Sid Sofos and Andrew Sofos - Wing Chun Boxing Academy - Cult or Not?
Introduction
Sid Sofos, Martial Arts Instructor
Andrew Sofos, Martial Arts Instructor
Last Updated: 20 Sept 2016
 
Introduction
What is a cult? Wikipedia defines it as the following.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult
I would describe a cult as a group of people, club, society, organisation or company that actively recruits new members, and which conditions, grooms, manipulates people and which also brainwashes people into non-mainstream views (to make their leaders feel better about themselves) or whatever values they claim to represent; which gives people half truth and does not tell the truth; which has a powerful leader or central figure who all members aspire to be; who condition members or attendees to hold the same world view for the benefit of the continuation of the cult; who often use their control, pressure, bullying or influence over members to extract sums of money, which is really what many cults are all about, and to do what they say; and who make it difficult to leave.
Some organisations are described as cults which do not actively recruit, and in some senses may be described as cults, but do not have all the qualities of a 'classic cult'. Cults tend to prey on those that are naive, easy influenced, weak willed or those partially indoctrinated already. They may well lure in members with 'carrots' and promises of great things and power or enlightenment and promises of boosting confidence etc. Cults often give the impression to members that they are there to help you and they are if anything doing you a favour. An examples of a Christian cult was the The Branch Davidians.
Other examples include The Church of Scientology and possibly even some Lodges within certain branches within Freemasonry, although certainly not Freemasonry as a whole. Clearly some groups are more clearly 'cults' than others, but many groups display cultish characteristics. Not cult ever admits to being a cult. Clearly cults must have some redeeming features or attractive aspects or no one would join them to start with.
Of course, the term 'cult' is used by many Christian churches to describe any group, sect or organisation that embraces a non-Biblical interpretation of the Christian faith or incorporates non-Biblical concepts or practices into its repertoire. This is highly subjective of course, and a form of slander, and in any case, most of mainstream Christianity has beliefs and practices that are non-Biblically based but can trace their origins to modern Christian traditions, notions and indeed 4th Century Catholic definitions. The 'cults' in question are often picked out because they actively recruit on the streets. Examples of such 'cults' or non-mainstream Christian groups include Children of God, The Church of Christ, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons and Freemasons.
The International Cultic Studies Association's web site is shown below. It contains reference material and support groups for ex-members of a wide variety of national and international cults.
http://icsahome.com
London's Cult Information Centre (CIC) web site is shown below.
www.cultinformation.org.uk/faq.html
Below are some other miscellaneous web sites about cults, secular and religious.
www.religioustolerance.org/cultmenu.htm
www.howcultswork.com
Below are two examples of cultish groups of varying degrees, that I have personal experience of. Both were part of The Wing Chun Boxing Academy, which I would say fulfills most of the definitions of a cult. I am merely relaying my personal experiences of these two schools with the academy, Fatshan and Shaoshan. The detail regarding the former Wing Chun Boxing Academy covers both my understanding of the flaws in techique compared with other wing chun styles I have learnt, and in addition documenting of the culture of bullying and cultish behaviour and instances of misrepresentation, inconsistency and dishonesty. I have tried to stick to my own personal experiences and to note some of the good and bad points to try to keep the article as balanced as possible - as good times were had on occasion. I have removed the majority of testimony from others on account of reliability issues and retained that which I deem to be credible. I have tried to be clear about what is fact and what is opinion and in those few instances where there is speculation, be clear that it is such. It is sometimes said that there is no such thing as bad publicity and perhaps this is true, but I felt that I owed it to the martial arts community to share my story and experiences. I have not intended this page to be interpreted as an attack on those people who are members of these cults or organisations, or who are affiliated with them or associate with them in any capacity.
In a generic sense, I personally wish any member of a 'cult' the strength to break away and do his own thing and not be controlled, conditioned or influenced by anyone in this manner. I respect the right of people to belong to whatever club or organisation that they want to, whether it is a cult or not, as ultimately it comes down to freedom of (informed) choice and self-knowledge (or lack of it), depending on the individual in question. 
Sid Sofos, Martial Arts Instructor
http://grandmastersidsofos.comI trained with 'Master' Sid Sofos (now claimed Grandmaster), short for Sidney Sofocleus, back in the early to mid 90s. In total training with Sid's school and his brother Andrew's school for 5 years, attaining assistant instructor status (I was near top of the class during his latter training years). Sid's school was called Fatshan. Andrew's school was called Shaoshan. The academy which both schools belonged to was called Wing Chun Boxing Academy. Sid trained new students up to senior instructor level. Andrew's school was designed for beginners and intermediates only, as Andrew was himself a student of Sid in his senior class at Fatshan. The top students at Shaoshan would then be selected to move over to Fatshan to train with Sid. I trained at Shaoshan for roughly 4 years and at Fatshan for roughly 1 year or so.
Whilst at the academy, I secretly attended a number of seminars by actual students of Yip Man, including Grandmaster William Cheung and Grandmaster Yip Chun, son of Yip Man, to experience other styles of Wing Chun. After finally leaving the Wing Chun Boxing Academy, I joined another school (a different style of Wing Chun Kung Fu - affiliated to Samuel Kwok, in 1996) and was almost bettered at Chi Sau by a student had only been training for just 3 weeks! Sid/Andrew's chi sau was lacking in break out moves and has a forward energy that rendered it highly detectable. The instructor of the class was very happy when I walked that night for the first time and said that I had done Wing Chun for 5 years and wanted to train, as his class was comprised of beginners. We did some chi sau and sparring, and he took me apart. I didn't understand what was going on as he was terminating his strikes. I then explained how I'd trained before, and he said that yes we could do it this way (went into brief and rapid freefighting), but he said there was no point as it was good for flow but wasn't actually achieving very much. It was clear at this moment how the structure and technique I had learnt was highly flawed. Since leaving, there has happened much with the Sofos brothers, including a big argument and falling out, whereupon the two brothers ceased contact and run separate schools. Some of Sid's senior instructors set up their own schools and called themselves 'Sifu'. Below are some of the issues I had with Sid Sofos during his time there:
Origins of Sid's Style:
- Sid stopped formal tuition with any knowledgeable Sifus back in the 80s (together with his brother Andrew) from what I can gather, mainly because he'd fallen out with all his former instructors, and he decided to create his own style. Sid's exact Sifu is not certain as he has never revealed it or been willing to divulge any information about it, preferring to focus on his 'own style'. Rumour from one ex-member has it that it was Kevin Chan. However, I have recently heard from a contemporary of Sid's from the late 80s that he and Andrew used to learn Wing Chun from Master Simon Lau, and it is likely Lau was their only/main Sifu. Apparently Simon Lau ran his school in a hierarchical manner, teaching slightly incorrect/modified technique to junior members, which would later be corrected when one rose up the hierarchy. Perhaps this is in the same spirit as the Modified/Traditional Wing Chun split that Yip Man allegedly had (only teaching Traditional Wing Chun to his last student William Cheung and no one else, according to William Cheung). Anyone who does not open discuss and declare their lineage because they do not want their students going elsewhere is probably not to be trusted. www.simonlaucentre.co.uk
- Sid, Andrew and various other students left Simon Lau's school some time in the 1980s and decided to start training at a private club run by Savvas Georgiou. Sid was apparently known for being a very fast fighter at the time, being obsessed with fast technique. Fellow contemporary Lakis Philippou, rumoured to be Savvas brother in law, also trained at this club. Sid, Savvas and Lakis were all good friends. One day, Sid and Savvas came up with a new way of sparring, later termed 'freefighting', which they thought was faster than regular chi sau or sparring. They showed Lakis, who was horrified at what they'd created, as he thought it was style over substance. This is discussed further below. I am uncertain whether Lakis left the club at this point. Sid and Andrew continued to train with Savvas, until Sid finally fell out with Savvas and punched him in the face. It is after this that he set up his own Wing Chun school, the Wing Chun Boxing Academy.
- Sid decided to change the kung fu to look faster and fancier. Having fallen out with his contemporaries, this left him two options. To copy technique from books, videos and movies, or to make it up himself. For those with extensive experience of martial arts and a very high level of proficiency, then the latter is a viable route, to creating a unique version of a style, a little like Bruce Lee or other instructors/teachers. However, this requires the ability to self-correct oneself, to be highly intelligent, to curtail any excesses in order to keep it 'real'. This does not appear to have been the case with Sid.
- I cannot say where this is true or not, but Sid and Andrew were allegedly inspired heavily by a Randy Williams video that they had watched. According to Lakis Philippou, one day Lakis mentioned that he had seen Andrew with a Randy Williams video. Lakis asked if he could borrow it. Andrew then came up with some 'cock and bull story' about the video having been stolen from his car, his car having been broken into as he had left the video out on the back seat or similar, and thus was unable to produce the video. If this story is indeed true, was Andrew being truthful? Or was Andrew being evasive as he did not want Lakis to see that he had 'stolen' moves this video in question?
- Sid was certainly heavily influenced by the numerous movies with his favourite action movie idol Steven Segal, copying movies and style, even though it was just movie action choreography and a different martial art Aikido. Segal's on screen moves were choreographed to look good as opposed to being the usual/proper Aikido style. Sid was probably also inspired by the example of Bruce Lee, creating his own style. Sid thus coined the term 'Sijo' for himself, which is reserved for the originator of a style, (i.e. the original creator of Wing Chun style, Ng Mui at the Shaolin Temple ONLY!) Sid did refer to himself as a Shaolin monk at one grading that I attended.
- Andrew and Sid copied a number of ideas from Bruce Lee, often applied incorrectly. Andrew had a copy of the book Wing Chun Do by James W. DeMille, one of Bruce Lee's senior students, in his office and a few training aids that I recognised from this book, that I never saw him use or mention in front of students. How much of the techniques of the Wing Chun stance was 'handed down' to Sid and how much was copied from books or videos is a matter of debate.
- Sid and Andrew used a table to fight on, to promote close quarter fighting - this was likely inspired by The Prodigal Son martial arts movie. It was one of the USPs of the Wing Chun Boxing Academy and is still practised by Andrew's current academy. When fighting on the ground, freefighting was performed in a circle, in a similar fashion, to mimic the round table. This does not necessarily mean that this type of training had no value, but it was not derived from 'secrets' handed down by their previous teachers. Adherence to the circle or table was often at the expense of realism and coping with different scenarios/ranges.
