ‘Fist of Justice’ in 2005, and had the immense privilege of working with Jackie Chan and Donnie Yen in Hong Kong on Columbia Tri-Star’s ‘The Medallion’ and ‘The Twins Effect’ and on Warner Bros. ‘Batman Begins’. Mark then took the leading role in his debut independent feature film ‘Displaced’, which also featured Ian McKellen (‘Lord of the Rings’, ‘X-Men’) who provided the voice-over. The film went on to secure world wide distribution and introduced Mark to a global audience.

Mark’s second starring role was in the acclaimed British independent film ‘Underground’, produced by Intense Productions, which allowed him to further hone his acting and action performing skills to an even higher degree. The film won an honourable mention award at the Accolade Film Festival in California for stunts, and also starred Joey Ansah (‘The Bourne Ultimatum’) and Danny John-Jules (‘Red Dwarf’, ‘Blade II’), with the stunts and fights arranged

by Mark Strange and Dave Forman (‘Batman Begins’, ‘The Last Samurai’). The film is currently on general DVD release in numerous countries, including the U.S.A. by City Lights Media and Warner/Elektra/Atlantic Corporation (WEA), Latin America, Japan, Poland, Argentina, Canada, Australia and pay TV channel HBO. In June 2007, Mark secured a supporting role in the epic action drama ‘Bodyguard: A New Beginning’, which was shot on location in Hong Kong and the UK. In this film with Jackie Chan in ‘The Medallion’

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he worked alongside renowned Asian actors Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (‘Memoirs of a Geisha’, ‘The Last Emperor’, ‘Mortal Kombat’), and Richard Ng (‘Winners and Sinners’, ‘My Lucky Stars’). A UK/Hong Kong Co-Production, the film is due for worldwide release in 2008.

So what next for Mark Strange? In addition to his continued work as an action martial arts performer, he is expanding his undoubted repertoire as an actor, with the varied range of roles he has lined up in the years to come.

Mark kindly gave an exclusive interview for Combat so read on:

How did you start out in martial arts and what made you want to be an actor?

MARK STRANGE: My ambition grew out of watching martial arts and action films as a child. Jackie Chan, Sylvester Stallone and Sammo Hung were just some of my inspirations. Watching these films made me want to learn martial arts, so I went down to the local leisure centre and signed up for Lau Gar Kung Fu. This was the beginning of a passion that would span my whole life. During the years I trained with Master Derek Frearson who taught me a diverse range of Chinese Martial Arts. I also studied with other masters in the U.K., Hong Kong, and at the Shaolin Temple in China. My ultimate goal, however, was to cross over into film as an actor and action performer and I started working towards achieving this in the late 1990s.

You competed in martial arts tournaments. Did you find this valuable experience?

MARK STRANGE: My competitive career spanned over 16 years, where I competed in full and semi-contact, as well as performing with weapons and empty hand forms. I was MAI National Chinese Forms Champion in 1992; I became Euro-British Full Contact Champion in 1999 and I represented Britain in the Chin Woo championships in China.

Entering tournaments was much more than winning trophies; it gave me the chance to perform. It enabled me to hone my skills and become used to an audience. Losing was just as valuable as winning. The tournament scene helped to shape my character and gave me many skills and qualities that have helped me in my film career.

und

Part One Interview conducted

by John Miller

To read the rest of this article make sure you get your copy of Combat available from WH Smiths & all good newsagents

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Welcome to...

WAKO WORLD ASSOCIATION OF KICKBOXING ORGANISATIONS Founded in 1970 WAKO is the largest unified kickboxing organisation in the World with over 100 nations currently in membership. WAKO World H.Q. is based in Milan. ★ WAKO History ★ WAKO started its activity in Europe in 1976. The founder was Mr Georg Bruckner from Berlin, who promoted the first ever World Championships in semi and full contact karate (as it was called in those days) back in 1978 with 110 competitors representing 18 countries. WAKO immediately created the rules and regulations for the new fighting sports and acted, since the very beginning, as the authentic Kickboxing Federation of the world. In our Championships, only national teams are accepted. Each member country can present only 1 competitor in each weight class. The WAKO World Championships are NOT open competitions therefore each representative is the premier competitor in that category, from their country.

World Governing Body for Kickboxing World and European Amateur Championships Title Fights held continually both Amateur & Professional Regional Competitions are held throughout the year British Amateur Championships to choose British Teams Full-Contact, Light Continuous-Contact, Semi-Contact, Musical Forms Licence, Membership and Insurance available to all of U.K., Southern Ireland and Republic of Ireland Coaching courses, Referee Training, Seminars and Training Dan Gradings and WAKO certificates for all Members For upto the minute details of all forthcoming W.A.K.O events visit our website To see national ama/wako listings of over 13,000 instructors/clubs on the web, type: www.bt.com/thephonebook then in ‘business’ type: martial arts and town

Contact: WAKO, 66 Chaddesden Lane, Chaddesden, Derby, DE21 6LP Tel: 07973 507716 / 01332 663086 / 01628 784254 or Fax: 01332 280286 WAK001/11

www.wakogb.co.uk

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COMBAT FILM S.P.L (aka Sha Po Lang /Kill Zone)

by Phil Hobden

It’s not often a film blows me away but the first time I saw S.P.L, on the big screen in Cannes at a preview a few years back, I was gob smacked. Put simply... I hadn’t seen a Hong Kong movie this good in an age.

Now a few years later I feared that maybe the film wouldn’t have been as I remembered... that those rose tinted glasses just helped me get caught up in the moment.

Not a chance. S.P.L is still as good as it was back in Cannes, maybe even better because little since has topped what Wilson Yip has achieved with this joyous slice of action thriller.

A cops and robbers story that sees a criminal who will do anything to keep his criminal empire, a veteran cop that walks the fine line between ‘protect and serve’ and the very element he stands against, and a new to department super cop pushed to excel in the shadow of personal failure. None are left unscathed. A top notch cast, including Simon Yam, Sammo Hung and Donnie Yen along with Wu Jing star in this gritty actioner directed by Wilson Yip. Superb acting, brilliant scripting and top notch cinematography make this a beautiful film to watch but what stands out the most is Donnie Yen’s choreography, a career best, with some of the most brutal fights I have ever seen (standout moments include the awesome final fight & the alleyway sequence) - all from a film that was never initially intended as a martial arts piece.

S.P.L aka Sha Po Lang aka Kill Zone is a simply a must see movie, a quality film from start to finish. If you haven’t seen this get it now. It’s that good!

S.P.L HK Special edition Region 1 DVD is available from www.hkflix.com priced £9.99

FILM - 4.5/5 ACTION - 4.5/5

By Phil Hobden http://combatfilm.blogspot.com

LEGEND OF THE SHADOWLESS SWORD

by Chris Regan

On first glance this South Korean martial arts epic bears a striking resemblance to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and more recently Hero and House of Flying Daggers. Where Shadowless Sword differs is in the dynamic plot often delivered on the move and the eclectic mix of almost comic-book characters producing a combination of Eastern fantasy and Hollywood story-telling. The plot concerns an exiled prince escorted to his homeland by a female bodyguard who expertly fights off the army of assassins on his tail. While simple enough the actors do an excellent job of giving their characters some complexity, particularly the two lead assassins who make the most of their minor subplot adding an element of tragedy to their roles. The numerous fight scenes play like a mix of old school Hong Kong and live action anime and due to the varying locations (including underwater) and styles are never dull. Overall a slick, enjoyable film that may not break any new ground but certainly revitalises an aging genre.

FILM - 4/5 ACTION - 4/5 If you liked this try: Hero, A Touch of Zen, The Hidden Fortress

UNDERGROUND by Rich Badley Dir. Chee Keong Cheung, 2007, UK, 95 mins Cast: Mark Strange, Nathan Lewis, Liang Yang, Danny John-Jules 12 fighters competing for one prize? Underground never pretends to be the most original of martial arts films. Each player enters with a brief bio before being chucked into one of the carefully dressed sets and...”FIGHT!”, as they say in Mortal Kombat. Winners progress to the next round while the losers nurse broken bones and bloodied noses, all to the whim of 6 suited ‘backers’ who watch over the tournament with glee.

