News — Chans Martial Arts International

Chans Martial Arts News

CMA 23-04 2nd December 2023

70th Birthday barbecue at HQ

A few thoughtful people organised a fabulous birthday barbecue for me at HQ on a Saturday afternoon a few weeks ago. There were special people from Auckland and the West Coast as well as students I had not seen for a long time. They set me up for a surprise pickup by Mr Nic Morrison in his very cool Lamborghini Aventador. I am very touched by how many of you cared so much. I apologise for not being able to talk to and thank everyone on the day.

Black Belt Grading

It was a wonderful weekend beginning with the annual Chans Martial Arts instructor's meetings on Friday evening. It was good to see that we have grown about 8% overall in membership despite the tough economic conditions.

The grading was a good one, and the weather was ideal. The candidates were well supported by family, friends, classmates and instructors from all over New Zealand and even from Sydney. HQ looked great with the new mats and photos added to the wall. Thanks to the grading officials, everything went very smoothly.

We had a very nice ten-course dinner at the South Garden Restaurant. We also celebrated Mrs Manle Chan’s birthday with a beautiful and tasty cake. Thanks again to everyone who contributed to the improvements at HQ and helped with the awards function.

We are happy to announce that the following were promoted at the 2023 Annual Awards.

1st Degree:

Luke Rossiter HQ

Tom Rossiter North Canterbury

Jana McQueen North Shore, Auckland

Stephanie Hill North Shore, Auckland

Charlene Wells North Shore, Auckland

Renato Ribeiro North Shore, Auckland

Simon Kitchingman Dunedin

Rod Millynn HQ TC

Jacqui Stewart Papanui TC

Kevin Stewart HQ

2nd Degree:

Ms Corrin Vedder Nelson

Mr Rino Adair HQ

4th Degree:

Mr Rodney Lambert HQ

The candidates showed excellent spirit and proved that they had trained hard for the very demanding grading. Besides the test, there are always good lessons to be learnt from it for everyone. We should use those lessons to guide us to improve for the future.

Honorary 1st Degrees were awarded to Rod Millynn, Jacqui Stewart & Kevin Stewart and an honorary 2nd Degree to Mr Rino Adair for their considerable time and effort in helping Chans Martial Arts get HQ to its present form.

Penelope Lake Trophy

On behalf of the trustees, Mr Dave Clarke presented the prestigious Penelope Lake award to Ms Corrin Vedder, the Assistant Instructor for the Nelson branch, for her outstanding dedication to training, and support for Chans Martial Arts.

Alistair Kidd Instructor of the Year Award

We have many excellent instructors who have done wonderful work for many years. However, this award is for the special work done for this year.

The award for Instructor of the Year 2023 goes to Master Michael Kinney, someone who is the embodiment of our motto of “Loyalty and Honour.” He is greatly loved by his students, as well as, all and sundry at Chans Martial Arts. He is not only responsible for four good black belt candidates, but he has also trained several candidates to achieve Level 1 Sing Ong Tai Chi Instructor rank this year.

Three Aspects of Chinese Martial Arts

The Chinese Martial Arts began thousands of years ago and became highly developed in three aspects.

The first is of course the various stylised systems, techniques and training methods for both armed and unarmed combat. The original objective is to be effective in real combat.

The second is the embracing of the ancient Chinese philosophies. They teach harmony with nature, benevolence, humility and honour. They are the main influence for mental discipline and meditation training. These philosophies are often the ideology and essence of the strategies of the various systems.

The third is developing knowledge and skills concerning Traditional Chinese Medicine. The understanding TCM is used to: enhance health in training, treat training injuries, as well as apply pressure points techniques at the highest level of Chinese martial arts.

Today, these knowledge and skills are often practised in a very narrow spectrum. Many people focus solely on the physical acrobatic aspect of Kung Fu, often with little understanding of combat. On the other hand, some only practice the hard physical combative aspects for sports and others just for combat. Neither group pay attention to philosophy, good values, health aspects or the deeper levels of Chinese martial arts techniques. Quite a number suffer a host of debilitating injuries and ill health in their older years.

Qi Gong is a relatively modern development as it was derived from the Chinese martial arts just for improving health. The practitioners have no knowledge nor desire to understand the martial arts where it came from. Many Tai Chi groups fall into this category, as they have no interest in understanding the complete aspects of the art, besides it being a relaxing exercise. It is still a good thing if it is practised properly. However, there are dangerous hazards in Qi Gong if practised incorrectly.

In Chans Martial Arts, we aim to train Kung Fu & Tai Chi Chuan for effective self-defence as well as the full spectrum of its benefits. Our understanding of TCM and modern medicine resulted in a balanced, stress-free and natural method to enhance efficiency, as well as improve our health and preserve our joints. This knowledge enables us to develop internal power to deliver very effective pressure point techniques. Our instructors are trained in energy resuscitation which is a useful backup in first aid.

We also train to have to have a calm, confident and disciplined mind. We try hard to cultivate good values, and harmonious relationships with society and nature through training. The philosophy of universal balance has unassailable implications in martial arts techniques, strategies and life.

I hope you will now have a better appreciation of what Chans Martial Arts is about.

The last training for the year will be on Tuesday the 19th of December. We will resume normal classes on Thursday the 4th of January 2024.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

We would like to wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year. Have a wonderful holiday and refresh yourself for a great 2024.