- Sid liked the idea of secret societies and elitism, as was evident at a seminar when discussing the history of Wing Chun and it's triad period. He evidently liked the concept of withholding the technique he wanted to practice to his lower students, secretly teaching his instructors a different style than anyone in the academy in lower classes. He was likely inspired by the William Cheung Traditional Wing Chun Kung Fu story, or from his experiences with his old Sifu Simon Lau. The style Sid taught his instructors was based on an artificially constructed Wing Chun style combining 'modified Wing Chun' and more traditional kung fu moves with the wider Wing Chun pole fighting horse stance. This was claimed to be ancient Wing Chun, as declared by Sid at the Street Self Defense seminar from 1995 or 1996, but this is not historically incorrect. This horse stance in Wing Chun is only supposed to be used when fighting with a pole, to generate power. It is not very mobile otherwise and has no real purpose in unarmed combat from what I have understood from other Wing Chun masters when I posed the question. Also, when Sid or Andrew themselves were demonstrating the correct technique, they would use a wider stance and different arm shapes to the students, but the students were told to do it a different way (which would evolve and open up over time so we were told). In practice, their stance was wide (not pole stance wide, but shoulder width or so) and almost 50/50 or 60/40, but they made their students adopt a much narrower, 80/20 stance that made their footwork very difficult and took all the power out of their arms. Most people would agree that any teacher who doesn't practice what they teach you is either a fraud who doesn't believe in what they are teaching or they are playing psychological games with you
- A friend of mine trained briefly with Savvas at Laki's kung fu class in his garage in the early 00s, and was not overly impressed with the level of skill in his arms, giving him a 'fat lip' during routine training exercises. This is not to disrespect Savvas, who was perhaps out of practice having taken a sabbatical from his kung fu training, or perhaps the structure in his movements was never properly or methodically trained (from the garage days), it is not for me to say.
Analysis of Sid's Technique:
- Freefighting, as described above, created originally by both Sid and Savvas Georgiou, is sometimes referred to by ex-Sofos students as 'slap fighting', which is a style of sparring, initiated with an abstract rotating pak sau drill, and which can be very fast. It doesn't however involve terminating many of the moves and is an exercise in presenting the forearm to the opponent and 'pumping the centre line' (using moves that encourage fast flow and the continuation of that flow), without actually really doing anything. The idea is to gain the centre line but not do anything with it, whereupon your training partner, then reacts to that move by whatever comes to the arms/mind, to regain control of the centre line. Etc. Often once you had gained the centre line, if the partner didn't respond instantly, you would leave your hand where it was, and sometimes signify that you could hit them, without actually doing it. Finally the partner would respond and the flow would continue. Flow rather than actual practicality was the goal. What you train, you will do 'in anger'. If you don't train something, you won't be very good at it (terminating moves in an unpredictable scenario). There was no purpose in the freefighting, no progressive closing of the range, so most bouts end in a pointless sweep as the practitioners can't think of anything else to do. This is a very crude sweep and no very sophisticated in martial arts terms. The purpose behind each move was missing and the structure of the move was flawed. If one considers what series of moves would occur in reality, as soon as one strike is landed, a logical and rapid series of strikes occurs, closing the range culminating in a poweful close range strike (utilising the fact that the opponent is unable to strike you because of your positioning, range and how you have trapped their arms etc.), which will drop the opponent to the ground (if he hasn't dropped during the preceding strikes).
- The concept of maintaining the range and exchanging so many blows, and finally sweeping, is abstract and not related to the reality of a fight. Often during freefighting, the better practitioner will 'slap' the training partner around the face a few times, to indicate that they need to keep up their arms or maintain control of the centre line, rather than actually landing proper strikes and doing a logical sequence of range closing and pinning moves. Good Wing Chun training is to drill in lightning reflexes for practical situations and reality. As freefighting was seen as dynamic and exciting looking, the practice of slowly practicing a preset series of moves was seen as boring and not performed. So the result is that freefighting resulted in one concentrating on easier to perform moves and not really gaining much proficiency in sets of moves that came less naturally. Sloppiness was therefore ingrained into most students. So rather than practising every conceivable permutation and practical sequences of moves (in a realistic scenario where the opponent doesn't keep regaining the centre line after repeated hard strikes), and building total confidence in them, the focus is on fluidity and 'freedom' and not paying attention to where one's real weakness are in move sequences. Perhaps the focus being on repeated strikes on expecting the opponent to continue fighting as effectively is based on the assumption that the actual strikes have very little effect on account of the impractical stance and the elbows being too far in. In a general sense, one had to acclimatise to 'freefighting'. When I first saw it, I thought it was rubbish and that I'd never end up doing that. And that I'd only land strikes properly and work on my structure. But ironically I did later on. It was only after leaving the academy and viewing other WC styles that I realised that my original (gut) impression was correct. Freefighting looks good only to those accilimatised to it in the school and to those ignorant people who have no idea about martial arts. Freefighting is performed with the concept that one is training with one's hardest opponent, and that anyone else one fights for real will be easy to tackle. Perhaps this is true for the most rudimentary of opponents but not for an experienced streetfighter or anyone with martial arts experience. In the latter scenario, one might wish one had actually trained to land strikes on the opponent.
- Freefighting or chi sau only ever flowed when there was a 'spring'. This was Sofos speak for each practitioner exerting a slight force forwards in his arms that met with the other person's similar forward force, so that it anyone dropped an arm etc, then the other person's arm would 'fly' forwards (but to a point of course apparently) into a strike or other move. However, relying on this, and relying on the relaxation of the opponent to be able to actually shift his or her arms is a flawed way to train and divorced from the reality of a fight. The need for relaxation to actually shift the partner's arms at all showed a lack of using the body's actual natural structural strength. This was also evident in that sweeps never worked when one's partner was resisting, which was something virtually all students noticed in classes. If one resisted, then the instructor or practitioner would say something like 'Don't resist, as I can just hit you'. But if that was the case, why didn't they hit you earlier? Wasn't that the whole point of freefighting? If you are not going to hit the other person, then why bother freefighting at all. And indeed, the person resisting the sweep could equally 'just hit' the other person, as they were preoccupied with trying to make their sweep stick. Surely freefighting should be more like sparring, with constant attempts to land strikes on the training partner. If you don't practice this in class, it won't come out of your body when you need to use it in 'anger'.
- In 3 onto 1 practice, it would only work if you punched in a certain way (punching presenting the whole forearm, not really going for target). The persons attacking would all do the same style lunge, with a very wide stance and most of body weight over the front leg. Punches weren't aimed to strike as such but more was a presentation of the body to be swept or pinned. If the odd punch was aimed at the defender's head, the whole strike and lunge was so predictable it was very easy to block. If attackers weren't swept or dealt with immediately, they would often just stay in the lunge with their fist extended in the air and wait to be swept. Many people who were unfamiliar with martial arts or street fighting would see this as highly skilled. Practising 3 onto 1 at another Wing Chun school was totally different, as described elsewhere in this article. Instead of having to wait 6+ years to do it, we started after 6 months training, with chaotic and unpredicatable attacks, aiming to land strikes and outwit the defender by any means available.
- During freefighting or 'counters', quite often if person A lands a strike, he leaves it there, and waits for person B to acknowledge that it is there. Person A may emphasize that it is still there, but thrusting it forwards or slapping Person B around the face. When Person B finally wakes up, then he would perform a move to 'block' that strike, to connect with Person A's forearm and to regain control of the centre line. This is however a flawed practice, as there is no realism. A punch held out is no longer a punch and has no meaning. If a strike has landed, the person attacking does not leave it there and there is no point blocking something that has just landed. This is not strictly true if it is a grappling move, but otherwise it applies. Much of the Sofos training involves strikes that are held out in front of a person, who can do as he wishes with the person's arm. In a real fight, people jab, they do not punch and leave their arm out. No training I ever had at the academy involved dealing with people jabbing straight and direct punches. The only street fighting training involved predictable and wide swinging hooks, involving the same arm eact time (i.e. predictable, telegraphed).
- Another bad habit picked up by most practitioners in freefighting is the tendency to chase the hand and chase a connection/stick to the other person's arms. It is thus possible to outfox the training partner by drawing their arms out from the centre, as they seek to stick and 'cover' themselves against your moves. But as you draw the person's arm or arms out, you know what they are going to do, and you move around their arms as they make their move, or you just go straight for the centre with a strike. Training a person to stick to the other person's hands is not always wise and is a form of restrictive conditioning. It has its place clearly, but it should not rule one's technique.
- A real fight only lasts a few seconds. A kung fu bout similarly shouldn't really last more than five seconds or so. Freefighting artificially prolongs the bout in a somewhat abstract manner. Sweeping is an irrelevant concept often, as the person who lands the first strike usually has the advantage as the person being hit loses their concentration or strength for a brief moment, enough time for the attacker to pin them or strike them again and close the gap. After being hit several times, the defender may well be unable to fight back with any conviction, and may drop their arms and open themselves up for a final strike. This is where the attacker can use their positioning to leverage their whole body weight into a very powerful strike, for example, to the ribs, which usually drops the opponent. Having the visually put the person on the floor during training with a sweep, because you can't hit them very hard, is rather abstract. Certainly, in some instances, you can use a person's momentum to throw them to the floor, but it should be not used all the time.
- The Academy never really taught the concept of a feint or diversion in an opening attack. These are often used in fencing or martial arts like JKD. In Wing Chun, they can either be destabilising moves, like treading on the person's front foot as they move backwards (causing a wide stance and surprise etc.), or moves that destabilise (causing arms to drop or distract the person) by causing pain, for example running your leg down the front of their shin, kicking the shin. Once the person has experienced severe pain, they are usually much easier to engage.
- The bong sau/punch drill was performed with a backfist rather than straight punch to target, rendering the direction of the punch upwards and not forwards and being totally useless in a fight.
