William Cheung Interview: Part 2

I know I was supposed to retire from radio, but I can't seem to say no when Maragret Nunn asks me to come on air to anchor the Combat Sports Show on 91.3 SportFM - particularly when it is to introduce Part 2 of an interview I conducted with William Cheung.

So here is the radio show from 13 September 2009: http://sportfm.com.au/090913_combat_sports_show

Part of the show also involved interviewing GM Cheung's Perth representative, Peter Guy.

Scott and Dave attend William Cheung seminar

Scott Ponton and Dave Ryan attended the William Cheung seminar on Saturday 5 September 2009. We look forward to hearing from them about it.

Dan interviews Grandmaster William Cheung

Despite his announced "retirement" from radio, Dan agreed to a special "comeback" in order to interview reknowned wing chun teacher Grandmaster William Cheung. The interview was recorded today but will be broadcast over 2 separate Sundays - 6 September and 13 September 2009.

Grandmaster Cheung spoke about the origins of wing chun, its technical base and its similarities to, and differences from, other arts.

He also reminisced about his early years with his teacher, the legendary Yip Man and his relationship with the late Bruce Lee.

The shows will be broadcast on the above days on SportFM 91.3 from 6:00 pm. The podcasts will be available on the Thursday following each show.

Grandmaster Cheung is in Perth for a series of seminars, including 2 public ones on 5 and 6 September 2009.

Dan's final radio show

Dan had his last radio show on Sunday 26 July 2009 (the Combat Sports Show on 91.3 SportFM). He has had to give up the "disc jockey" role due to other commitments.

It was originally intended that Dan interview representatives of the Fu Nei Pai school of taijiquan on 26 July, however this fell through. Instead Dan spoke with Jeremy "the Anvil" Allen about the art of taijiquan, in particular its use as a combat art.

You can download an mp3 podcast of the show here.

Colin Wee interview - Part 2

Dan and Nenad caught up with Colin Wee again for Part 2 of the interview on SportFM 91.3. Discussions centered on the purpose of grading, length of times between grading and what it means to be a black belt.

You can download the podcast of the intereview here.

Dan interviews Colin Wee on SportFM!

Shihan Dan interviewed a long-time friend of the Academy, senior traditional taekwondo instructor Colin Wee (5th Dan) on SportFM 91.3 on Sunday 24 May 2009.

The interview covered Colin's training history and a discussion of his art of taekwondo (a more traditional approach taught to him in the United States by students of the legendary Jhoon Rhee).

I've lifted this quote from Colin's website:

"This is Taekwondo from the 1950s looked at with a contemporary understanding of the martial arts. Traditional Taekwondo is heavily influenced by other traditional Japanese arts, and is made accessible to the modern practitioner.

Today, a century after Japanese practitioners started donning white uniforms, Traditional Taekwondo has a compelling story to be told, and still has a captivating training program. People still want to ‘gain confidence,’ learn ‘self defence,’ and ‘get fit.’ There is this magic surrounding the martial arts – it draws us to its secrets. It calls us to take the techniques – and make it our own."

You can download the podcast here.

Shihan Dan hopes to have Colin on air again in June for Part 2!

Grading 23 May 2009

A grading was held on 23 May 2009 for the following students who all received the following grades:

Dima Ivankhiv Junior White 4
Travis Rose Junior White/Blue 4
Simon Mendelawitz Green 1
Jimmy Ng Green 1
Idham Mukmin Green 4

Lewis Newman Brown 1
Oscar Chan Brown 1
Dave Ryan Brown 1
Sam Lau Shodan 1

Well done to all, in particular Sam who has reached the blackbelt "milestone".

It was a hard-fought grading with much sweat (and a little blood) spilled. For those who are members and friends of the Academy, I have added some video footage below:



As I always say, may you not pause too long to reflect upon your achievements but press on to greater ones!