Do keep up with the stretching exercises and practice your forms so you can hit the ground running when classes resume next year. We will have the annual camp in Queenstown next year. We will give you more details when we get them.

Best wishes for your training and hope to see you at the regional seminars next year.

May Qi be with you,

Grandmaster SC Chan

Chans Martial Arts

Chans Martial Arts News

CMA 23-04 24th September 2023

Annual Kung Fu Camp

The camp at Nelson was a great success as expected. The attendance was back to the pre-covid figures, which is remarkable given the present economic climate. We had big contingents attending from both Auckland and Australia, along with those coming from all the other centres.

Last year, we worked on Position, Stability and Feel, to give the feedback needed to improve techniques. At this camp, we highlighted a few very fundamental concepts vital to everything we practice. Firstly, we studied the optimal basic structure to be most comfortable for stability and mobility. We also considered the analysis of the relevant directions and planes in combat. Next, we worked on training the eyes and the mind regarding balancing, angulation, range finding and the fighting mindset. Finally, we discussed timing in the PSF drills to enhance the STD, RPF drills and real self-defence applications.

As usual, we reviewed most of the syllabus over the weekend. Everyone had the opportunity to work with students from other centres as well as almost all the Black Belts present. We like to thank the commander Mr Rowan Findley and his Nelson team organised everything very efficiently and made the camp very comfortable. We also thank Mr David McQueen and his team along with Mr Chris McKenzie who led the potential Black Belt candidates and the rank and file students respectively with the usual enthusiasm. Special thanks to Master Lord, Mr Wai Hoe Chan, Mr Nic Morrison and all the instructors who helped to teach or assist in any way. Last but not least, we thank all the instructors and students who took the trouble to attend camp to make it a success.

It was really good to hear a lot of very positive feedback from the instructors and students at the end of the camp. We are already planning next year's camp so that it can be even bigger.

Black Belt Invitations

The candidates for the annual Black Belt grading are invited after they have had years of regular training and assessed on their attendance of advanced classes, participation in major events, service, technical performance, and keeping up with the ever-evolving theoretical and practical knowledge of our system. After careful consideration by the master's council, we are pleased to announce that the following are invited to grade for:

1st degree:

Luke Rossiter HQ

Tom Rossiter North Canterbury

Jana McQueen North Shore

Stephanie Hill North Shore

Charlene Wells North Shore

Renato Ribeiro North Shore

Simon Kitchingman Dunedin

2nd degree:

Corrin Vedder Nelson

4th degree:

Rodney Lambert HQ

Tai Chi Chuan Grading & Seminars

Most of the senior students look forward to the Sing Ong Tai Chi seminars with great expectations. Amazingly, we are never disappointed each time. Tai Shi’s essay outlined the fundamentals of Tai Chi Chuan as mentioned many times before. The basic explanations should make sense to even the raw beginner and set the framework for learning Tai Chi Chuan. However, when Tai Shi elaborated on the principles and points listed, it went into deeper and deeper levels, for those who can follow it. The secrets of pushing hands are basically in the ten points discussed. We are very fortunate to have Michael ShiYe to break down the information into more easily understandable parts.

It is very encouraging for the instructors to hear that Tai Shi was generally happy with the progress made by those who were graded this time.

Ms Kirsty O’Connell

Kirsty first started training at the Greymouth branch and later transferred to training at HQ when she moved to work in Canterbury. She is very popular with students and instructors and is a good student. Kirsty was graded to 1st degree Black Belt in 2004. Unfortunately, she has been battling cancer for the last few years. Chans Martial Arts has been very moved by her plight and many who know Kirsty have been in touch to send their support and love. Mr Chris McKenzie took the initiative to organise a raffle in Chans Martial Arts for a punching bag to support Kirsty. We raised $2685 with Mr Findley winning the draw last Friday. Thank you all for purchasing the raffle tickets and donations. We are sure every little bit helps with Kirsty’s battle.

Chans Martial Arts in Queenstown

We are delighted to announce that Mr Matthew Nauschutz is starting a Chans Martial Arts branch in Queenstown. He will have support from Mr Daniel Cox (Queenstown), Mr Mike Spekreijse (Clyde) and Mr John Titter (Lumsden). We wish him every success. If you have any friends or family in the area let them know of the branch opening.

CMA HQ’s First Year at Iversen Terrace

We have now been operating our HQ at the new address of 14 Iversen Terrace for one year and our members have thoroughly enjoyed it in our new home. We have hosted several seminars, a tournament and many gradings. We look forward to hosting our annual blackbelt grading and prize-giving night again in November. We have been slowly upgrading and renovating the interior over the last 12 months by lining the walls so we can hang up pictures, installing mirrors and updating the lighting as well as other things. We have upgraded some of our training equipment like our Thai pads and we will soon be laying down new training mats permanently to make training safer and more enjoyable for our students. We look forward to continuously upgrading and making our HQ more homely.

Training at Chans Martial Arts

Training at Chans Martial Arts offers more than just self-defence skills by using the most efficient biomechanics. We also train to improve flexibility, fitness, strength and healthy bodily functions. We practice mental calmness, patience, self-discipline, good manners, confidence, good work ethics, teamwork and leadership skills. Therefore, training should not only continue to improve our martial arts skills but also as human beings.

Enjoy your training with full focus and you should get the maximum benefits. We look forward to seeing you at the Annual Black Belt Grading, Awards and Dinner on the 25th of November.

May Qi be with you,

Grandmaster Chan

Chans Martial Arts

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