- Certain 'freefighting' strike moves were totally ineffective and lacked a sense of reality. For example, sometimes an instructor would land a (side) chop on your stomach. Whilst a chop is effective if striking soft tissue such as the neck, which has no structural protection, landing this move on the stomach would not be very effective! On occasion students would land a 'fook sau' on their training partner, as a terminating strike. This is a good way to break your wrist or to damage the veins on the top of your wrist. A fook sau is not a terminating strike move but a block and precursor to a hoong sau (wrist roll - like a fencing move) and then a strike or a lock, for example.
- Sid and Andrew claimed to use the concept of a triangle, which all Wing Chun uses, but the application was flawed. The concept is keeping the arms in line with a triangle between the shoulders and the point of furthest reach in front of one (in the centre). However, in Sid and Andrew's Kung Fu, the elbows are not in line with the sides of the body and the sides of the triangle, but are kept in close to the centre line (so they cannot be used in an arm lock apparently). And often too close to the body. The disadvantage of this is that the arm loses its structure and the moves have no power. But shifting the elbow out slightly (in line with the actual triangle) and by ensuring the elbow is always at least a fist's length away from the torso, the power of moves can be greatly increased. This is what Bruce Lee did.
- In addition, most Wing Chun employs a fighting stance whereby the torso is more or less square on to the opponent, allowing the practitioner to use both arms at their full range if necessary. Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do used a fencing style stance, whereby the person was side on. The reason for this is that his attacks were based on speed and the element of surprise and comprised of a single strike that was designed to hit the opponent before he could defend himself. Sid and Andrew however applied this to Wing Chun, and decided to create a bizarre stance. It was officially 60/40 weight distribution, but in reality it was more 80/20. It meant the student was leaning back and almost falling over during footwork drills, was quite immobile, and had no power. It also meant that the stance was very narrow and unstable. Putting more weight forwards radically improves the stance, power, stability and manoevrability. A good strong stable stance should allow high manoevrability, but also provide a solid platform for which arm techniques can root from. It provides an ease and effortless of performing arm movements and provides nature structure and strength support to the arm movements. This is what is missing in the 80/20 stance where one has to try much harder to perform the arm movements and one has no power. Power often comes from tensing up in such cases or adopting a wider stance (and hope no one notices). A wider stance with a more central weight distribution feels more natural, and when you perform it, it makes sense to the body and feels good. Any good martial arts style should feel good naturally and give you natural confidence. A narrow, unstable stance keeps you struggling and your body does not feel like one unit. One feels like the ground has been pulled from underneath one and the strike has little to push itself forward from. It is like trying to fight someone in a swimming pool who is standing on an underwater ledge or steps, whilst you are treading water. In addition, copying Bruce Lee's JKD, they made the Wing Chun stance side on too, so that not only was the student leaning back and off balance (in case someone tried to sweep his front leg) and less able to move than if he was in a more 60/40 or 50/50 stance, but also he was turned sideways with his back shoulder hunched down and the head tilted to the side. This was conducive to back and neck ache but also not conducive to allowing both arms to reach the opponent or to effectively defend. It made movement very difficult. Blocking with the back hand was only possible when a strike was almost on the body, and did not allow a wide range of defensive hand movements. The stance was almost like a sick joke, making life as difficult as possible for the students, so that presumably, when they were later 'allowed' to adopt a normal stance, it would seem much 'easier'. Why not adopt the correct stance from the beginning? Sid never practised this ridiculous stance, so why should the students?
- I actually trained with one of Andrew's instructors, Mark, after I had left the school. Mark had not trained in years and was amazed at my new found skills. I had attended some other martial arts classes (wing chun), and demonstrated to Mark that using the same hand techniques as Sid/Andrew taught, but by widening the stance and making it 50/50, my power and technique were greatly improved. This Mark acknowledged at the time and found very interesting. I attended two seminars with Mark, including Grandmasters Yip Chun and William Cheung (I am not 100% sure about the latter seminar) where we both noted the footwork used by different practitioners being different to the Sofos style (i.e. more 60/40 or 50/50 with wider stance). Later on, Mark rejoined Andrew's break away school as an instructor, and it is likely that the stance in Andrew's style of Wing Chun has improved mysteriously since then. This may also be on account of Andrew's dealings with Sifu Lakis Philippou and his basic understanding of his style.
- Sid and Andrew's footwork was not very mobile, apart from the weight distribution. With the exception of 'walking' or 'darting' forwards and backwards, the back foot never moved. In walking or darting, the back foot was supposed to remain on the ground and dragged as part of the movement. This resulted in a kind of inertia, accentuated by the fact that most of the body weight was over the back foot. It was therefore a real effort to try to drag this back foot along the ground. In would be harder still to do so on the street wearing grippy trainers on tarmac for example, and virtually impossible wearing trainers and standing on grass, compared with kung fu slippers on a well polished floor in the studio. This inertia would often lead to the upper body moving out of synch with the lower body, thus destroying the power generated from rooting into the ground and punching from the feet. The concept of co-ordinated hand movements was a case of 'more is better'. A walk forwards move, where one would bring the back leg through the centre line and place it out in front, using the hips for power, and accompanied by three punches was not very powerful. This was partly because the weight was too far on the back leg, but also because there was no half step at the beginning or end, and because there was no power in the first two punches, as there was no stability of rootedness in the stance. The last punch is really the only punch that would count, and its power was sapped by having performed two punches just immediately prior in the middle of the move. Whilst training, practitioners often felt these 'machine gun' punches to be very weak and ineffectual, especially when hitting pads held by a partner. Other Wing Chun styles only perform one punch with a walk forward, making this punch count. A walk backwards move, where one would bring one's front foot backwards and place it behind one but keeping the other foot still, would be combined with three punches (to swap arms to feet the same arm same leg out in front) was even less powerful. It makes no dynamic sense to be punching whilst moving backwards as there is no power from the root of the stance and one is taking momentum away from one's punches with the body. In other Wing Chun styles, one simply swaps arm as one walks back (ending with a half step of the foot that remained still) in preparation for the next move. Clearly the three punches were included to look good, regardless of the reality and practicality behind them. Only the dart forwards and dart backwards had the correct number of punches, even though the weight distribution was wrong and the probably wrong hand was punching first (i.e. being side on, punching with the back arm first (the arm that is furthest away from the opponent), rather than being square on and punching with the front arm (closest arm) first.)
- The shift forward or shift back - essentially a move where one steps out to the side at 90 degrees - always had one foot remain on the spot. The terminology has now changed in both Andrew's and Sid's academies. This restricted mobility and often put the practitioner too close to the opponent or wooden dummy and slightly at the wrong angle, making him unstable and likely to fall over and bounce off his opponent. I later re-learnt the footwork, and the shift forward and shift back was preceded by a half-step of the foot that is shifted from at the start of the movement, and a half-step by that same foot at the end of the movement. The half steps help to drive the momentum of the practioner forwards or backwards depending on the move, allow sufficient space to move around the opponent or wooden dummy to get the right angle and allow for a strong stable position, and also combine a turn of the hips with a thrust of the whole body, creating much more power and unity in movement of the stance/legs/torso and hand techniques. By keeping one foot still throughout the move one is effectively relying on a hip movement alone and there is very little forward momentum, especially as the weight is then almost soley on the now back foot (that did not move in the shift forward). The 80/20 stance also made the movement slower, weaker and more clumsy than it should have been. A similar principle applies to the pivot in and pivot out. Having nearly all the body weight on this back leg that stays motionless, and relying on the hips to turn you around through 90 degrees makes one feel rather unstable and saps all the power from the move, as opposed to using a half-step forward at the end of the pivot which is more stable and has a dynamic forward motion and momentum, and is easier to perform. The correct way to perform the shift and pivot described above make the dummy form better and provide stability and the correct angles. I often saw students always falling over and bouncing off the dummy, and not 'blocking' the dummy's arm properly as the footwork was wrong and not moving the position of the body out of the way of the 'strike' enough.
- Front basic (front) stance, Sid and Andrew's footwork involved either a shift forwards, or a turn (relying solely on a hip movement for the power). Rarely was a side step incorporated into the footwork when performing punch/block drills, which is optional in other Wing Chun styles, nor was a simple step straight forwards (economy of motion - from one corner of the triangle to a point on the centre line on the opponent) - a proper shift had to be performed where one foot would touch the other or move to the centre line before moving forwards. This way is slower. Wing Chun should be as direct, fast and powerful/structurally sound as possible.
- The dummy form was taught to be fast and flowing, but the footwork was fairly minimal with the minimum of stepping to the side to execute moves, with the result that students would often be almost falling over and being knocked backwards off the dummy when executing certain step/move sequences. The angles were also as a result not quite right. I had to relearn all the sections of the dummy form I had learnt from Sofos when I went to train at another school.
- A warm up before each class got underway was employed by both Andrew and Sid. This consisted of a partner holding pads, and the other person closing in and doing 'knees' and 'elbows' on the pads. Then a punch pad was used for punching. The rapid punching was nearly always rather feeble and lacking in power, and the knees and elbows only felt substantial because the partner would push the pad out to meet the elbow or knee. If he or she did not, then the strike hardly had any impact at all. The last part of the warm up was pracitising kicks. Only one basic kind of kick was taught at the academy to most students. This used no knee action, but a nearly straight (slight bend in knee), and a combination of lifting the leg upwards and forwards and rotating the hips. The kick was not initiated from a bent knee to generate the power. There were three different variations on this kick, landing the foot the toes above the heel (vertical), or with toes pointed inwards (45 degrees), or with toes pointed outwards (45 degrees). During the warm up, the training partner would hold the tyre, and the person kicking would kick the tyre repeatedly. There was no real power in this kick, and the person kicking would almost bounce off the tyre if it wasn't a flexible one. Not very practical in self-defence and in a street fight.
- No techniques for falling were taught. Nor for getting up or jumping back up again. Many other martial arts classes teach how to perform rolls and movement whilst on the ground, for example, an excellent Sulkido class I once attended. Sid and Andrew had no real knowledge here. Andrew would boast about a question he received once from a student about being taught how to fall, and his reply he said was 'I'm going to teach you how not to fall'. Which is quite ridiculous as all they ever wanted to do was 'sweep' the training partner, and you were encouraged to have 'no mind' and let the instructor slap you about and throw you on the floor without tensing up etc. (grooming/conditioning). After landing on your elbows and incurring painful injuries, one would not do it again and try to land on one's bottom/back, in a kind of roll. And get up facing the opponent, but with no fancy jumps or specific techniques. Korean martial arts for example spend much time on rolls on the floor, jumps and jumps off the floor.