Luckily, the fighters are respected stuntmen from Batman Begins and Bourne Ultimatum so the film offers plenty of flying fists and lethal moves, with no CG or a wire in sight. Demonstrating everything from MMA to Capoeira to dirty street fighting - if one fight doesn’t get your adrenalin pumping chances are the next one will. Each bout is expertly choreographed, making use of the varied sets ranging from breaker’s yard to car showroom and the fighter’s attire and abilities ensure variety; The Police Officer versus The Foreigner has the most flair while The Model versus The Teacher is (arguably) the most brutal.

Things get inventive come round 3, with 3 left there has to be a different way to sort the men from the boys, but little characterization means there’s never anyone to cheer for. In an effort to make the final a surprise the film never fleshes out anyone’s back story - there’s a brief friendship between The Delinquent and The Foreigner but it’s quickly discarded. So the eventual winner is of minor consequence but then this isn’t Rocky, it’s an exercise in fast and furious stunt work with no tricks that rarely pauses for breath. Chee Keong Cheung has proven that it can be done on a low-budget and at the same time has made a highly polished showcase for British action talent.

FILM - 3/5 ACTION - 4/5 If you liked this try: Mortal Kmbat, Enter the Dragon, The Running Man

PARIS LOCKDOWN by Rich Badley Shoot-outs, torture, naked hookers, and that’s just the DVD menu. Frédéric Schoendoerffer certainly packs a punch in this slick crime epic that reminds us how tough the genre was before Guy Ritchie came along. The opening is a whirlwind of ex-cons, hitmen and kingpins as the hellish underworld of Paris is intricately painted. At the top of it all is Corti (Philippe Caubère); a controlling, almost Shakespearean figure. But when a coke deal goes wrong - cue the film’s stand-out, Heat inspired, gun battle - his empire begins to crumble around him.

There’s no sympathetic hero but Schoendoerffer’s more concerned with dog eat dog realism - think of Scorcese in the good ol’ days except swap the pasta and meatballs for fine wine and oysters. With scenes of graphic violence and rape it can be a difficult watch but it’s also an elegantly shot, edgy adult thriller - almost a rarity these days.

FILM - 4/5 ACTION - 3/5 If you liked this try: The Long Good Friday, Goodfellas, LA Takedown 30 COMBAT WWW.COMBATMAG.CO.UK

The Legend of the

Shadowless

Sword

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COMBAT FILM

By Phil Hobden http://combatfilm.blogspot.com

Martial Arts On TV Through the decades FACT: Mainstream US & UK TV is littered with a rich history of martial arts and action themed shows. From adults to children, mainstream US TV has never disappointed in its desire to please even the most hardcore of the genre’s fan.

So with that in mind, this month I’m going to take a look back at some of the most influential English language action & martial arts TV series from the past thirty plus years.

From the great to the not so great, from the fun to the plain camp here I present a run down of my favourite top ten action TV shows. With a few extra for good measure...

Highlander (1993- 1998, 119 Episodes) A spin off from the, erm, popular film series, Highlander the TV show focused on immortal Duncan MacLeod and his travels. Peppered in was a fair amount of martial arts action that generally ended with the beheading of a bad guy. There can be only one you know...

Highlander was years ahead of it’s time. Predating the adult themed shows such as Oz & The Sopranos, Highlander was violent in a way that mainstream shows at the time rarely were and again was another show that wasn’t afraid to deal with big issues. As well as making a star out of Adrian Paul, the TV show also extended the life of a franchise that was dead in the water after the appalling ‘Highlander 2’.

(Highlander is available on Region 1 NTSC DVD from PlayUSA.com)

Martial Law (1998- 2000, 44 Episodes) Sammo Hung. Arsenio Hall. Kelly Hu. Crossovers with Walker, Texas Ranger. Yes it’s the short lived but fondly remembered Martial Law. Martial Law had a troubled production and although the show is little more than Rush Hour the TV Series (not officially but the film & TV show do share very similar ideas) it was still a show full of plenty of action and even more bad jokes.

(Martial Law is currently unavailable on DVD.)

Kung Fu (1972- 1975, 60 Episodes) Much mocked but rarely bettered David Carradine series from the early 70’s, Kung Fu was groundbreaking in its time. During it’s 60 episode run, the series boasted an impressive array of guest stars Harrison Ford, Jodie Foster, Robert, Keith and John Carradine, William Shatner and Don Johnson to name but a few. Cheesy but fun!

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The Unit (2006 - Now, 47 Episodes) With Shawn Ryan (The Shield) & David Mamet (Wag The Dog, Ronin) at the helm this series was always going to be something special. Add a cast including Dennis Haysbert (24) and Robert Patrick (T2), a military theme and an ATeam like propensity to shoot at people and blow stuff up and you have one of the strongest recent TV series for a while.

From the streets of Montenegro to the deserts of Iraq, The Unit tracks an elite team of Delta Force-like marines who exist to run black ops for the government which also focuses on their wives and families as they deal with life in the military.

Now in it’s fourth season, The Unit is gung ho TV at it’s best.

(The Unit is currently on Virgin1 and is on Region 2 DVD)

Monkey! (1978- 1980, 52 Episodes) Whilst only 52 episodes were produced, Monkey is one of the most fondly remembered TV shows of it’s era. Also known as Monkey Magic, the show was an English language version of the Japanese show Saiy_ki. Performed by Japanese actors in Chinese and dubbed into English the show was based around character Monkey who was “born from an egg on a mountain top”. A cult classic Monkey! featured loads of action and is very big in Australia.

(Monkey! is available on DVD from Play.com)

24 (2001-now, 144 Episodes) Action... thriller... drama... and even the occasional smattering of martial arts, 24 rewrote the rules for US mainstream television. It was also the show that made TV cool again, giving a new lease of life to Kiefer Sutherland and single handily relaunching his career in the process.

From a sterling first season featuring Dennis Hopper and Lou Diamond-Philips, the series has featured other well known mainstream actors and action performers such as J.J. Perry, Al Leong and even a Jeff Wincott cameo.

(24 Season 1-6 are available to buy from all leading retailers)

Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1997- 2003, 145 Episodes) Based on a poor performing film starring Kristy Swanson, Buffy the Vampire Slayer arrived on television in 1997 after a creator Joss Whedon created a pilot out of his own money. TV would never be the same again...

Buffy was a little of everything - horror, comedy, musical but most of all action. At it’s height Buffy attracted over 5.4 million viewers and was regularly one of the top three rated shows on the WB network. And rightly so.

From its sparkly written characters, near perfect casting, adult themed narratives (which took in everything from parental death to lesbianism), the show was a televisual master class. In short, Buffy tackled real issues whilst never being afraid to poke fun at the genre it came from.

(Buffy currently screens on Virgin1 and is also available on DVD from Play.com)

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COMPETITION This month, care of our friends at DNC Entertainment we have 2 copies of new Dolph Lundgren film The Mechanik on DVD to give away. To win this great prize all you have to do is answer the following question: What film did Dolph Lundgren star alongside Sly Stallone? a) Rocky 4 b) Rambo c) Cobra Email your name, address and answer to mechanik@martialartsinprint.com WWW.COMBATMAG.CO.UK COMBAT 33

Silk & Steel An Interview with Grandmaster Rene R. Tongson

a World famous Classical Arnis Master Grandmaster Rene R. Tongson is considered amongst the leading technical men of the Philippine FMA community. He was the point man and core member of the organizing committee of the 3rd FMA World Festival in 2006 and 4th FMA Festival and International Goodwill Sports Arnis Tournament in July, 2008, both in the Philippines.

GM Tongson is known for his fluid flow and silk-like grace in classical arnis forms.

His solid 41 years of experience in martial arts has established his network in Australia, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, United Kingdom, Russia, Ukraine, USA, Canada, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong as well as most parts of the Philippines.

He is one of the three most senior members of Professor Remy A. Presas’ International Modern Arnis Federation - Philippines (IMAFP)and sole inheritor of Grandmaster Mateo D. Estolloso’s (May he rest in peace), Abaniko Tres Puntas System.

In 1986, he drafted the original version of the Standard Rules for Sport Arnis competition, which is now used widely in local and International competitions and has published numerous manuals and instructional DVD’s.

He was the recipient of the 2006 Grandmaster of the Year Award and inducted into the International Martial Arts Hall of Fame by the World Head of Family Sokeship Council, and was FMA Digest’s Man of the Year 2006.

He travels regularly and teaches around the world.

He counts among his top students-friends GM Bambit Dulay of the Tapi-Tapi System, GM Dieter Knuttel of DAV Germany and GM Angelo Baldissone of the Filipino Kyusho Association UK. GM Tongson by formal education has a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Engineering and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA).

Grand Master Rene Welcome to Combat GM RENE - Thank you

When did your journey start in the martial arts?

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GM RENE - I was barely 9 years old when I took my first formal lesson in arnis. It was classical arnis under, my first teacher, GM Roberto Presas in Hinigaran Negros Occidental. That was sometime in 1963 and I chose it because of its uniqueness and my fascination for traditional martial arts.

You sound like you love the traditional arts, can you elaborate further?

GM RENE - Besides classical arnis I fell in love with Kendo, the Japanese way of the sword. I hold a 4 Dan in Kendo and am a recognized master of indigenous weapons. I also love classical music. Traditions are just here to stay; they may go into decline at times but will keep coming back. In the Philippines, traditions are integral to our culture and heritage. It binds people, community and family together.

You are known for your Classical Arnis- Abaniko Tres Puntas; can you tell how this came about?

GM RENE - I do not own the style, I inherited it from Grandmaster Mateo D. Estolloso (may he rest in peace) who during his time was a well-known no-rules fighter. I took lessons with him from 1980 until he passed away in 1998,aged 95 .I was still practicing Roberto Presas’ ` Abaniko Palis- Espada y Daga up until that time.

One day Master Estolloso said,” Rene, I am leaving Abaniko Tres Puntas to you’ Confused I replied, “ I don’t think I am the right one Lolo (Lolo means grandfather)” He retorted in high tone, “ I did not say you are the right one! I just said I am leaving it to you! Pick-up your sticks we still have 2 hours”.

To read the rest of this article make sure you get your copy of Combat available from WH Smiths & all good newsagents

COMBAT 41

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Grandmaster Angelo and Master John Presents

The London Seminar 4th Oc t

Sa tur da y

t Oc 5th ay nd Su

Filipino Kyusho Association

The course will be held at: Cheshunt Marriott Hotel, Halfhide Lane, Turford, Broxbourne, Enfield. EN10 6NG Phone: 01992 451245 (Just off the M25 at Junction 25) Fax: 01992 440120

The Chushin-Do Federation UK

Together as ONE

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Grandmaster Fun Master John Byrne Angelo Baldissone Kobut K an 4th Dan Ap ata 7th dan plic Course Instructors Include atio n Kenpo Aikido Abnaniko Tres Puntas 1st time in the UK Jutsu u J u y ko R k a Fun H itsu J o sh Kyu Kar ate Italian Knife Fun Master Danilo Rossi Fun Shihan Mario Spillere Sensei Jamie Tant - 3rd Dan Master Barry Chiverton - 4th Dan Grandmaster Sensei Francois Calcus - 3rd Dan Rene Tongson Master Pip Mahony - 4th Dan 8th Dan Grandmaster Angelo Baldissone and Master John Byrne have come together to bring you The London Seminar. This will be a fantastic 2 day event with some great instructors. It is our pleasure and a real honour to bring to the UK for the first time Grandmaster Rene Tongson from the Philipines. We have invited Master Danilo Rossi from Italy, Shihan Mario Spillere from Italy and Sensei Francois Calcus from Belgium along with some top instructors from the UK. The cost of this seminar is ONLY ÂŁ100 per person for the 2 days and includes Saturday lunch and Saturday evening Buffet.

To see the details of the hotel for this event and to see how to book your room with prices.

Look on the Hotel details page on our websites - www.masterangelo.co.uk or www.chushin-do.com or www.cheshuntmarriot.co.uk (Please book rooms direct with hotel) To guarantee your place at this event in London make sure you book early. This seminar will fill fast so to avoid disappointment make sure you get your place. To pay for your place please log onto www.masterangelo.co.uk and follow the link to the seminar page to pay by paypal

Instructors - Bring 10 people and come for free, just pay for your food ÂŁ30 (does not include hotel) Everyone is invited to attend regardless of grade, style or affilations etc BAL001/01

For further information call Angelo on: 07873 120515

www.be-a-leader.co.uk

Visit the site below and find out

If you run a school, or are thinking about opening one you need this information!

Would you like to know how to get 20 new enrolments EVERY MONTH?

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SUITABLE

OR NOT?

By Brian Dossett

Is the CRB system flawed?

Things seem to have recently gone wild - as we have witnessed through the plague of knife attacks recorded during recent months. The relationship between law and justice has its problems and some, it seems, manage to escape being caught whilst others are caught and punished severely. Those who are caught may, it is hoped, learn from their mistakes and find a new direction. Those who escaped may actually prosper - though I’m not suggesting that criminal actions can be condoned.

What I am saying is that some criminals who were convicted and punished turned out to be not all bad. And some criminals who were never caught and convicted are holding down responsible jobs. CRB checks only tell us about those who were caught but even those with a clean record may not really be so. So how can we know who we are dealing with?

I learnt so much during my Navy days and when I left at age 18, I knew people who were caught and punished for minor crimes and others who were not caught for those very same minor crimes. By ‘minor crimes’ I mean things like driving with no licence/tax or drinking under age and such like.

These minor crimes are wrong - sure but they happen every day of the week. I am not condoning that. Everyone is governed by society’s standards but from time to time these standards may require adjusting/changing. Ultimately it’s down to life experience. As the old saying goes: if only I knew then what I know now!

Experience I see youngsters going down the wrong road and have to make a decision on whether to let them learn from their mistake, or head them off from making that mistake. Am I really helping them if I stop them? Won’t the experience they gain from making the wrong move actually help them to succeed in life? I thank the experiences I received over the years for helping me!

On the other hand, people I know who were protected by family etc did not have to experience the consequences of a wrong move and some at least grew into gullible individuals.

Many people are forced into situations we never dreamed we would be in, and that’s where a wide experience can help.

So, am I saying to do well in life, one must have bad experiences? No, of course not! What I am saying is that you can’t buy experience - you must go get it! It was through those many experiences of mine that I came to discover who I was.

For example, I discovered I had the ability to deal with yobs. Why? Because I recognise that I was one once! Both good and bad experiences in my past have helped me today to assess and deal with situations I might otherwise not have been able to handle.

criminal record for, say, driving without insurance may not be a bad sports coach.

So though CRBs are intended to protect, they may also come to form an unnecessary barrier.

I think it’s time to remove some of those who are ‘qualified’ and replace them with those of us with practical experience.

Base qualifications on actual experience and only then, perhaps, will we get it right! if only I knew then what I know now!

Past Record This brings me to the big question: who assesses the assessor when, as I said at the beginning of this article, we don’t have a reliable past record to guide us?

How many martial art instructors out there are coaching - yet may not be suitable? How many martial art instructors are denied a coaching position based on a mistake recorded during their life?

Banks should not employ known criminals and convicted child molesters should not work with kids but someone with a WWW.COMBATMAG.CO.UK COMBAT 57

Reduce stress & Increase

your Mental Toughness with Martial Arts Principles You can increase your mental toughness and improve every aspect of your life, by applying basic martial arts principles to your mind. Martial cultures throughout history used simple mind-conditioning techniques to reduce stress, increase enjoyment of life, and improve performance. Now, you can use these same techniques from your training to shape your attitude towards life’s stressors and increase your mental toughness.

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Like most present day martial artists, the ancient martial artists - Shoalin Monks, Boxers, Ninja, Samurai and others were taught the four basic principles of martial arts: Centering, Least Resistance, Accommodation and Balance.

