International seminar in Paris, France on 17th -18th October 2009

The weekend Sat. 17th & Sunday 18th October was a very special event for our wing chun & for the Reading Academy as a group.

For a first time Franco Regalzi and my self we give a Wing Chun seminar in Paris France. My student Alain Nguyen who locate in Paris has organized that event & he was be my translator in France language during the seminar.

So far about 25 people from different wing chun families we expecting to attend. From the Reading Kwoon HQ senior students: Nick Ratcliffe,Craig Harry & Dan Creswell will assist me on that seminar . My students Mehdi Benali & Rob Chung & 6 seniors Franco students from Italy will also attend to that seminar. We provide with Franco very advance seminar for all the attendees regardless the experience or knowledge. The wing chun seminar based on Counter/attack with applications of the first & second form Siu Lim Tao & Cham Kiu.

Photographs

Comments

Salut Alain,

How are you? It was a great weekend in Paris, what with the good training and seeing the sights of Paris. We must have travelled the whole of the Paris Metro on the Saturday evening, well, it felt like it. Plus a fair amouny of walking, but it was worth while after the dinner near the Sacre Coeur.

It sounds very positive feedback from the French visitors who attended the seminar. Congratulations on having your first student. He has an ethusiastic instructor to learn from. Lucas and Franco did a great job explaining the importance of the centre line theory and both hands working in unison. The explaination of the chain punches was a good reminder that it is the other hand pulling back that is just as important as the one going forward to punch. What else? Ah yes, using the elbows to point from one's centre line towards the opponent. Overall, the delivery of the concepts by Lucas and Franco were second to none.

Take care.

Rob Chung

Again a very good delivery, from Lucas and Franco. Very good explanation of techniques and especially the concepts behind the techniques. Looking forward for the next one.

PS: Very good job from Alain as well.

Fabio

Salut Alain,

Complete Wing Chun delivered in a simple efficient way. Concepts and applications, lines and flow!

Dan Creswell

VERY good seminar mainly when you consider that the French attendees Doesn't know neither Lucas nor Franco! From the feedback I got, all learnt something and gain from the seminar !! Good explanation of why and how we should practice our Siu Lim Tao, ans also very good overview of the concepts and lines behind the 1st and 2nd forms.

Excellent !!

Well it took me about a week to recover from that Seminar. No more Paris by night and late night!! ;)

I would like to thank Lucas and Franco for delivering so well the seminar and giving advices to the French (they told me they really appreciated it). Also a big thank you to Nick, Craig, Dan, Rob and Mehdi (thanks Mehdi for helping me out with the translation), and of course, a special thank you to our Italian cousins and dear friends: Davide, Fabrizzio, Fabio and Riccardo. You all made a good impression on the French attendees and it would not have been the same without you !

The feedback I got from the French attendees are all VERY positive. They all liked it and each one learnt something from the seminar. They enjoyed particularly the opportunity to train and Chi Sao with very good and experienced hands. They also appreciated your "kind" chi sao as they were very much aware that you could have put on easily more gears ! :)

Indeed, Jean-Pierre, Sylvain and Felix who attended the seminar wanted to practice some of the concepts and drills we learnt during the seminar. Gilles, the beginner who attended, got in touch with me. Vincent who came from Bayonne, South West of France, near the Spanish border also got back to me... we may see him again.

Besides, we also had the time to do some sightseeing! Some of the spots we visited: the museum of Le Louvres, Pigalle (where is located the famous Moulin Rouge), Montmartre (where we discovered a nice restaurant) and the cathedral of Le Sacre Coeur (the highest spot in Paris, because it's on a hill), l'avenue of Champs Elysee and the Arch of Triumph, the Eiffel Tower... Some of us also had some very nice Vietnamese food.

Well, thank you all for the great times, and why not doing it again next year ? By then, I hope that our Parisian Branch of the reading Academy will have grown...

Cheers and see you soon !

Alain Nguyen