Annual Summer Workshop 2008

6th Annual International Wing Chun Seminar / Course : 4th - 6th July 2008 Reading, Berkshire UK.

Photos from this seminar can been seen below

Since June 2002, Sifu Lucas Castrounis has held annual 3-day Wing Chun summer seminars for the members of the Reading Academy of Wing Chun & Kali (non-members are also welcome to attend). This year, the seminar took place at the Reading Kwoon (HQ), in Caversham, Berkshire from Friday 4th July until Sunday 6th July.

The seminar was carried out jointly between Lucas Castrounis and his close friend and Si-Hing (older kung fu brother), Franco Regalzi, who is also a student of Nino Bernardo (Wong Shun Leung lineage).

Almost every member of the Reading Academy schools (Reading Kwoon and High Wycombe) attended the seminar. In addition, students from "Franco Regalzi's Wing Chun school" in Tortona, Italy: Davide, Fabio, Enzo, and Davide also attended; and of course, Lucas' student from Paris, Alain Nguyen.

Both Lucas and Franco shared their experiences with the students and demonstrated chi-sao skills for the benefit of every attendee.

The whole event was recorded with the help of Ben Hoffmann, a professional camera man and a student of the High Wycombe school. Some extra footage, containing all the forms of the system as demonstrated by Franco Regalzi and Lucas Castrounis, has also been included on the DVD.

The DVD of this event will be released soon. More information about the DVD will be available in the merchandise section of the website.

The seminar started with the first form /applications and attention was placed on spring loading energy (Lat Sao Jik Chung), this was followed with arm lock techniques and lots of Chi-Sao and improvisations with emphasis placed on footwork and the various kicks of the Wing Chun system.

The next day, Franco and Lucas made the most of the good sunny weather, to move the seminar up a few gears. Lucas Castrounis and then Franco Regalzi gave a demonstration of the Long Pole. Enough time was also given to all the attendees to experiment with the Long Pole in the open area. After this, students also experimented with applications from the pole with empty hands. Franco and Lucas gave a demo/sparring with Long Poles.

The second half of this day was based on the Butterfly Knives form and its applications - the final and most advanced form of the Wing Chun Kuen Kung Fu system. Franco demonstrated with Lucas the knives form and afterwards all students had the opportunity (regardless of their experience) to practice with the Butterfly knives, see the wrist motions (8 cuts) and do the footwork of this advanced form. Lucas and Franco then showed drills and applications of how to apply the knives techniques into empty hands.

Everyone who attended the seminar said they enjoyed it and had an amazingly good time. Comments on this seminar can been read below.

During the evening of the second day, a memorable party for all the attendees was held at Lucas Castrounis' house. In addition to celebrating his birthday, it was also a pre-wedding party for those who could not attend Lucas & Jenny's wedding. The party finished in the early hours of the morning!

The third day of the seminar started at lunch time, so everyone got enough rest for the final day. After two wonderful sunny days, the weather was not looking good and so the seminar started indoors at the Reading Kwoon. The session began with some good solid Chi-Sao, which gave everyone time to involve most of the seminar details in their chi-sao. Afterwards we continued with the second form (Chum Kiu) – its concepts and application.

The second half of the last day was based on the third form of the system (Biu Gee) and more Chi-Sao (sticky hands) – reaction, double-hands training, and spring loading energy’s with improvisations.

Both the beginners and advanced practitioners seemed to have a lot of fun, progressing fast and well with knowledge and understanding of the system.

This year's international seminar/course came to an end with a night out at a Chinese restaurant in Reading.

Next year's 7th annual summer Seminar/Course, will once again be jointly hosted by both Lucas Castrounis and Franco Regalzi. The seminar will take place from 24th June until 29th June 2009, and will include a week's holiday. It will take place at the Stefanikis Hotel, Varkiza (a seas-side cosmopolitan resort), Athens, Greece. Both Italian and British based students from Franco Regalzi and Lucas Castrounis' schools will receive discount package holidays.