Unlike most present day martial artists, however, the ancient martial artists didn’t separate their training from the other aspects of their lives. In fact, they thought of these training principles not just as ideas to improve their fighting skills, but more as ideas to live by.

Their idea of mental toughness involved three things: being able to relax and enjoy the present moment, being able to live in harmony with their surroundings, and being able to experience relaxed concentration in all their endeavours. And, they wanted to experience these things even under the most arduous conditions.

They achieved this mental toughness by using their martial arts principles to help them cope easily with the routine problems and stressors in their lives. They knew that by applying their martial arts principles to their minds, they would experience relaxed concentration in everything they did - whether cooking lunch, practicing skills like Zen Archery, or fighting in a

battle. And, they did this as they knew that relaxed concentration was the secret to success in all their endeavours.

Take, for example, the Ninja of 16th century Japan. Often forced to live as fugitives in harsh, mountainous regions, they lived each day knowing that if captured they would be executed immediately, no questions asked, no quarter given.

These fugitive Ninja diligently applied

‘‘

Nowadays, professional sportsmen and elite soldiers use similar ideas from NLP, psychology and sports psychology to help them cope with their routine problems.

They too recognise that being relaxed in the present moment, and feeling on top of their routine problems, is crucial to performing well when the pressure’s on.

That’s all very interesting, you may be thinking, but why is this ancient form of mind training relevant to me in my relatively safe and comfortable modern life?

Well, although most of us today are lucky enough not to face the extreme dangers that the Ninja, Samurai or Shoalin Monks of old faced, our modern lives are full of damaging, low-level stressors.

Every day, our senses are bombarded by air and noise pollution, supermarket queues, crowded trains, traffic jams, aggressive people, and other problems of normal life.

If you’ve spent the whole day rushing around, sitting in traffic, while worrying about your future, the mortgage, exams, an upcoming grading, then your body has spent the whole day reacting to these mental stressors as if it was physically under attack. For the whole day, stress hormones were flying around your body as it constantly prepared for an attack that never came.

In the short terms, this type of stress causes agitation, irritability and poor performance. Your awareness of your surroundings decreases as you develop tunnel vision. Therefore, if you were involved in an emergency, or were physically attacked, unlike the fugitive Ninja, you would have neither the awareness nor reserves or energy to deal with it.

In the long term, your work, your relationships, and your health can suffer, making life feel like just one long succession of problems.

However, rather than just being a passive victim of boring, irritating, or stressful situations, we can train our minds with our martial arts principles, and inoculate ourselves against this type of stress reaction. Rather than being tired, annoyed, or ‘stressed-out’ all the time, you can, like the ancient martial artists, adjust your attitude towards whatever stresses you, and strive for relaxed concentration in everything you do. By using your martial arts principles to, in effect, switch-off your stress response, you will experience real, practical, life-enhancing mental toughness. This, in turn, will do two things. It will improve your performance in all you endeavours. And, it will increase the likelihood of their successful outcome...

Unlike most present day martial artists, however, the ancient martial artists didn’t separate their training from the other aspects of their lives

’’

their martial arts principles to their minds, so that they could cope easily with their day-to-day problems. By doing so, they were not just able to survive. They were able to thrive and to maintain their legendary fighting skills. For the mental toughness they developed - from living in a relaxed harmonious way - gave them the awareness and reserves of energy not only to perform well in their daily lives, but also to respond to emergencies like enemy attacks.

The stress of constant violence needed a strong mind for a ninja

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By Mathew Mills

Enemy unseen How Wing Chun saved my life Confidence If I’m truthful, I came to the Martial Arts to fulfil a fantasy of invulnerability.

Being 18 years of age carries it’s fair share of insecurity and the regular discipline of Karate offered a powerful palliative.

While I achieved only a mediocre level of skill, training with more powerful opponents improved myself-belief tremendously. Confidence is always based on your experience, and mine could not remotely prepare me for the opponent who was to incapacitate me so completely.

Nemesis At the time I was largely unaware of Depression, or that it is one of the fastest growing forms of Mental Illness in the Western World. There are essentially two types. Reactive depression is the normal response when something bad happens. We feel low for while, then get over it. Endogenous depression is an illness in which your brain cannot produce sufficient Serotonin.

Serotonin is the neurotransmitter essential to the sensations of feeling happy. Without Serotonin you feel low

and unhappy pretty much all of the time.

The way you think and act are intimately tied to how you feel. A shortfall of Serotonin therefore spills, negatively, over into every area of your life. Further there is an interaction between both forms of depression. Reactive depression to negative life events predisposes to the endogenous form, and makes the experience of its symptoms worse.

Attrition Endogenous depression develops insidiously starting with minor symptoms which grow in severity over several years. At first, I experienced the occasional grumpiness without good reason.

My lust for life then shrank to somewhere beneath mild affection. As time wore on a nagging sense of hopelessness crept into every aspect of Life. It seemed some external force was conspiring to make everything go wrong.

Eventually, I not only felt helpless to create any kind of positive change, but that it was pointless to do so.

Collateral Depression has a profound impact on those around you. Relationships with my workmates were strained as I alternated unpredictably between obnoxious and plain unresponsive. Home suffered particularly badly. My nearest and dearest took the full brunt of my increasingly difficult behaviour.

Alcohol provides an immediate remedy to the pain of depression, and my drinking habit developed spectacularly to parallel my mood. Training slumped, while the interim stage between sobriety and coma did little to improve stability at home.

Fallen Given a set of obvious symptoms, this begs the question, why didn’t you do something about it? Simply, you don’t realize is happening to you, even as you descend into it. Something or someone has to slap you in the face to make you take notice. My own particular body blow was dealt on a 74 COMBAT WWW.COMBATMAG.CO.UK

particularly wet and dreary Wednesday in February.

Everything that could go wrong had and it was hard to conceive of matters deteriorating further. The general sense of hopelessness was exploded by my then partner ending our five year relationship. Today it seems an insanely romantic notion that there was no hope without her. At the time it made complete and perfect sense; as did ending what seemed an intractable situation by cutting my radial artery with a razor blade.

Having already worked my way through several bottles of wine that night, my memory fragmented. I was rescued by my partner who, to her lasting credit, did a fabulous job of putting me back together. Next morning my experience gained me a healthy respect for anyone who’s committed Seppuku - even drunk it really hurts!and a trip to the local Mental Health Unit. Here I was finally diagnosed, prescribed antidepressants and advised on a recovery program.

Hope Depression brings an acute lack of energy and listlessness. Any transformation from couch potato is a pointless effort. One of the central features of treatment is a structured program of activities. These provide useful time makers, help build floundering selfesteem and elevate mood. Among the activities we hit upon was the Wing Chun I’d recently taken up.

The beginning of the first form, Siu Nim Tao has a section which is performed with slow deliberation in combination with deep, abdominal breathing.

It is relaxing and not too taxing, and ideal way to progressively build up practice time...

To read the rest of this article make sure you get your copy of Combat available from WH Smiths & all good newsagents

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Authentic Wing Chun Kuen Kung Fu & Kali Eskrima Training School Located at: Reading, Berkshire (HQ) & High Wycombe, Bucks Sifu Lucas Castrounis Phone: 0118 -9788616 Mobile: 07801068767 E-mail: lucascastrouniswingchun@hotmail.com

The Reading Kwoon (HQ) is open five days a week for training to suit the different training schedules and patterns of individuals.

The Reading Academy of Wing Chun & Kali has celebrated 16 years since its first opening. It is an independent martial arts school founded in August 1992 by Lucas Castrounis who has featured in a number of martial arts magazines and newspaper articles in the UK and abroad. He has also been interviewed twice, live on BBC Radio Berkshire.

In 2000, he was in the limelight when he choreographed fighting scenes at the Sonning Mill Theatre in Berkshire.

For an introduction and/or free lesson, or to reserve a place, please apply online.

FREE MEMBERSHIP FOR THE FIRST YEAR at the Reading Kwoon (HQ) is being offered for a very limited time to the readers of Combat*. *Monthly training fees apply.

Lucas Castrounis received the Hall of Fame Award in October 2003 from Combat Magazine, in recognition of his commitment and devotion to the development of Martial Arts in the United Kingdom and around the world.

Sifus Franco Regalzi and Lucas Castrounis will hold an international Wing Chun seminar in Athens, Greece in June 2009. Reserve your place now!!!

For more information about seminars/workshops, DVDs and training sessions, please visit the website:

www.teamwingchun.co.uk

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MIDLANDS WING CHUN KUEN Director: Grandmaster Ip Chun Chief Instructor: Si-fu S. Rawcliffe

WI NG C H U N KU NG FU THE ONLY TRUE PRACTICAL STREET SELF DEFENCE SYSTEM THAT CAN BE TRAINED EQUALLY BY ALL! Personal tuition in this devastatingly effective martial art from Si-fu Shaun Rawcliffe, the ONLY instructor in the Midlands trained, qualified and certified in Hong Kong by Wing Chun’s Grandmaster Ip Chun.

CLASSES TAUGHT BY SIFU S . RAWCLIFFE RAWCLIFFE AT:

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1ST HALL GREEN SCOUT HALL HIGHFIELD ROAD, HALL GREEN, BIRMINGHAM. (adj to Yardley Wood Station)

Mon 7:00 - 9:00pm Weds 7:15 - 9:15pm Oak Cottage Primary School, Greswolde Road, Solhull.

Tues 7:00 - 9:00pm

· ·

· · ·

CLASSES ALSO HELD AT: Cheltenham, Bishops Cleeve - Sifu S. Woodward.

01242 574514 or 0468 376299 Tewksbury, Glos - Sifu D. Jones. 01242 227195 Bridgend, S. Wales - Sifu S.Jones. 01656 645431 (Sifu S. Rawcliffe) For further details tel: 07831 437164 (mobile) Or E-Mail on: Sifu@wingchun.co.uk. http://www.wingchun.co.uk

Wing Chun Kung Fu Professional instructors, helping you with your goals and desires, self defence, greater self confidence, fitness, stress reduction, relaxation and flexibility Full time school Its our aim for every student to get their black belt with a fully structured grading system Adults 13+, children 4 and above

Book today and get 4 free lessons (2 weeks) let us show you how kung fu can Free phone number 0800 197 4660 If are lines are busy please try again.

www.kungfuschools.co.uk KFS001/01

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do all this and so much more

Registered Members of: British Council for Chinese Martial Arts Martial Arts Commission Members of Ip Chun Wing Chun Kuen Martial Arts Association - Hong Kong Yip Man Martial Arts Athletic Association Ltd - Hong Kong Ving Tsun Athletic Association - Hong Kong

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A Brief History of

WING CHUN ll schools of Chinese fighting arts attempt to validate themselves by claiming a pedigree going back to a Zen temple - the most well-known, of course, being the Shaolin monastery. Wing Chun Kuen is no exception to this, except it claims that its founder is a female named Ng Mui.

A Ng Mui

Ng Mui was already an accomplished martial artist when she joined the temple, having studied at the Mo Dong Mountain under Sifu Wan Ho Lo Yan. At the temple, Ng Mui developed a fighting system that she called Siu Bo Mui Fa Kuen (Little Mouse Foot Work/Plum Flower Fist). She refined the system after watching a snake and a crane fighting it out, renaming it Sei Ho Bak Bo (Snake and Crane Eight-Step). She further developed the style and again renamed it - this time Ng Bo Mui Fa Kuen (Plum Flower Fist).

Temple’s destruction Ng Mui became one of the temple elders and she was fortunate to escape the temple’s destruction by Qing forces during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor (CE 16621722), fleeing to the White Crane Temple, which is thought to be located in the Daliang mountains on the border between Yunnan and Sichuan. There, it is claimed, she met a girl of fifteen named Yim Wing Chun, a beautiful young girl who lived with her father Yim Sam Soke, making their living from making and selling bean cakes.

Ng Mui

News of Yim Wing Chun’s beauty attracted the attention of a local man named Wong who resolved to marry her, irrespective of the fact she was already in line to marry Leung Bok Chau. Wong’s proposal was flatly rejected by both Yim Wing Chun and her father, so he plotted to take her by force.

Ng Mui suggested that Wing Chun challenge Wong to a fight in one year’s time. If he won, the girl would marry him; if the girl won, Wong would leave her alone! Wing Chun and her father agreed and Wong, who happened to be the best fighter in the area, laughed - but accepted the challenge anyway.

Challenger Ng Mui agreed to teach Wing Chun a condensed version of Shaolin martial arts that she would be able to learn quickly. No doubt fearing the consequences, Wing Chun trained diligently day and night for one year and when that year was up, Wing Chun returned to the village and faced her challenger.

Each time Wong charged at her, she would effortlessly drop him with a simple technique. He became more frustrated and charged in harder but each time he was knocked down until finally he stayed down!

Yim Wing Chun continued to study under Ng Mui and later married Leung Bok Chau. She developed the principles of what Ng Mui taught her and made further improvements, afterwards teaching her system to her husband. Leung Bok Chau was already experienced in other styles but he became very taken with her style. All the while the Wing Chun system was becoming harder and more streamlined.

Weapons Leung Bok Chau taught the style to his uncle, Leung Lan Qui, who taught it in turn to Wong Wah Bo and Leung Ye Tai. However, Leung Bok Chau was their primary teacher. Wong Wah Bo was an oarsman for the Red Boat (the Chinese Opera) and, as you might expect, he was quite well-muscled. Leung Ye Tai was a male actor who played female roles in the Opera. His Wing Chun was softer and it was at this time that weapons were first introduced to the system. Wong Wah Bo taught the Lok Dim Bun Guan (the six-anda-half point pole) to Leung Ye Tai, who responded by teaching Bak Jaam Do (the butterfly knives) to Wong Wah Bo. Wong Wah Bo and Leung Ye Tai both taught Leung Jon, an herbal doctor, who was able 80 COMBAT WWW.COMBATMAG.CO.UK

to reintegrate the hard and soft elements.

Unfortunately Leung Jon’s pupil, Chan Wa Soon, was unable to maintain this integration and the system again became hard.

Chan Wa Soon was Yip Man’s first teacher but he died at a young age and Yip Man then encountered Leung Bik, the son of Leung Jon. Leung Bik was a small and not very muscular man and consequently his style was not as hard as that taught by the late Chan Wa Soon. Through training with Leung Bik, Yip Man was able to learn both the hard and soft elements of Wing Chun Kuen.

Yip Man was a policeman under Chiang Kai Shek in Fatshan, China but he fled the country for Hong Kong fearing reprisals from the victorious new Communist government. When he got to Hong Kong, the only living he could make came from teaching Wing Chun.

However, he was very fortunate in meeting his old friend Go Dai Chung, now a Hung Sang Choy Lay Fut teacher. Go Dai Chung was seriously overworked so he gladly gave Yip Man a club located at Dai Lum Gai in Kowloon.

Leung Sheung was Go Dai Chung’s assistant teacher. He challenged Yip Man and was soundly defeated. Leung Sheung thereupon became Yip Man’s first student! Other early students included Lau Ming, Lau Kau and Lee Yu. It is for this reason that Yip Man is regarded as the person who brought Wing Chun out of China and into Hong Kong.

Yip Man Yip Man’s teachings can be divided into three phases, the first being the practical, fighting aspect. This was taught so as to quickly establish the name of Wing Chun and its students. The second phase began once Wing Chun had achieved the necessary publicity and this time, it was taught as an art. The third phase was marked by Yip Man’s withdrawal from direct teaching and his reliance on a cadre of si-hings.

Ho Kam Ming was from the second generation and is said to be one of the few men to complete the entire system under Yip Man. Other personal students of Yip Man from the Hong Period include Wang Kiu (nephew), Lok Yiu, Chu Shong Tin, Stanley Chan, Wong Shun Leung, Lo Man Kam, Moy Yat, Yip Bo Ching, William Cheung, Cheuk Hing, Chan Chi Man, Bruce Lee, Chris Chan, Ho Kum Ming, Duncan Leung, Chow Tze Chuen, Siu Yuk Men, Ho Luen, Tang Sang, Yip Man’s elder son Yip Chun and his younger son, Yip Ching.

Yip Man

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FEAR AND SELF-DEFENCE

Wing Chun is the ideal martial art for conditioning the body against the physiological aspect of fear vive. Adrenaline increases the body’s with the proper digestion of your last e afraid, be very afraid appeared as the tagline for heart rate, and the increased cardiac meal, or the retention of urine.

Hence the nauseous feeling in the output results in more oxygen being the 1986 horror film The stomach and the sometimes wet Fly. It is a tagline that should supplied to the muscles, increasing pants! appear at the end of every advertise- the body’s ability for action.

So why is this relevant to selfAdrenaline also causes the dilation of ment for a self-defence class. You the bronchioles, allowing more air to defence? Many self-defence classes should be under no illusion - in a and books focus on the physical self-defence situation, you should be pass in and out of the lungs. The aspect of dealing with a threat. physical manifestation of this will be afraid. You should be very afraid. a quickening of breathing. The sweat Students are taught sometimes-comBecause that fear is what ultimately plex series’ of movements can save your life. in very rehearsed scenarios At its simplest, fear is the body’s response to a perThe only thing we have to fear is fear itself e.g. if an attacker grabs you behind, you will first ceived threat. While many - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified, terror from stamp on his toe, elbow people focus on the psychowhich paralyzes needed efforts to convert him to the stomach, before logical aspect of fear, fear is spinning around to knee essentially a physiological retreat into advance him in the face as he process. It is what has enabled (F.D. Roosevelt) crouches in pain from your mankind to survive as a elbow. All this while the attacker’s glands are also stimulated as a result species. The fear process provides only movement has been to grab of the injection of adrenaline into the body with the necessary energy you? Dream on! In a real selfand fuel to fight against or take flight the bloodstream. To further fuel the defence situation, the attacker is body’s ability to take flight or fight, from a threat. already pumped up and is attacking adrenaline is responsible for the We have all experienced the you with intent. He may be pumped breakdown of glycogen, which profeeling of fear at some stage in our up on drugs or alcohol, so your hard vides increased glucose for energy lives - the quickening pulse and stamping on his foot won’t really regproduction. Peripheral vision is also breathing, the sweat breaking out ister through the drug-fuelled haze on our bodies, the nervous tremble inhibited as the person experiences he may be under. If this is your first tunnel vision, enhancing visual conat the knees, the quivering voice, time being in such a situation, your centration on the immediate threat. nauseous stomach and the sudden Cortisol is a cortical hormone that body will be going through the myriurge to urinate. This is the physioad of changes outlined above, but increases blood glucose levels, prological aspect of fear in action. But will you take flight or fight? Or viding extra energy for the body. what exactly is happening? remain paralysed with fright?

Cortisol lowers the body’s sensitivity Threats to the body are detected Unless a self-defence student is to pain, so a person won’t be disand dealt with by the amygdala in tracted from either escaping or fight- exposed to the feeling of fear, or at the brain. The brain then sends a ing by any injuries. Your immune sys- least made very much aware of how complex yet instantaneous series of he/she may feel in such a scenario, messages around the body, preparing tem is also mobilised, preparing the the chances are they will freeze and body for coping with the possibility it to deal with the detected threat. be unable to respond. It is the duty of a serious injury. Your body also Adrenaline and cortisol - two horand responsibility of every selfmones - are released into the blood- begins shutting down its non-essendefence teacher to impress upon tial functions: when under extreme stream as the body is propelled into his/her students the sheer terror that threat, your body is not concerned a state of extreme readiness to sur-

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they will probably feel in a selfdefence situation. It is also their responsibility to subsequently try and expose the student to some degree of fear, so that when it does hit them in a real scenario, the feelings of fear won’t be a total surprise.

Wing Chun is an ideal martial art for conditioning the body against the physiological aspect of fear. Closecontact 2-person exercises and fullcontact sparring give students experience in dealing with people of all shapes and sizes in close quarter situations. More importantly, the sparring teaches the student to be able to take a punch or a kick, as well as be able to give them.

For many people, the fear of getting hit is often worse than actually getting hit. And in a self-defence situation, you should again be under no illusions that you won’t be hit. Too many self-defence classes are sending people out onto the streets with very rehearsed moves and a potentially devastating false sense of security.

How many students emerging from self-defence classes have actually been hit or attacked in realistic scenarios during these classes? How many of these students have had experience of adrenaline and cortisol pouring into the bloodstream, causing increased heart rate, quickening of breath and the uncomfortable sticki-

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ness of sweat pouring out of over 4million sweat glands beneath the skin. And how many of these students are taught to psychologically deal with the emotions that will be running through their mind? Are they even aware that they will feel this way?

Fear is a natural human feeling in the same way that hunger and thirst are. However, as society has become more civilised over the centuries, most people don’t experience fear very often. The reason many people take fright when suddenly exposed to it is simply because they are unaccustomed to what they are feeling...

To read the rest of this article why not take out a subscription by calling +44 (0) 121 344 3737

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LESSONS FROM THE CAGE

By Gavin Mulholland

The Guard n this series, it is my intention to give you short, relevant, and hopefully useful, tips and observations from my time and involvement with Cage Fighting, No-Holds-Barred and limited rules combat. However, in order to do that, it is important that people understand that, as a karateka, my own background is primarily as a stand-up fighter.

I say this, not because I think it makes a difference (to me), and not because I won’t be covering off aspects of grappling and groundfighting (I will), but simply to emphasise the very first point that I want to make in this series and that point is this: If you want to compete in a Mixed Martial Arts arena, you must be very clear about who you are, and where you have come from.

One of the biggest problems I have found in the cage is fighters who strive too hard to become an ‘all-round’ fighter, leaving themselves confused as to what type of fighter they really are; right now; on this day; at that moment when the bell rings and they step forward to face the other fighter.

Of course, you need to study all aspects of your game. You need to be able to fight wherever the fight ends up. But, as a starting point, you need to know where you want the fight to end up! Decide where and how you want to fight, and make that your primary area of training. All other aspects of your training should be about you getting the fight back to where you want it.

Ask yourself the question - are you primarily a stand-up fighter or a groundfighter? Once you have answered the question,

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Boxing guard

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you need to work on the other aspect but be very clear that it is Plan B. Concentrate on your strengths and train to get the fight into your chosen area of combat from wherever it might go.

No military unit goes into battle without a game plan - at least not the ones that are still alive at the end of the battle. The Mongols, the Romans, the Huns, all built huge empires largely by fighting to a specific strategy against tough, hard, skilled, but largely strategy-less warriors. And to quote the strategist Sun Tsu, from his legendary book on warfare, ‘The Art of War’: “What is true for the many, is true for the few. What is true for the few, is true for the one” That basically means that if the Mongols used strategy to defeat their enemies, so should you. Have a game plan.

The first aspect that I want to look at is the guard. No, not that one. Kamea - the ready position.

Although I personally have issue with the term ‘Mixed Martial Arts’, when we talk about Cage Fighting we are effectively talking about MMA and as such, people do arrive with different guard positions. As not getting hit should form a fairly important part of your game plan, this is the first thing to get right.

To get it right (and by definition understand where you might be getting it wrong) you need to assess exactly what the guard is attempting to do for you. Your Kamae/ready posture basically needs to fulfill just two functions. You need to be able Cage Guard

to defend with it, and you need to be able to launch and effective attack from it.

That’s why there really isn’t a ‘wrong’ guard, but you can definitely be using a guard that is wrong in this particular environment.

If you look at how a boxer holds his hands you will immediately see a very close guard with the hands held almost on the face. You see people doing this in the Cage and the problem is, that this guard is boxing-specific. When you put on a pair of 12oz gloves, the gloves themselves become part of your guard. For boxers and kickboxers, the actual gloves are used to block the strikes coming in. This is all well and good as long as the other guy is wearing them too, but once you put the small gloves of MMA on, this guard is no longer your best option.

A bare knuckle fighter has to have his guard much further away from his face and if you look at some of the old pictures of boxers you will see this borne out. As the gloves got bigger, so the guard came in closer. The standard modern boxers guard is too close to the face for cage work and incoming strikes can miss the gloves altogether or simply power through.

At the other end of the scale you have, what some might call a ‘Karate’ guard. As bare-knuckle fighters, the hands are much further away from the face than the modern boxer and basically, the hands are used more like antennae than to block per se.

Depending on the style of Karate practiced and the level of contact experienced (e.g. semi-contact no head-shots or fullKarate Guard

contact headshots allowed) the hands will be either high or low but in all cases the hands are out so that anything in-coming has to come through those antennae and bridge those defenses first. In a Cage situation, this type of guard is generally too long and grapplers are more likely to slip underneath and take you to the ground.

Which brings us onto the optimal guard for Cage fighting. We still need to be able to defend with it, and we still need to be able to launch an effective attack from it.

We are not bare-knuckle, and we are not using heavy gloves and so the guard sits somewhere in between the two.

From this ‘mid-point’ guard you now have a hybrid which allows you some of the benefits of both the boxing and the karate guards without any of the drawbacks.

Your hands are far enough away from your face that you are able to absorb some of the impact should you need to, while being far

enough out that incoming strikes have to get through your defenses to reach you.

Practice with all three and find the one that works for you. Once you have it, drill it until it is second nature and move on.

Gavin Mulholland is the author of the number one bestselling book, Four Shades of Black - The Traditional Path to Building the Complete Fighter. He is joint Chief Instructor for Daigaku Karate Kai and the Chief Instructor for DKK Fighters based in London.

DKK can be contacted, via the OMAA or directly on 07976-411-901. www.goju-karate.co.uk

Old fashioned Boxing guard James Dalton 1872

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To celebrate the release of slick, adrenaline fuelled movie, Never Back Down, out on DVD and Blu Ray now, we’re giving away 10 Never Back Down Goodie Bags containing a copy of the DVD, Never Back Down water bottle, towels and a hoodie.

Winner of Best Fight Scene at the MTV 2008 Movie Awards, Never Back Down follows the rising fortunes of Jake Tyler (new star Sean Faris) who moves with his family to Orlando.

An Iowa-native, Jake feels like a fish out of water, having to mix with privileged American teenagers living the ‘American Dream’.

Quiet, withdrawn and silently suffering the recent loss of his father, Jake’s not winning any friends. When his troubled past re-emerges and without the star athlete status he had back home, he realises he’s about to face the fight of his life.

To win a Never Back Down goodie bag, please answer the following question: Who plays the lead role (Jake Tyler) in the film Never Back Down? a) Sean Bean b) Sean Penn c) Sean Faris Send your answer together with your name, address, and daytime phone number to:

NBDgoodies@martialartsinprint.com

- www.neverbackdownmovie.co.uk -

‘The Colossus’ Combat talks to MMA star James Thompson

James Thompson, as his fighting tag ‘The Colossus’ indicates, is a mountain of a man, standing 6ft 5 and weighing in at over 18 stones.

JAMES THOMPSON: Having previously fought in Japan, Holland and, more recently, Cage Rage events in London, in May James took his gloves to the USA, to fight Kimbo Slice on Primetime television. He lost the bout to a controversial TKO, due to a popped ear. We recently caught up with this larger than life character to find out what the future holds for the MMA star.

What does being a top MMA star mean to you?

JAMES THOMPSON: It means fighting opponents that keep testing me and pushing me to my limits. It means giving good, solid performances, as well as being entertaining. And constantly looking to improve my game.

There was huge controversy over your fight against Kimbo Slice, about not only the decision but also your fitness to fight, what have you got to say about it?

What would you have done with your life otherwise?

JAMES THOMPSON: I’m not going to moan about it but I feel that Kimbo was given every opportunity, and then some. In the third round as soon as my ear burst and things began to go Kimbo’s way the fight was stopped. Up until then the fight had been following a pattern, I was getting caught a bit but then I would take him down and go on to win the round. It happened in the 1st and 2nd and I believe it would have been the same in the 3rd but we’ll never know!

Just how hard do you train and how do you overcome the pain barrier of being repeatedly hit, both physically and mentally?

Put the record straight how bad was your ear before the fight and is it going to be a problem in the future?

JAMES THOMPSON: Honestly, my ear has more attention than me since the fight. Actually it looked worse than it is; it wasn’t painful at all it just looked nasty. We had tried to drain the ear before the fight but couldn’t get anything out, even after the fight it couldn’t be drained and they had to cut it, but I’ll spare you the gruesome details. As for it now, it’s healed, so there is no problem for the future; it’s cauliflowered but I’m learning to love its uneven appearance!

You made history, with the fight headlining the first MMA event to be shown on mainstream television in the USA, How good did that feel?

JAMES THOMPSON: It was great to be part of such a big event. Being on the first network TV MMA show and being the main event was such an honour. That alongside being on the last ever Pride show is proud achievement for me Thompson vs Kimbo Slice

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JAMES THOMPSON: I’d have been a busker that can’t sing

JAMES THOMPSON: I figure the best way is to not think about those things, if I go training thinking about getting hit or getting hurt I’d probably not perform very well. I just turn up train as hard I can and let everything else take care of itself.

How do people react to you, when they find out what you do for a living and has their reaction changed over the last couple of years?

JAMES THOMPSON: People are always interested and want to know more about it. Things have changed loads though, with more awareness of the sport, where as back in the day I was being asked questions like ‘is it to the death’ and ‘ if I climbed out the cage first did I automatically win’!

Do you ever suffer from the ‘cocky drunkard’ out to make a name for themselves? If so how do you handle it?

JAMES THOMPSON: Yep, I don’t really go out that much.

If I do get anyone trying to invade my personal space or square up to me, I just laugh, tell them to have a good night... then gong and dash em. Only kidding, I just leave them to it, I’m too old to start a who’s the hardest man on the dance floor competition.

Thompson vs Kimbo Slice

To read the rest of this article make sure you get your copy of Combat available from WH Smiths & all good newsagents

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THE NEED FOR

HIGH RISK

TRAINING

Keith Roberts, is a former member of the British Army, following service with the Parachute Regiment, he transferred into the Royal Military Police. Selected to attend the SAS CP course at Hereford and subsequently deployed to Northern Ireland, he then attended first RMP run CP course. Following secondments to the UKFCO went on to become an Instructor at the RMP CP wing at Longmoor After leaving the Army he has carried out a number of deployments to ‘high risk’ areas as a TL, he is featured in one of the most viewed films of an insurgent attack against a PSD Team in Mosul Iraq. This complex attack, initiated by a VCIED (Vehicle Carried Improvised Explosive Device) and followed by a gun attack involving at least 8 insurgents has been seen all over the World. As KR says “It must have been the biggest Ford Excursion ever made judging from the amount of guys who were supposed to have been in it!”

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High Risk Training What is High Risk Training? In a ‘nutshell’ training that literally could make the difference between life and death, either yours, a member of your team or someone that you have been ‘tasked’ to protect. The reality is that you cannot be trained to respond to every situation and no training provider can make such a claim, if they do, walk away. The high risk situation has always been around, areas of the Middle East and Africa have always been hazardous for operators, but in recent years Iraq and Afghanistan, have been the main focus for those looking for work in this type of environment.

Instinctive The training for this type of work should be carried out in such a way that reactions to situations should become second nature or instinctive. We are often asked why someone with combat experience in the Forces should bother with this type of course? Well, when you are in this line of work as a private individual, you do not have the luxuries of things like QRF, WIMIKs or Air support, you and your team are out there on your own. If you are involved in a major ‘drama’ and most of them are pretty major, then you get yourselves out using what you have with you.

This can be a real culture shock, especially to former service people, so the training can almost be a wake up call and can make them carefully consider their options and motivation. There are many opinions about the level of training required and how it should be taught, in my opinion, if drills have been tested ‘live’ and have stood the ‘acid’ test, in a contact, then there is a reasonable belief that they work!

So the training is programmed accordingly, with the emphasis placed on practical scenarios, rather than death by power point.

Bear in mind this is a basic requirement before potential deployment.

Conflict Zone We also actively encourage students to think outside of the box; this again, is where former military people find some difficulty. This brings me onto the next point and another frequently asked question. Can I, as someone with no previous military or police experience get work in a

conflict zone? Straight answer? It would be very difficult, having said that, there are exceptions to every rule and there are currently some guys deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan who have never done any military or police service. Some of them who did this course! Usually the non military or police types who come on courses are easier to train as they have no preconceptions and no learned ‘bad habits’ a clean sheet so to speak and on most occasions have done really well. It is then up to them to continue with actively seeking work, helped by the knowledge gained from the course.

Execute Missions One of the problems, as I see it with this type of training is staying up to date with the current situations in the operational zones and ensuring that the provision of training reflects this. We maintain a rotation of instructors who are operational, actually doing the job on the ground, who can then bring fresh ideas and input to the Course Programmes and evaluate the training accordingly. This means that we can adapt our training and tactics to meet the ever changing situation in the deployment theatres. Which as any good operator will tell you is crucial. We also train the students up to the level of

Team Leader, though as already mentioned, this is a basic course, every one will rotate through the TL position during all of the simulated live operations. They are expected to plan and execute missions much as they would do on the ground, often with little sleep. The tactics used by insurgents are then factored in with ambushes and attacks on the convoys and though simulated, I have been told that they come pretty close to reality, except no one gets injured or dies. All of the training is carried out wearing full individual protection equipment, including body armour, Kevlar helmets and carrying weapons, weighing around 20kgs, this also adds an element of stress to the students.

Live Weapons There is a final exercise, evaluation and written test, all of which have to be passed before a certificate is awarded.

Following the high risk course, continuation training involving using live weapons, including AK, M4 H&K G3 and various pistols can be carried through one of our strategic partners in one of the European Countries. This culminates in a formal marksmanship test, which if passed will lead to a Certificate.

Want to know more,? Visit our website www.psd-training.com

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CIMAC British Open 2008 The ever popular Cimac British Open Championships was held in Birmingham at the North Solihull Sports Centre in Chemsley Wood. The action kicked off on six areas with the boys and girls under 16 divisions in semi and light contact and the spectators were treated to some exciting sports martial arts fighting featuring many of the countries most talented youngsters gracing the mats.

Semi Contact There was an excellent turn out in the boys under 4’ 3” semi contact category with many regular faces and also a new breed of mighty peewees going head to head to land the first title of the day. After some exciting fighting, Martin Rigby from the Mad Dogs took the gold with some great kicking and punching techniques over his team mate Jack Pickin, Joseph Cannon from the NSKA taking a well deserved third. The girls semi under 4’ 3” was won

by Ebony Bennion-Poole taking a well deserved first place over Helena Sutton.

The boys under 4’ 9” semi contact turned out to be one of the most exciting divisions with these boys firing on all cylinders and some first class refereeing from Peter Markland, Nick Clarke and Robbie Hughes. Eventually 1st place went to Darryl Gallagher with Toby Dearden taking the silver.

Torcia Green kept the Mad Dogs flag flying in the girls under 4’ 6” division with Haley Ward coming a very close second.

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Aston Cook (Bristol), Tammy Lee (Apollo), Kodi Dearden (NSKA) and Sarah Bechares (Celtic Dragons) all fought their way to the semi finals of the girls under 4’ 10”. First to make the finals was Kobi Dearden who took out Sarah Bechares with some well timed counter punching techniques. In the second semi final Aston Cook took on the fast moving Tammy Lee and what a fight between these two gifted and talented girls! With both girls matching each other point for point, Tammy stepped it up a gear with some well timed kicks that saw her win in extra time. But did she have enough energy left in the tank for the final? Yes she did - With a new lease of life she went into the final with extra fuel and took a well deserved win over Kodi.

Light Contact The light contact divisions is always very popular with the under 16 competitors with a lot of them doubling this category up with the semi contact category.

With five areas running the under 16 divisions it was a hard job getting around the areas to watch all the action but the crowd was treated to some well controlled, non-stop fighting with some of the results below: Boys under 4’ 3” 1st Korben Ward 2nd Jordan Walters 3rd Sammie Rennie Boys under 4’ 9” 1st De Reece Williams 2nd Kyle Young 3rd Cobi Jones Boys under 5’ 5” 1st Joshua Withers 2nd Jack Bevan 3rd Lewis Barclay Girls under 4’ 6” 1st Stacey Davey 2nd Hayley Ward 3rd Choloe Whittle

Girls under 4’ 10” 1st Aston Cook 2nd Chantelle Reid 3rd Sarah Beechares Girls under 5’ 3” 1st Stacey Hawkins 2nd Jay Newth 3rd Kirsty Holmes

Forms divisions The forms divisions started on area six under the watchful eyes of Peter Edwards and Brian Beck and with some of the country’s top musical forms competitors on the mats they entertained the spectators to some great open hands and weapons movements.

The first titles of the day went to Laura Fitch SKF in the Adults open hands with Richard Harvey from WCKA taking a close second. Jordan Whitehead from Nash Karate took top honours with a well polished and powerful open hands form with Hayley Ward from Temple taking second place and Amber Shearer of the EIAT taking third place.

In the Adults soft forms Wendy Wiltshire took top spot with other first places going to Oliver Bonnington, Team Evo, in the Open hands music, Rhian Rosario in the Adults weapons and Cosmo Marchetti walking away with the number one spot in the under 16 division.

Under 16 teams Always a crowd pleaser and the under 16 team event saw the Black Dragons taking on Mad Dogs in an exciting final.

After the first two fights the teams were tied on wins and points so it was down to the last fighters to try and help their team take home the title. After what seemed like a lifetime the buzzer went with the Black Dragons declared the winners from Mad Dogs leaving South East Academy and Dorking Freestyle to take third place.

A huge turnout in the adult men and women divisions with some of the country’s best semi and light contact combatants putting their skills on show contributed to a great atmosphere It is always a treat for me to stand by the side of the mats and see the amazing array of techniques that some of these gifted martial artists are now using to score against each other.

Junior intermediate men semi In the lower grades there were wins for Ross Shepherd over Chris Whitney in the Junior under 75kg division. R K Salim from Deadly Sins was placed first over Richard Harvey in the over 75kg cate-

gory. Andy Dunn, a regular on the Cimac series, continued his good run by beating Chris Witney in the Intermediate men under 75kg division with Craig Harrington taking third place.

In the over 75kg division David Parkinson showed why he is making waves using some great fighting skills to beat Phil Monks in the final.

Ladies semi contact Sharon Gill proved once again she is the one to beat with some well controlled and well timed kicking plus some awesome punching to beat Maureen Dearden in the ladies under 60kg. Bev Sturzaker of the NSKA beat Julie Charlsworth in the under 65kg final with Natasha Walker taking third place.

Jennifer Otoo also won, beating Jem Campbell in the over 65kg division.

Jason O’Grady, SMAF, in the over 81kg, and Dave Maddocks again in the Executive with Peter Markland second.

The Cimac British Open 2008 was a great success with six areas running all day and the event finished promptly at 6.00pm due to the good work of the regular officials and time keepers.

A special thanks to the British Red Cross for their first aid cover on the day and to all the families, coaches and competitors, thank you for your support at this years Championships.

Senior men semi contact Some of the best fighting of this year’s British Open was in the under 65kg senior men with some of the fastest and never-give-up competitors in the Cimac series. Mark Gould from Mad Dogs kept his cool in the top half of the draw moving slowly but confidently into the final where he met Daz Ellis, who had ploughed through the bottom half of the draw. After a great tactical fight the title went to Mark with Daz second and Darren Chapman finishing third.

Danny Ellis kept the NSKA flag flying by winning the mens under 71kg, Carl Swaby taking second - And with Stu Quinn taking top honours in the under 75kg the flag was still flying.

If you ever watch Dave Maddock on the mats you would think that he is still only 21 (maybe he is...). In the under 81kg he wrapped up another number one spot with some great skills, winning over Michael Kehly with Paul Smith taking third. The last two titles went to WWW.COMBATMAG.CO.UK COMBAT 117

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