Clonmel Man Honoured:
On Tuesday last, the 1st August, Senior
Student Colin Boyle was presented with his Black Sash and Certificate of Grading by Sifu Chris Dougliss.This was the culmination
of six years hard training by Colin in Hung Gar Kung Fu.Such is the rarity of achieving this honour that Colin’s Grading
Examination took over seven hours to complete over two days, during which he was rigorously tested not just on what he had
learnt but also on his physical and mental toughness.
To begin, Colin was tested on all the Basic moves
that we practise at the beginning of each class, he then had to go through six minutes of low Horse Stance (Sei Ping Ma) on
the posts with weights on his legs and five minutes of Bow Stance(Tzi Ng Ma) left and right again with weights on his legs.He
then had to go through all the Weapon Forms including two forms of the Sword(Dao),one each of the Butterfly Knives(Woo Dip
Daan Do),Trident( Fu Pa), Spear(Qiang) and two forms of the Staff(Kwun).
He then had to go through all the Sets, starting
at San Sau and moving on to Mui Fa Kuen, Chin Cheung, Wo Heng Kuen, Gung Gee Fook Fu Kuen, Hung Gar Fu Huk, Yeung Sin Fuk
Fu Kuen, Tong Lung and Lung Ying.After this it was on to Knife Defence Techniques and Low and High Kicking Techniques.
Then it was on to the Two Man Sparring Set (Kuen
Deui Chaak), after which Colin had to spar and overcome in Full Contact two individual partners before sparring and overcoming
both of them together again in Full Contact.
In conclusion he had to give ample evidence of
his understanding of the application of all techniques and demonstrate First Aid and CPR.
This is a great achievement not just for Colin
personally but also for Sifu Chris and the Club as a whole due to it being so difficult to achieve this status in Hung Gar
Kung Fu and it is just reward for all the dedication and hard work that Colin has put in over the past six years.
It is an honour too for the town of Clonmel
to have one of our own bestowed with this achievement as Colin becomes the first Sifu or Teacher to grade from Clonmel Hung
Gar Kung Fu Club and is one of the small and elite group in Ireland
who have had this honour bestowed upon them.
For his part, Colin, who is a very modest person,
thanked Sifu Chris on Tuesday for all he had taught him and he realises that this is only the first small step in his training
and that the hard work is only now beginning.
Colin is now recognised as a Sifu of Hung Gar
Kung Fu by both the European Hung Gar Association and the International Kung Fu Federation, both of which we are affiliated
to.I know that all our Club members and friends and members of the wider Martial Arts Community in Clonmel and surrounding
areas will join with us in congratulating Colin on this achievement and wishing him great success in practising and teaching
our centuries old art of Hung Gar Kung Fu.