- Nor did the brothers have any significant knowledge about grappling - many techniques which I learnt after leaving the academy. Once is the vice like grip of a grapple, all that would happen is that a simulated punch would approach the face or one would be swept on the floor.
- Both Sid and Andrew taught that one should always keep one's eye on the training partner or opponent, even if one is 'swept' onto the ground etc. This is all good. However, it was taught to maintain eye contact at all times. This may be counterproductive as the opponent may try to distract you with their gaze or eyes, and in addition, one cannot tell what the shoulder or arm is doing by looking at the eyes! It is better to look at the top of the torso, and specifically at the shoulders, as any punches or moves are first telegraphed by the shoulders. This allows for the greatest amount of advance warning that a strike or move is going to be performed and by which arm. This is something I learnt at a subsequent Wing Chun school.
- The general philosophy behind freefighting is for speed, but also to manhandle the opponent, move them around, slap them around the face, and encourage the training partner not to resist, but to keep using their technique to regain control of the centre line. One is not encouraged to think about attacking the instructor, but simply to passively defend oneself. The concept of surrendering oneself to blows and not resisting and stiffening up, but simply keeping a clear mind and using the techique is part of the 'zen' approach promoted. However, it is difficult to really relax when you are constantly being shouted at and being made to feel guilty about various things. And in addition, the strikes that the instructors land on the students are not real strikes, but rather soft, and in a sense quite pointless, as they don't really prepare the student for the reality of how a fight transpires. And if the student was actually hit hard, they would be rather lost and not know what to do. Hitting people to 'toughen' them up is thus rather ridiculous, and instead it is better to give the student confidence through strong technique and stance. The concept of 'surrendering to whatever abuse is given' was certainly pervasive in freefighting training, but also in a general sense in the school, with students having to take whatever was dished out by Sid, Andrew or the instructors. And never being allowed to resist. Is this training in Buddhism? Or pointless bullying and brainwashing students not to question anything or think for themselves. Freefighting also only ever seemed to work when the other person was relaxed and allowed you to manipulate them physically.
- Sid and Andrew taught students to breathe through their mouth the whole time whilst training, as it was beneficial for 'qi'. There was no particular technique, just to breathe normally. All other Chinese martial arts teach the opposite, that one should breathe through the nose, usually with the tongue on the roof of the mouth, and to combine the breath with the movement, as a form of moving meditation exercise, to help to generate qi. There was no knowledge of combining breath with movement in Sid's Academy as far as I could tell.
- Sid claimed that his movements were very small and imperceptible to the untrained eye. His butterfly knives practice was reputed as such, whereas he had little structure or technique and it was just wiggling his wrists in an undisciplined manner, wiggling the knives a little. This was reputed to be highly advanced. Any trained martial arts practice results in clearly defined, structured moves that flow perfectly, with fluidity and also stillness at the same time. Here there was no structure or stillness.
- All instructors and students wore a sash tightly, as it helped with hip movement, and to keep the body as one unit. If one ever forgot to wear one's sash, then one would have no power at all and feel like one's kung fu had gone backwards a few years. Putting the sash on would cure this. Nowhere else have I experienced this reliance/dependency on the sash, as different technique and structure has natural strength and does not require it. In addition, in a street fight, you would not be wearing a sash in any case.
- If one considers that Sid learnt Wing Chun from an instructor for 5-7 years only (before he modified it), and that I learnt from Sid and Andrew for 5 years (the same as my contemporaries who were roughly of the same standard), then if both styles were equal, then they'd be of the same standard in different points in time. The fact that I felt out of his depth when training with beginners from a different wing chun school would suggest that what Sid actually was taught was of a much higher standard than what he subsequently developed himself. In addition, the Wing Chun style was designed to be mastered in 5-8 years, unlike other kung fu styles which took a whole lifetime to master. After 5 years I hadn't been even taught the third form or leg drills. The street self defence component of the style was extremely poor and lesser than what I subsequently learned in 6 months with Lakis.
- Many other Sifus when asked why one performs a certain techique will be happy to show you why you do what you do, and how performing the technique differently, according to different styles of Wing Chun, would have its pros and cons. Ask the same question of Sid or Andrew or his instructors, and you got a rather defensive response, one that involved showing you that you would be hit (whereas you could be probably hit anyway using the 'right' technique), and no comparison with other styles would be made (presumably as there was little knowledge or will to teach students about the concept of there really being other alternatives).
- At a Street Self Defence seminar, I was scolded in front of the whole seminar for practising chi sau as a warm up before the seminar started. I did this as '3rd Scroll' chi sau training was practised to build up a 'spring', working on footwork etc. Most other wing chun styles use chi sau to practice actual fighting techniques which can practically be used in the street. If chi sau is not a good exercise for self-defence, what is the point of doing it at all?
- If one thinks about it, many students left Sid and ended up with other Wing Chun clubs and schools. However, rarely if ever did anyone already studying Wing Chun, leave their school to join Sid or Andrew's class. On the one of two occasions this did occur, it was a case of someone geographically relocating and it was the first Wing Chun school they came across. There were students joining who had trained in Japanese martial arts, and this is probably because they had no real experience or idea of what kung fu was all about. The majority of the students were those who had no previous martial arts experience or idea of fighting or practicalities of martial arts.
- The only really good proponents to come out of Sid and Andrew's schools were those that were physically hard anyway and had had streetfighting or other martial arts experience and/or a military background prior, which they used to make their kung fu actually work. Also lack of physical work out (press ups, sit ups, running etc) made the students weak and puny and lacking fitness. Good wing chun requires strong triceps for pushing a punch forwards and also strong abdominal muscles. All good martial arts schools incorporate some form of physical training involving moving one's own body weight into their programme, e.g. press ups, sit ups, dips and/or chin ups. Most students of many years at Sid's and Andrew's schools had no power in their punches or moves. Funnily enough, the one or two students that were physically fit and did these types of exercises in their own time were able to land much harder strikes and had a stronger stance.
- Sid and Andrew would not infrequently relay some form of wisdom from past kung fu masters or practitioners and it would sound very impressive. This would have the class really acknowledging this wisdom and paying their respects (with the palm and fist). However, the knowledge and lessons imparted were rarely actually practiced by the school! For example, Andrew would relay a story of how a wise student decided to wait 10 or 20 years before joining a kung fu Sifu because he wanted to prepare himself for it by training in a gym first. Virtually no stretching or (body weight) strength training was performed in classes and in many cases students of several years were very weak and unfit. Other schools who incorporated sit ups and press ups in their training regimes were frequently criticised by instructors and above. Andrew also relayed stories of schools where all one would do for the first couple of years is to do footwork or sit in a horse stance. Andrew was relaying the importance of stance work yet there was a distinct lack of leg strength in his students and little leg training was actually performed. Although footwork practice was a regular occurrence, it did not seem to be a practice that strengthened the legs, nor to build competence or foundation in students on account of the virtually 80/20 stance which rendered students unstable like a Eurofighter!
- Many of the stunts at the kung fu shows were very 'showy' in nature, often with somewhat limited technical content. For example, one stunt for one of the kung fu shows was to involve Andrew performing a flying punch. This was a leap through the air, whereupon he would land a punch on a pad, being held by an instructor. As most martial artists will recognise, this has no basis in real practical street fighting, nor in traditional kung fu. A punch without a root in the ground is unlikely to be as powerful as one where one is rooted into the ground and using one's body weight, leveraging off the ground. The flying punch was a made up move to look visually appealing. Perhaps because it was not thought out or constructed so well, training resulted in severe injury, with Andrew's face landing on the instructor's knee. This resulted in Andrew breaking his cheekbone and not being able to perform at all for the academy's kung fu show.
- The style of gradings was unusual for a kung fu academy, in particular the high level gradings, from 3rd scroll
Attitude and Bullying:
- Students were groomed to be overly aggressive as this was perceived as confidence and strength, but in reality made for insecure people. Senior instructors were encouraged into dubious, violent professions such as being bouncers or debt collectors. Simon Lau, Sid's old Sifu, has a page on his web site about bullying in Wing Chun schools. www.simonlaucentre.co.uk/antibully/default.asp
- Wannabe army style atmosphere. Students were bossed around and shouted at frequently. The 'Master' demanded respect from his students rather than earning it. The Master would bully his instructors into how he wanted his school run, and the instructors would in turn bully the students into how to act, and how to treat their teacher.
- Sid and Andrew groomed/brainwashed students into being overly aggressive and sharp. To the point where students were hyper-stressed. High on adrenaline to imitate natural and relaxed confidence. But it is no substitute for the real thing. Real confidence and belief in what one is doing. Where one doesn't have to convince oneself all the time about it. Although 'stillness' was mentioned in classes, the classes were not conducive to this at all, and the focus was on pushing students to the point of cracking up and throwing them around without their resisting, rather than breaking down their technique and improving it in a relaxed and positive atmosphere. No relaxed confidence.
- Ironically, by bullying students so much, it has the opposite effect of relaxation and results in tension all over the body. A relaxed but energised atmosphere is far more conducive to better martial arts training. Distracting an opponent is a key skill in Wing Chun which was not taught at the Wing Chun Boxing Academy. Sid during the Sadler's Wells kung fu show invited a teenager onto the stage to fight with him. He somehow expected the kid to do freefighting and tried. The kid resisted and didn't move his arms. Sid performed various moves, including a pak sau etc to collapse one of his arms and strike him, but he couldn't shift his arms. He became frustrated as he kept expecting the kid to respond with 'freefighting' and pump his centre line without any explanation. Eventually he lost patience and tried to sweep him (couldn't think of anything else to do) and even that didn't work because he was resisting. Eventually he hit him on the nose and gave him a nose bleed! Very 'controlled'. Very 'effective' technique. I have experienced many other styles of Wing Chun that work whatever the opponent and his or her state of relaxation. You don't have to 'force' the move to make it work, if it has natural strength through structure, it will work with no effort at all.
- I was asked to help instruct the odd class at Fatshan, Sid's studio, specifically, a women's self defence class and also a children's class. At each class, the chief instructor could see that I was hyped up and ready to push the class really hard, as I had been groomed to do with the normal classes, but the instructor took me aside and asked me to 'go easy' on the students in these two classes, as they were potentially vulnerable and perhaps a little 'sensitive'. Presumably then the usual amount of hostility and spite that was not acceptable in a women's self defence class was perfectly acceptable for a 'normal' class with a mainly young male membership. On some level there was a recognition that the way of instructing and leading the regular classes was 'bullying' and 'unacceptable'.
- On Sid's current web site, he states that whilst he has associated with various celebrities over the years, he prefers to teach local kids from poorer backgrounds. One could interpret this as Sid has briefly met or had associations/friendships with a handful of celebrities over the years, but has fallen out with those he associated with. Also, Sid and Andrew tended to target local youths in the Tottenham area as they were less educated about martial arts, and those that did not leave after the first lesson tended to be those who had never done any martial arts before nor how other schools operated; and also students at the two Universities that Andrew taught at, generally attracting the more weak willed.
- Sid seemed to have historically had a habit of losing his senior instructors, as none of the past instuctors from older magazines remained in the academy except his one loyal chief instructor whom he used to bully incessantly. He eventually left, and according to a friend of his, as a frail shell of the person he used to be - a nervous wreck. After the break up with Andrew, many of Sid's instructors left. Of Sid's two chief instructors that remained, one has now left for all of the above reasons. The other, Brian, a 'Master', now remains (true at time of writing in 2007).
- Sid and his instructors always used to tell the class that one should not miss a lesson, as the pace and workrate was so high, that non-attendance and lack of consistency could result in injury during freefighting. This is mainly because the philosophy behind freefighting was more about speed than working on drilling in strong technique. In all of my time at the academy, I took occasion holidays with no problem. Ironically, a month or two before leaving the academy, I went away for a week's holiday, and upon coming back, expected the instructors to go slightly easier on me on the first lesson back, but they did not, and one instructor went harder than I had ever had (with the usual, high speed flow and attempts to slap the student around the face a few times if they don't respond and a pointless sweep at the end), and this resulted in me being thrown onto a wooden floor, landing on my knee, and having knee and inflammation problems for around 3 years afterwards, where I could not run, jog or do any kung fu on it. The academy had a habit of mouthing off on a variety of subjects but not always practising what it preached. What was annoying is that the whole thing was so unnecessary and I was about to leave anyway.
- Several of the instructors would get occasionally into street fights, and on many occasions came off worse (whether fighting people with limited or no martial arts experience), despite years of kung fu training. One would have thought that even a few months of training of an 'excellent, practical and effective' style would render one virtually untouchable to attack by the untrained street thug.
- The academy hosted a show at Sadler's Wells in 1996. It was to raise money for the victim's families and survivors of the Dunblane (unfortunately misspelt 'Dumblane' on the first issue of fliers) massacre in Scotland in 1996, where a psychotic individual shot dead a number of children at a primary school. The first scene of Sid's show was a mock up of an terrorist embassy siege, and one of the instructors walked to the front of the stage and fired a real submachine gun at the audience (using blanks). How this was legally performed I am not sure, but hosting a show with actual firearms and mock violence and killing could perhaps be considered grossly inappropriate considering the circumstances of the actual massacre. After the show all the students of the school who attended (forced to attend and bring their relatives too) were talking about it and wondering why it was done. It is likely Sid thought that seeing guns and hearing shots was exactly what they needed, to break the association of fear around it (the same way that if you fall off a horse, you should get back on it again rather than be afraid thereafter). I can understand that, however, with minors and such an incident, it is questionable whether this was the right approach.
- The kung fu shows organised by Sid and Andrew were arranged by their students and instructors. During these shows, and also at gradings, the instructors would almost scold the audience if they weren't showing enough applause! Great atmosphere!
- Sid and Andrew used to slag off virtually every other martial arts instructor under the sun, especially Wing Chun. Anyone who talked about attending a seminar by a visiting Grandmaster from Hong Kong would be scolded for being disrespectful that they were considering learning from someone else. People were told to believe that all other styles were rubbish in comparison, when ironically the complete opposite was true. I have attended many seminars and touched hands with many Grandmasters of Wing Chun, including William Cheung and Yip Chun (aka Ip Chun), and at each seminar was a wide variety of Wing Chun stylists and practitioners. Such seminars were a great learning experience and a chance to see other styles working and in action. The William Cheung seminar that I attended was organised by other Wing Chun teachers Brian Desir and the McKensie brothers. Although their styles were very different to William Cheung's, they were open minded and decent enough to organise and arrange it and participate in the exercises. Andrew and Sid had on many occasions implied that the McKensie brothers were rubbish, whilst not actually mentioning their name. Sid and Andrew tried to avoid and isolate themselves and their from their contemporaries in Wing Chun, presumably out of fear that they might be exposed or brought down a peg or two, and/or because they were so arrogant.
- For some strange reason, Sid had an association with a local Karate master in 1996 (who's studio we all helped to paint), but it was not long before he was slagging him off and ceased dealings with him. Sid had a habit of falling out with most people he had any serious dealings or associations with. It would have made sense to have had an association with another kung fu instructor or better still, a Wing Chun school. Perhaps this would have been too threatening, as the other instructor or Sifu would have discussed technique etc. A local businessman who sponsored one of the brothers' kung fu shows was introduced at one of our classes at Andrew's dojo. He was introduced as being a respectable local businessman. Funnily enough, I bumped into him purely by accident at King's Cross railway station, at WH Smith's and caught him reading a pornographic magazine. He really laughed about. He had a falling out with the brother's shortly afterwards and ceased his involvement as a sponsor. Andrew's breakaway SAS Academy reputedly adopted a local monk Cecil Cheng as its spiritual head, but it is not certain how much Wing Chun he ever did if in fact any at all. Most likely a PR stunt. One can only presume that the person in the ridiculous ninja outfit is Andrew (see link). The Ninja tradition has nothing to do with Wing Chun but is a part of popular culture. Perhaps this practice of adopting allegiances with 'non-threatening' but respected masters was done to give Sid and Andrew's schools more credibility but without rocking their respective boats and without introducing too much 'Wing Chun reality' into the mix, so they could keep their monopoly on Wing Chun and not have to discuss their technique. It would be perhaps cruel to say that now that the Grandmaster Cecil Cheng has passed away, he is 'safe' and 'non-threatening' towards Andrew's academy, and there is no risk of them both falling out. No one can ask any questions now he's departed. And in addition, who is to say that they were even close friends or that he even agreed to be the honorary head of his academy; and who is to say that the masked person next to Cecil is even Andrew, as you can't tell! If I was going to have my picture taken with an authentic Kung Fu Grandmaster, I wouldn't disguise my face! That would be ridiculous.
- Sid and Andrew arranged their class timetable so that the senior instructors' class ran very late. And they would get home well after 1am. During week nights. In preparation for kung fu shows, the instructors would routinely only sleep a few hours a week. This was seen as being 'tough'. The instructors looked like total wrecks and some turned a curious shade of green. Sleep deprivation is a common theme amongst religious cults. Anyone who knows anything about oriental medicine, especially Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) knows that staying up late is an unhealthy practice for anyone, according to the cycle of Qi, which Sid demonstrated a distinct lack of understanding of when he presented this to his students at a class, described elsewhere. In addition, sports professionals will tell you that the best time to work out is in the late afternoon or early evening, according to the raised temperature of one's body clock. Training in the early hours of the morning is counter productive as the body is gearing up to sleep, not perform at its peak. Perhaps this was some attempt by Sid to make his serious kung fu sessions seems more hardcore or more 'illicit' or 'naughty' or 'happening', as many teenagers associate late night activity with 'fun' and being 'crazy'.
- Sid and his instructors made one feel very awkward and guilty about missing a single lesson, let alone leaving the school. Years of grooming meant that one had to find a good excuse to leave, be it total physical debilitation or geographic relocation! And of course large sums of money would be expected as leaving presents
- I had some great times with Sid, and some with Andy, but less so, in spite of all the bad things that went on and the psychological games. They had their nice moments in between all the bad ones. Sid and Andrew did care about certain charitable causes, and did raise money for various charities over the years. This is commendable. However, I am sure that part of the reason is to be centre of attention, to take credit for it, be looked up to by people and as perhaps they were bored with just running a school.
- Sid met a number of celebrities in his years, as well as other leading martial arts. He had a habit of falling out with virtually all of them. For example, Shadow from The British Gladiators, came to visit and it was not long before they were having a fight in the toilets at Fatshan. Lennox Lewis also came to see him, but Sid later slagged him off.
- Sid was no stranger to foul language. Or losing his temper. He would frequently shout and scream at his punchbag of a senior instructor. Is this in accordance with the Tao or Buddhist traditions of martial arts?
- Both Sid and Andrew used to badger their instructors about various matters just before their instructor class started, which was immediately after the senior student class. Often it would involve making telephone calls. Rather than do so in an organised manner, Sid or Andrew would have a go at their instructor or instructors, who would then subsequently feel obliged to get on the telephone immediately. For example, one night the chief Shaoshan instructor was harrassed by Andrew to make some calls to ex-students to try to sell them tickets to the kung fu show. This took place at 10:30 to 11:00pm, at which time the calls were not exactly welcome! After leaving the school, my parents were called up by one of Sid's instructors at 11pm, who was angry at the letter that I had written to Sid about why I didn't like the school or kung fu, and demanded to know of my whereabouts (for purposes of intimidation presumably). The call was met with a somewhat frosty reception! On frequent occasions, after Sid or Andrew had had a go at their instructors about something, the instructors would then pick on the nearest student or students they came across about something or other, regardless of whether it was appropriate to do so or not and whether it made any sense.
- There was a trend amongst students to constantly pay their respects (putting one's palm and fist together) to Andrew or Sid during a class, whenever they explained anything, as if he was doing them a favour by telling them anything. If one did not show one's respects properly after each sentence or meaning, then the instructors would start to have a go at all the students. Thus the students were bullied and pressured into doing this constantly during any explanations, to the point where it became totally ridiculous. In addition, every time a pair of students touched hands, they had to pay their respects also. In all other Wing Chun classes, it is common practice to pay one's respects before entering the Dojo or training area, and then before leaving, and rarely in between.
- When I was still at the academy and about to leave, I was informed by one of the senior instructors who was more open to talking honestly that Sid had been harrassing his girlfriend, bombarding her with phone calls etc, because he really fancied her. I trusted this account from the instructor as he came across as extremely noble and honest. This is not the behaviour of a disciplined master. I actually met Sid's first wife and her new husband whilst working for a London Borough council, and she seemed very nice and had nothing bad to say about Sid. It is likely Sid was more reasonable a guy back in the early 80s.
- Sid had a habit of practising his moves on his senior instructors and using them as punch bags. This became much worse after the 90s and classes became much more violent. One senior instructor informed me that his whole body was covered in scars just from the classes. This is certainly not normal practise in martial arts in general.
- Ironically Sid attended at least one fund raising event for www.actagainstbullying.com, which is particularly ironic seeing as he has been a big bully towards his own students, and in particular bullied his chief instructor for many years!
- Sid liked the gangster image (much like a huge segment of the population!!), and would always dress in black. When he went out socialising with his senior instructors he would always insist they all wore black, and given their thuggish appearance, liked people to think he was the 'don' or mafia boss with his 'soldiers' accompanying him. Not exactly expressing freedom and individuality. I presume that he would not have allowed anyone to wear a pink top ;-) Sid behaved as if he was some kind of gangster kingpin. He would send his chief instructor out to drive his girlfriend home. He would instruct his students on occasion to go out in their car and tail someone, and have him feel intimidated and threatened. Sid would often sit upstairs in his big office, above Fatshan, like a Godfather in his private room, with his 'heavies' on hand. Perhaps he was influenced by 'Robert DeNiro' as well as a 'Steven Segal'.
- Andrew and Sid relied on people having low self-esteem to keep coming back for more, and not listening to their internal guidance system and sense of self-preservation that would normally say 'WTF? Get away from these people, they are idiots.'
Claims, Denials and Evasiveness:
- Sid once asked me to procure some explosives for use on stage in a kung fu show. This is not an exaggeration, it is because of my physics and chemistry background and friend who was a biochemist (who is now an instructor at Andrew's school). Sid was evidently not aware of stage pyrotechnics to mimic explosions and did not seem to realise the danger of using real explosives. A real explosive could have potentially blown off multiple persons' limbs and caused fatalities. I declined and then Sid immediately pretended he didn't want them after all. This type of denial was not uncharacteristic of Sid.
- One time, Sid had just had some interesting photos taken of a senior training session, and implied that a punch through a block of wood involved the fist moving so fast that it virtually existed in both places at once, or rather, somehow appeared on the other side of the wood. Sid asked me to express this in terms of physics, and I came back the next lesson and did a brief presentation on how as an object's speed increases, it's mass increases by tiny amounts. As it approaches the speed of light, it's mass approaches infinity. Sid and the class liked the sound of it, but then Sid said that he wasn't saying his fist went the speed of light and denied the whole thing.
- I once received a certificate for a Seminar or Scroll grading that he attended which featured a Pentagram on it. In Chinese internal medicine and martial arts, the concept of the five elements is used, normally shown diagramatically with 5 objects with unidirectional or bidirectional arrows. These are not the same 5 elements as used by European pagan traditions, who use a Pentagram to represent these. It is likely Sid chose to use a Pentagram to make the scroll appear more esoteric and fancied the occult imagery and association. Nothing wrong with that, but it's just that it was a case of misrepresentation to make it seems 'sexier'.
- A week or two prior to the kung fu show described below, a whole class was dedicated to a lecture about the 24 hour circulation of qi in the body. Everyone thought they were being given some really hot information (something you could read in a book). It was very high level and lacking in detail, using one cluttered diagram. Sid had one of his instructors do the presentation, as a trial run for his presentation at a forthcoming kung fu show. We were made to feel really grateful for the 'secret' information being given. He opened for questions at the end, and I asked him how the generation and use/movement of qi in kung fu movements fitted in with the 24 hour circulation of qi. I presumed Sid didn't know or couldn't be bothered to explain, as he just told me that he was 'way off' and left it at that. It was totally unhelpful. No training was done that night. As well as it being practice for the forthcoming kung fu show, it would have been rude to have not formally taught students of 4 or 5 years the information that was given out in public at the show. One did not feel respected after having seen the presentation at the kung fu show that one had previous paid for.
- I had started seeing an excellent acupuncturist whilst at the academy. After one month, my CFS/PVFS symptoms virtually disappeared and I felt great all the time on very little sleep. I mentioned this to the chief instructor, would said that it was all down to the kung fu training and not the acupuncture at all. Overblown self-importance? Additionally, I was questioned about the dietary recommendations from my acupuncturist, which was a type of detoxification diet aimed at reducing the amount of processed food and hot energy I was taking in. Nearly all foods had to be white also, plain and boiled. The diet and the herbs made a huge difference, but the calorie intake was perhaps not quite enough with all the training - it was difficult given the diet. Sid criticised the diet and suggested it was idiotic, and it would only work in ancient China - that we were living in the modern age, not ancient China, and that we need the modern processed foods, chocolate and sugar etc. because of all the toxins we are subjected to, to boost the body. Whilst at the time I was less than convinced, in hindsight with a reasonable grounding in nutrition it is even more ludicrous. He did not appear to have any understanding of Chinese medicine regarding food nor any knowledge of sports nutrition.
- Sid could be excessively narcissistic at times, and this is reflected in this article in his school magazine quite well where he holds the bart chum dao crossed in front of him and stares into the camera - the caption below encouraging the reader to 'look carefully at his eyes in this photo, the eyes almost pull you towards him, they almost hypnotise you if you stare long enough into them - try it'. I can only guess that he wanted his students to gaze at his image, and cannot imagine being hypnotised by such a photograph.
- Sid and Andrew would frequently boast to students that they never advertised, as news of their kung fu was spread by word of mouth and recommendation, so they didn't need to, and that they had to turn away students as they were so in demand. Clearly they were conveniently ignoring the fact that they got free advertising from their instructors, including myself, who were forced to go on poster runs and fly post around North London and escape capture by the police! Also, I never heard of anyone being turned away from the school as it was too full, Andrew just crammed them in like sardines if necessary. Demonstrations conducted at the universities in London were over the top and showy and often led to complaints from students.
- Wing Chun in many respects does not have a formal grading system. Certain schools use different coloured sashes to designate level, whereas others do not. Sid presumably created/made up his own grading/scroll system. There were reputedly 17 scrolls in total, Sid having all 17 of course. Andrew only had 4 or 5. In fact no one that I had ever heard of had more than 5 other than Sid. Other than the first scroll, no one ever saw a syllabus for the gradings, and the scroll system was never explained. The 5th scroll was said to be 'more spiritual' and very hard to attain. The 4th scroll (only taken by students of 6-7+ years of training featured exercises such as 3 onto one and fighting off knife attacks, as well as breaking blocks of wood. 3 onto 1 was something I later practised with greater realism after 9 months of training - without attackers presenting their forearm to be grabbed and then be swept - it was dirty, messy and full on, different kinds of attacks etc. The 3rd scroll was mainly chi sau exercises, with only 2 main break out moves, and using freefighting. The first and second scroll were basic moves only. There was very much a sense of techniques and knowledge/curriculum for future gradings being withheld. I held 3 scrolls and in the last 2 years of training, no additional gradings were taken and I was years away from being 'worthy' to be taught how to break wood etc. I never really had a sense of when training for the next grading would begin in a formal sense or what the progression was. It seemed that only people in the instructors class would be taught any of these things, regardless of how good students were in the class below. Sid stated at various times that the scroll system was handed down to him, but never elaborated on who this was and how far back the grading system originated. I spoke to Sifu Lakis Philippou about the scroll system and Lakis was of the opinion that Sid made it up and it was inspired by Lakis' own Alpha Scroll system. The gradings themselves were rather unusual for martial arts. The 1st and 2nd scroll gradings had more junior students there and were more sober affairs. Sid would normally give a little talk at the start, which was either meant to inspire or to brag. 3rd scroll gradings and 4th scroll gradings were more akin to football matches. A certain level of enthusiasm and cheering was expected of the audience, in the case of the 3rd scroll, nearly solely comprised of 3rd scroll students waiting their turn. When I first took my 3rd scroll, the first student up performed his techniques in near silence. Afterwards, Sid had a go at everyone present and sent us all outside the Shaoshan studio into the car park for 5 minutes because he thought we were not supporting our fellow students. We had no idea what was expected of us, but we were told to shout encouragement to the person taking the grading and to 'blow the roof off'. When we were allowed back in and the gradings continued, subsequent students were given shouts of encouragement, 'c'mon [name]' and 'blitz him' etc. With subsequent students, the shouting became more and more intense, like a boxing match or football match. The 4th scroll grading was more akin to a show, and a theatre in Turnpike Lane was hired for one afternoon, where our senior instructors and those of Fatshan were taking their 4th scroll gradings. This was similar, with the examinees being introduced like game show stars coming down through the audience towards the stage with their chosen music on. Because of the format of the grading, it was clear that we were expected to cheer loudly etc. All rather sensationalistic perhaps for some, and it could be argued that there was a desire for glamour and to be like sports stars on television.
- Sid's school brought out a school magazine every few years. The magazine in 1996, 'Everlasting Pilgrimage', featured Sid on the cover holding two Wing Chun knives (bart cham dao), superimposed on a fancy blue background. The photograph didn't look right and on close inspection, it could be clearly seen that Sid's head was out of proportion to the rest of his body and that there were faint cut out lines around the bottom of his head. His head was too big (pun not intended!) What had likely happened was that presumably an early photo of Sid's body had been used with a recent photo of his head cut out and placed on top of it, then sent to the printers like this. Sid had become a little obese in the 1990s, and made out that it was all muscle. Assuming this was correct, one would assume this was an attempt to make himself appear slim in the magazine. I mentioned the fact that it looked like Sid's head had been cut out and stuck on another photo, and that his head was out of proportion to the body, to his chief instructor, who did not deny it and looked slightly embarrassed before putting on his serious poker face and gave me an evasive answer. Sid always wore baggy clothes and long sleeves to cover up his shape. One wonders actually how fit he really was. Fatshan was covered with photos of his senior students, but mainly himself. Is this excessive vanity really the mark of a Master? The photograph of the magazine below was provided to me by a third party (having long since thrown my copy away) and the angle is not optimal, however, the line where the face was cut can be seen on his right jaw.
- Sid make claims about his mystical and supernatural kung fu abilities, which his instructors were told to back up and verify. These abilities were often similar to those seen in martial arts movies, funnily enough, such as firing 'balls of energy' as in Big Trouble in Little China, hovering in mid air, making his knives disappear, lighting the air with flames when using kung fu knives or to punch at the speed of a bullet, bending light with his kung fu knives or hand techniques or even turning the volume knob on his car radio without touching it, using qi from his finger. Sid and Andrew claimed they were amongst the few people to know the third form of Wing Chun, Bil Jee, as if it was an esoteric secret. This was only taught to senior instructors after 5 years or so of training and proving their worth. In other WC schools, it is openly taught and in some cases after a few weeks of training! If one picks up techniques quickly, many schools reward this by teaching more, not holding back for the sake of it. Sid and Andrew's instructors backed up these claims but were not unknown to lie or exaggerate in other areas, so one wonders whether these claims were true either. Senior instructors would frequently tell other instructors what to say and what to believe, without seeing any evidence or experiencing it themselves. This was also true for instructing students. Sid's feat of 'hovering' could perhaps be explained by the temporary slowing in movement when one does a jump at the peak of the jump, perhaps prolonged by a shift of the centre of gravity downwards whilst maintaining a similar position in the air overall for a split second. Sid's description of chipboard being the hardest form of wood to break is probably grossly exaggerated. Sid cites his ability to cut through a half-frozen cucumber with his fingers as evidence of his skill, but it is hard to quantify 'half-frozen', and indeed hard to prove just how frozen a cucumber was unless it was examined by an instructor afterwards, and even then, you would probably have expected a little exaggeration. I'm not saying it wasn't an impressive feat but it's near impossible to verify either way. Perhaps some of the demonstrations performed by Sid and Andrew were reasonably good, but clearly the significance of many were grossly exaggerated and 'sexed' up and made out to be esoteric and much more than they were. You decide. Examples of such claims can be found in pictures from one of the school magazines from around late 1993, show below.
- For details of Andrew's claims, please see the section below. http://www.londondance.com/content.asp?CategoryID=77
- Sid and Andrew liked the image of esoteric kung fu masters, taken from the old school kung fu movies. They frequently referred to themselves as Shaolin monks.
- Sid alluded to his self-healing and psychic abilities at various times. To what extent these stories are true and to what extent they are exaggerated or fabricated is a matter of debate of course. Sid stated that his eyesight improved because of his qi skills, and that his optician was amazed that he did not need to wear his contact lenses any more. Sid also recalled a story where he cut his finger and within seconds the cut had disappeared - something similar happened to me (with a very thin and shallow paper cut that drew blood but subsequently seemed to disappear a few seconds later). Once, one of Sid's chief instructors told Sid that when he was in South Africa (as far as I can remember), he was praying to God. Sid retorted that he had felt the prayer and heard Brian's words, at which point everyone was very impressed with Sid and paid their respects. Was Sid actually psychic? Or was he implying that he was on a level with God? Or was he grossly exaggerating? Who can say. However, when a person is known to lie in some respects, it is hard to trust everything he says in other areas.
- Sid performed demonstrations of breaking concrete slabs, usually of around 1-2cm in thickness. These would be placed on his torso or his forearms which were rather large (muscular and body fat) and hit with a sledgehammer by an instructor, and broken. At the end of one show, he was driven over by a motorbike. A motorcycle only weighs in at a few hundred kilos at the most and by tensing the stomach muscles it could probably be achieved easy by an amateur. I have had his foot driven over by a car and trodden on by a horse, and whilst painful was not that bad. Whilst all this slab breaking looked impressive, was it really that difficult? Was this a show of Sid's skill in 'iron jacket' or a shield of qi around the body, or just the laws of physics? Most, but not all, of the energy of the hammer strike goes into the slab and breaks it, under the right conditions. Either way, it is not that impressive when compared to the touring Shaolin monks from China. I have witnessed demonstrations by the Shaolin monks of breaking multiple thick concrete slabs placed on a monk's head! And two monks bending an iron bar by placing the bar on the soft part of the throat where it meets the chest and walking towards each other. This is a truly impressive demonstration of 'iron jacket'. Perhaps Sid did have some genuine ability in this area, e.g. resisting very hard strikes, but it was not something that was really demonstrated or shown to students.
- Sid and Andrew taught their senior students to break wooden boards, usually chipboard. They also did demonstrations themselves on occasions to students. The time at which this was taught to senior students seemed later and later as the 90s went on, from my experience, as if it was purposely being withheld. During demonstrations, when Sid or Andrew did not break the board on any one attempt, they would scold the instructor and blame them for not holding the board properly. They would also do this in an aggressive manner if the instructor was hit by a piece of board when it was finally broken. Instructors often looked scared afterwards. This is another example of their bullying nature. An example of this can be seen in Sid's DVD Born in Warrior's Blood.
- 6 months prior to leaving the school, at the beginning of 1996, I underwent a religious conversion, becoming an evangelical Christian. It was not something that was planned or expected. There was a girl who lived in the groundfloor flat in his building and one Sunday I went over to give out some Fatshan Women's Self Defence leaflets to her. We got talking and she told him that it was Satanic! I wondered what all this was about and we discussed the matter. She invited me in and an hour later I was 'converted'! I wasn't 100% convinced about martial arts being Satanic, but knew what was trying to be said as there was a different 'spiritual vibe' or 'energy' about them. It is a long story, but during the discussion I started hallucinating and the woman's head started to distort and seem repulsive. She was talking about the Holy Spirit at the time. As the discussion went on, I was unable to understand anything she said, but was only aware of one word at a time, as if something in his brain was trying to stop him listening to what was being said. I also felt the urge to run away and get as far away from the woman as possible. But I thought it was all very amusing and wierd, so decided to stick it out and see what happened next. All of a sudden I could hear the whole sentences again and understand what was being said. She had had no idea of what was going on but had noticed me looking at her rather strangely. The room seemed to be filled with light and suddenly it felt like a huge weight was being lifted from my shoulders. It was a truly incredible experience. Whether you want to believe it is literal or metaphoric (psychological - removing deep rooted negative beliefs) is up to you. I related the story to Sid a few days later (seeing him as a kind of spiritual 'guru'). When in the changing room with all the senior instructors from the class above present, they started discussing it with me, telling me that there was nothing wrong with me but something wierd about this woman, and that I should stay away from her, and that my gut instinct (in the middle of my chat with the woman) was correct. I understood this at the time as Sid having taken the remark about his (or any) kung fu being 'Satanic' personally, and I saw the response as being rather knee-jerk in nature. If they were going to adopt the position that the hard line Christian perspective on it is not credible, and I am sure he was used to the kinds of things evangelicals say, then he'd have laughed it off. I didn't appreciate being ganged up on and told what to do, and that my personal beliefs and choices were not being respected. I continued to train but ignored the 'advice' from Sid and his instructors that was given. Sid and the instructors probably felt threatened by the fact that they had on some level lost power over me and were trying to get it back. I felt this. I had expected a different response as he knew Sid occasionally attended church himself and was rather disappointed by the whole experience. I would have expected a more spiritual but level headed analysis, rather than a defensive one. It was around this time that I started to attend seminars with other Grandmasters, and also to discuss Wing Chun with a close friend of his who had left Sofos and was at Sifu Lakis Philippou's Wing Chun school. Over the years of course my understanding of faith and the self has evolved and my concept of how martial arts fits into the wider spiritual realm has changed. I do not believe martial arts to be Satanic per se (or believe in Satan at all anymore), it is the spirit in which they are engaged in which can be good or bad (i.e. this article!!) if you believe in this concept of Satan - that is more a psychological issue though.
- Some of the events around the time of the split of the brothers is probably why neither brother mentions the other's past partnership or even existence on their respective web sites.
- Sid and Andrew used to slag off virtually every other martial arts instructor under the sun, especially Wing Chun. Anyone who talked about attending a seminar by a visiting Grandmaster from Hong Kong would be scolded for being disrespectful that they were considering learning from someone else. People were told to believe that all other styles were rubbish in comparison, when ironically the complete opposite was true. I have attended many seminars and touched hands with many Grandmasters of Wing Chun, including William Cheung and Yip Chun (aka Ip Chun), and at each seminar was a wide variety of Wing Chun stylists and practitioners. Such seminars were a great learning experience and a chance to see other styles working and in action. The William Cheung seminar that I attended was organised by other Wing Chun teachers Brian Desir and the McKensie brothers. Although their styles were very different to William Cheung's, they were open minded and decent enough to organise and arrange it and participate in the exercises. Andrew and Sid had on many occasions implied that the McKensie brothers were rubbish, whilst not actually mentioning their name. Sid and Andrew tried to avoid and isolate themselves and their from their contemporaries in Wing Chun, presumably out of fear that they might be exposed or brought down a peg or two, and/or because they were so arrogant.
Fees and Money:
- Had to pay for all lessons in advance. It wasn't cheap and you ended up paying for lessons you weren't able to attend. This is unheard of in any other martial arts school that I've talked to. I have only encountered this type of payment in college semester-based sports courses, which cost a fraction of the price, as opposed to clubs that are run all year around on private premises.
- Gifts and donations for presents were occasionally demanded rather than invited.
- In 1996 I was pressured by the Fatshan chief instructor into buying a video of Sid doing 3 onto 1, which was £40 and which literally lasted less than 5 minutes (and which I'd already seen at one of the kung fu shows on the projector). In the same year I bought a 2 hour video including actual footage of Grandmaster Yip Man performing the dummy form for half the price at a martial arts store! The Sofos video was extremely poor value for money, the techniques displayed were arguably quite basic. I lent the video to another Wing Chun instructor who found it rather amusing. You can see archive 3 onto 1 footage of Sid Sofos on youtube now to make up your own mind.
- Students were forced to go on flyposting runs to put up posters advertising the school. Sometimes you had to run from the police! I was caught by the police on one occasion. Reminiscent of 'public school fagging' but worse. This was ironic seeing as Andrew always bragged that they never advertised for new students. Probably what he meant was that they never paid for advertising.
- Both Sid and Andrew's schools practised the policy of fining students for any lesser misdemeanours or when someone forgot to bring their uniform. This applied even to beginner classes. A £5 on the spot fine was administered. This was practised to instill discipline in students presumably and to teach them 'respect'. It also conveniently lined the pockets of Sid and Andrew. During one early lesson at Andrew's studio Shaoshan, when it was in his garage (much to his neighbours' annoyance), a beginner student was fined for something (I can't remember if it was forgetting his uniform for one lesson or inadvertently leaving his Clash T-shirt at the studio). The expression on the face of the student was priceless. He just looked shocked. He never came back again.
- The majority of classes would be run by Sid and Andrew's instructors - who were not paid for doing so - with Sid and Andrew turning up for the 'fun part' to get hands on with the students (usually) - although they would frequently complain about having to touch the students arms too much as they felt it ruined their own fluidity. At other martial arts schools that I spoke with, instructors would take a portion of the fees for the classes they led. That is not unreasonable.
- Students of both schools were heavily encouraged to buy tickets for the kung fu shows for themselves and their family and friends. If a student said that he could not afford it then he was heavily pressured by instructors. In a few of the shows I attended, most of the attendees seemed to be friends and family of the students, but perhaps half a dozen minor league sports personalities or similar. Students attending were also expected to help with the running of the show, for free, even though they had paid to actually attend! In some cases, students that I trained with missed virtually the entire show as they were doing chores and manning the doors or reception areas. They were not happy about it and felt taken advantage of, unfairly, when other students only missed a part of the show.
- Every year or two, Sid and Andrew ran seminars. These were the few occasions where students actually got to practice practical sequences of moves in a street fighting type situation, or really break down the moves in their training in detail. Moves were broken down and repeated over and over. Most other Wing Chun classes by other schools however actually do this every lesson so such seminars are not really required - their technique is practical out of the box. Progress is much faster and students actually understand what they are learning and it is much clearer. However, it is likely that the seminars were financially motivated as they were not cheap. Other schools do seminars as well but they tend to be less militaristically run and often cheaper.
- Sid's 'kung fu' from his DVD 'Born in Warrior's Blood' can be viewed on youtube.com if you search on 'Sid Sofos'. This film was funded almost entirely by Sid's chief instructor of the time who was said to have invested £5000 of his own savings into it (no doubt pressured into this). This involved international travel, filming costs, living expenses and accommodation.
- Sid and Andrew and their instructors would always make the students of the last class of the day or evening clean up their studio, including hoovering and polishing the mirrors. They would never pay for cleaners.
- Students were demanded by the instructors to help out to redecorate the studio on a periodic basis - which rarely looked professionally done as it was poorly executed and using cheap materials. Whilst one can see the logic in students doing it for free but it is a long line of cost cutting, freebies and favours.
- The students were paying high fees, and do all these jobs for free, whilst Sid and Andrew would drive around in expensive cars, like Andrew's Jaguar XJ6/XJ8 or Sid's BMW 8 series, you would think that they would pay up for a proper cleaner and not be so 'tight fisted'; and indeed have their studios decorated professionally as it gave a bad impression IMO.
- Andrew's instructors and Andrew himself used to point out that back in the 70s, students used to club together to buy their Sifu a new car etc or whatever he needed. Perhaps this was performed out of natural honour, admiration and respect, and love of the art they were studying. However, Andrew's interpretation was that students should be coerced into 'coughing up' whenever it was requested, and that they should feel guilty and grateful that the Sifu was teaching them anything at all. Andrew would turn up halfway through a class if at all, and collect all the money that came in each night. He had trained up his instructors, so in a sense felt he had done his job, and it was his right to collect the money on an ongoing basis. This philosophy was shared with Sid. However, both brothers were reluctant to actually touch arms with students, as if it would 'taint' them, and they hid behind their instructors much of the time who did the 'dirty work' of dealing/training with students. If you go to other schools, Sifus and Masters are happy to touch arms with everyone. Sid and Andrew's view was that their art relied on total relaxation (allowing your partner to execute a move as there was little power), and anyone would resisted or had stiff arms would 'ruin' your arms and make you stiff. Presumably if the technique was more effective and efficient, this would not be the case.
- Andrew would encourage/harrass his instructors to collect fees, to the extent that those that had already paid up for the month (in advance) - even if they would miss a lesson - to reserve their slot - were chased for fees they'd already paid! If one was off sick for a couple of weeks, then one would still have to forfeit the fee for those lessons. Students would be expected to pay a term's fees in advance. Andrew would pressure students into coming to his private studio (with much higher lesson costs) and taking additional lessons - to help with their technique or to get more money? Instructors would pressure students into attending additional events and seminars and purchasing products like videos etc. I recall a senior instructor ringing people up at 11pm trying to sell tickets to a kung fu show. Often the first thing an instructor would say to you upon seeing you is 'have you paid your fees' and not 'hello' or 'how are you?' Great atmosphere! Students at the college classes were pressured by instructors into purchasing an expensive (and rather tasteless black silk) uniform and were told they were not allowed to take a first grading unless they had their uniform. Those without uniforms were made to feel like second class citizens in the classes, and made to feel slightly guilty. Subsequent kung fu schools I had attended did not even have uniforms, but managed to maintain a positive, relaxed atmosphere and a hard training ethic.
- When paying my fees at Shaoshan to the instructor present, I was given change in a large number of pound coins, including at least two counterfeit coins. They were mishapen and poor fakes. I did not notice at the time but a day or so later. I did complain afterwards, as I recall, but was told that it was tough luck! That is a form of theft, albeit on a low level, compared to how much I'd invested financially in the training. This has only happened to me once or twice ever, and I suspect that an instructor being involved somehow does not surprise me - it may have been a deliberate scam (without Andrew knowing presumably?) but one will never know.
Andrew Sofos, Martial Arts Instructor
[Please read the above section about Sid Sofos before reading this section, as Andrew's former style and many issues shared with both Sid and Andrew are discussed.]www.sas-martialarts.co.uk/Pages/Academy/Branches/head_office.htm
- Whilst a student with Sid, Andrew is alleged to have secretly asked Lakis to teach him in private, after Sid had fallen out with Lakis. Andrew reputedly acknowledged that Lakis' style was much better than Sid's modified version. Andrew was claimed to be prepared to learn Lakis' style from him and learn from scratch. But Lakis states that he declined as it was too political. I cannot comment on whether this is entirely true or not, but it certainly sounds plausible to me and would explain why Andrew would not infrequently make bitchy references to Laki's school, but not by name.
- After his split with Sid, Andrew decided to change Sid's style slightly, and although I have not personally trained in this, it is likely to be more effective, but still somewhat poor in relative terms to the more established styles of Wing Chun. If Andrew was prepared to learn from scratch, then modifying Sid's style slightly is unlikely to bring radical improvements. Andrew was probably too proud to start again anyway after his break up with Sid to do so.
- Andrew was rather paranoid. He used to frequently badmouth Lakis's kung fu school, and one day he suddenly said that we needed to tighten up security as students from a 'rival' school might come around with clubs and baseball bats and try to 'raid' our school and beat us all up. Security was stepped up. Lakis and his students were all very friendly and laid back and the idea that they would be wound up enough to do a raid is preposterous. Whether this was before or after Lakis refused to teach Andrew behind Sid's back is not certain. Another example of Andrew's paranoia was when I was on several occasions accused of lying by Andrew. On the first occasion, I had been off sick for a month, off college completely and unable to train or do any exercise. I explained to Andrew that I'd been ill and fatigued after a bout of influenza (i.e. PVFS), but Andrew just thought I was being lazy and disrespectful for not turning up and banned me from the school for a few months (only allowing me to attend classes at the University). This was explained to me by the instructors, who were playing 'good cop', but even then they weren't prepared to listen to my explanation of my out of the ordinary health problems, which were outside of the comprehension/intelligence of the instructors and Andrew himself. I felt quite insulted by them and the whole episode, but still persisted and showed his dedication to the school. This really was a good sign to walk away but I did not have the self-esteem at the time. This is particularly ironic as Andrew himself had to quit training for a period of time back in the early days for health reasons. This is how he came to fall behind Sid in level of expertise, so he claims, and maybe he still had a chip on his shoulder about this and this is why he always forced people to train when they were ill (with colds and flus or otherwise). I was therefore punished for his extreme illness. Eventually I was allowed back into Shaoshan again after I had proved my commitment and sincerity at the college class and shown myself 'worthy'. A few years later, I was asked if I had practised in his spare time, and I told the class that yes I had, and that I practised 10 Sil Lim Tao forms every day. Andrew then accused me of lying in front of the whole class, which was not only hurtful but extremely humiliating.
- I was asked by Andrew's instructors to telephone the school to say hello and ask how their classes were going when one was on holiday! I did this, and was accused of not being on holiday at all but skiving! I wished I hadn't bothered! I felt insulted given the commitment and sincerity I had to my training and the school. And often, if the instructors had a relative in the country one was visiting, one was asked to contact them to offer to help them with any freebies or favours.
- Andrew had a habit of humiliating or punishing an individual in front of a class. This was mainly reserved for the students who were regarded as third class citizens, or as scum in some sense. The instructors who had proved their loyalty were normally saved this humilation and disrespect in front of others and had a 'priviledged status'. There were exceptions of course. One particular assistant instructor at Imperial College (of Chinese origin) apparently was frequently picked on, on one occasion for not paying his respects properly after briefing freefighting with Andrew; he was reminded that he was privileged to touch hands with a Sifu. On another occasion when the instructor did not punch correctly towards Andrew when demonstrating a move, