U.S.A. Jow Ga's Present and future is better than ever!

[Tailik]

Jow Ga from California: at 5 Tigers tournament

[Tailik]

Jow Ga Philadelphia:

[Tailik]

Jow Ga Shaolin Institute VA at 5 Tigers Tournament

[Tailik]

Wong's Chines Boxing D.C. at 5 Tigers of Jow Ga tournament in Maryland

[Tailik]

Washington D.C. Hung Tao Choy MeI

[Tailik]

Jow Ga New York City:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M0f6Djlc44

[Tailik]

Chan's Kung Fu MI

http://www.chanskungfu.com/contact.htm

[Tailik]

I can remember back in the 70's the only Jow Ga I ever heard of was in Washington D.C. Chinatown and now Jow Ga has spread through school throughout the United States. I have student teaching in Seattle now and another student about to open a Jow Ga school in Colorado. The present and future of Jow Ga in the United States very bright due to the hard work put in by instructors over a long period of time.

[Tailik]

Maurice aka "Mo" Sacramento California:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFQg4xDR ... e=youtu.be

[Tailik]

"Jow Ga Yat Ga Yan" or "one family" does exist. If you teach Jow Ga you MUST teach the "Ga" in order to keep our reputation. Say it loud "I'm Jow Ga and i'm Proud!"

[Tailik]

Joi ying (Jow Ga) California

[dc_jowga]

I agree, present and future are important. but past is the DNA of who we are today. Jow Ga did not skip from Hong Kong directly to where we are today, so that gap, the period from when Jow Ga was brought to America to now should be told. It identifies why our forms are different, why some of us are returning to the HK/Singapore versions of those forms, and what Jow Ga was to those of us in America. Not all of our history is negative, and reminiscing about the past is not the same as living in the past. Some of those old heads do hold on to old grudges, and moreso because they don't have the resources to write their own versions of events. out of the generations of "old heads", I am the youngest, and the only one with a school and website, so I tell their story. Without that, no one on these boards would have ever heard the "other" version of our history and would believe that Dean Chin was just a footnote in Jow Ga U.S. history.

Dean Chin also has a very unique accomplishment in both Jow Ga and American Kung Fu history. Out of all the Masters in America, he the only Kung Fu Master who filled his ranks primarily with African American students. If you combine the list of Full Instructors and Assistant Instructors during his life, Sifu's list only contained two Latinos (Jose Diaz and Ricardo Ho), ONE caucasian (Bradley Sweigart), and five Chinese (Hoy, Raymond, Hon, Stanley Dea, and John Chin). All the rest of those seniors were African American. In 1979, when Sifu went to Taipei (I was there, btw) to showcase his students, he did not bring a group of forms competitors, he brought fighters--and all the fighters were African American. Sifu never complained about not having enough Chinese in the school and this fact did not affect the respect others had for him. In fact, he once said that when Si Gung came to the U.S. in the 70s, he worried what Cheung Sifu would say. Suprisingly, Si Gung told him to recruit MORE Black students, because they had big butts (true story!) and would have strong stances and more power, and would represent the fighting nature of Jow Ga. Sifu had a distinguished list of visitors to the school to see him, and no other Sifu in DC could match that.

When Sifu held the tournament at the Coliseum, it was DC's first Full Contact tournament, during a time when most martial artists were afraid that deaths would result from full contact martial arts. And it was Jow Ga students who was one of the biggest winners.

Dean Chin had a culture of fighting in his Jow Ga that was unique. When I have encountered other Jow Ga groups, none have this culture. Sifu was not a showman, and that is one of the reasons Master CMC called Sifu Chin his most famous student and as of 1990, also said Sifu Chin was his only student to come to America that was qualified to teach Jow Ga.

There was an air of patience in the learning at the school under Sifu. By the end of your second year, most students only knew Stepping Form and Small Tiger. This was the reason students were developed into strong skill. I believe this is why Jow Ga America is so strong today; he instilled this patience in us and our students are not rushed through form to form to form. Those who made it to the Intermediate Level often had skill equal to Brown and Black Belts in other schools, and have the fighting skill to match. It does seem outdated by today's standards, most people are putting out instructors by the 4th and 5th year of training--or even earlier. When I look at Kung fu in my local community I see forms artists. When my boys fight, they are the only Kung Fu people fighting. We attend the Muay Thai events as well, and from what I am told, we are also the only Kung Fu school who has ever entered. I have a teenaged girl who is a nationally ranked fighter, who fights point, continuous and in the contact division AND enters Jow Ga forms in their forms division. We have encountered a few Jow Ga schools, and they are always amazed that she fights (using wheel punches and everything), being a girl, and various people from those schools have told us that no one from their schools fight. Proudly, Jow Ga in California is keeping Sifu Chin's representation of Jow Ga alive as well.

I am all for getting US Jow Ga on the Jow Ga global map. I would also like to have the world find out about the seniors I came up under and admired.

[dc_jowga]

who is the Jow Ga in Philly under?

Do you remember Carl? He taught in NYC for a while before he died, back in the 80s-90s. I'd be curious to see if any of his students are still around. I remember that he was tall and lean, and equally good at sparring as with forms.

[Tailik]

[dc_jowga]

thanks bro I will.

hey you know who would be a great resource, Gloria Grimes! she has an archive I'm sure of everything we've done. she was the "camera man" and literally watched all of us grow up...