Reservation for this seminar/course will start from October 2008. For more details on next year's summer seminar and holiday package, please see the upcoming events section of the website. To save money and to avoid disappointment, book your place early in order to receive a discount for the accommodation and the seminar/course.

Lucas Castrounis would like to thank Franco Regalzi for his help during this year's successful seminar/course. Also, Franco Regalzi's students from the Tortona school (Davide , Fabio, Enzo and Davide).

The High Wycombe School and its instructor David Munro with his students: Robert Williams, Ben Hoffman and Zeesha Iqbal.

And finally thanks to all the students of the Reading Kwoon(HQ) who attend this year's seminar: Nick Ratcliffe, Craig Harry, Dan Creswell, John Hawthorn, Brian Hames, David Tilly, Nick Gallagher, Rob Chung , Cristian Bloomfield, Mehdi Benali, Dimitar Tochkov, Steve Kindy, Sam Bartlett, Bhavini Rama, Russell Luckey, Sarah Cameron, Alain Nguyen, Alan Bennet, Martin Malacek, Luke Jelley, Lewis London, Victor Ho, Crispian Farrow, Tony Hopcroft.

This year’s seminar also presented the opportunity and the pleasure to watch the progression made by those students who attended last year's seminar: I would like to thank every one of you for attending.

Special thanks go to Bhavini Patel for her help with this article.

- Lucas Castrounis

Photographs

Comments

For my part, I had a very good time during this seminar. Was nice to meet with everybody, to play and learn from each other. The delivery was good and very clear and it was a pleasure to have an initiation to knives and pole. I'm glad I attended and really hope I'll be able to make it next year.

Thanks you very much!

Mehdi

As 2008 was my first summer seminar, i was quite sure what to expect for the 3 days. What i found was, over the course of the seminar, we were presented with a huge opportunity for all of us to really experiment with our Wing Chun, to push outside our comfort zone and to challenge our own perceptions of how we each do Wing Chun.

The information was presented expertly by Lucas and Franco, giving us the essential ideas behind what they were doing, but encouraging each of us to discover more through touching hands. All of this was done is a very relaxed environment with an atmosphere of enjoyment and shared passion for Wing Chun.

Absolutely brilliant seminar........ though a bit tired now!!

Luke Jelley

This was my first seminar and i thoroughly enjoyed it! i only joined the Kwoon a few months ago so i'm in the very early stages of learning, but getting an insight into Chum Kiu and Biu Gee, as well having a bit of a go with the Long Pole and Butterfly Knives was brilliant!

I really enjoyed working with the guys from Italy, each of them really helped me out during chi sao and i am most greatful.

I now feel more motivated than ever to train harder so that i can gain more from the next seminar. to sum it up, Big Success!

Lewis London

Being a beginner, I didn't really know what to expect from the seminar. One of the things that surprised me was how much fun was had by all - even with the aching limbs! There was a brilliant atmosphere throughout the seminar which, for me, kicked off from doing Sui Lim Tao by the river with an emphasis on feeling the energies, an experience I'll remember. I learnt more than I thought possible in 3 days yet now I appreciate how much more there is to learn about the system and I look forward to the journey. A massive thank you to Lucas, Franco and everyone for making it such an enjoyable weekend.

Sarah Cameron

I thoroughly enjoyed this year's seminar - the layout and the way in which it was conducted made it particularly interesting and fun. It was also great to train with and meet so many different people - a fantastic three days, I can't wait for next year!

Bavs

I just wanted to thank you again for an awesome weekend. The content of the seminar really highlighted to me the intricacies, beauty and intelligence of the system. I got a lot out of it. It was great to meet Franco and his students and also spend time with everyone outside the kwoon as well as inside.

The legs are aching today, but I'm very happy with it.

Best wishes to yourself and Jenny for next Saturday. I hope you have a nice relaxing honeymoon and I’ll see you on your return.

Russ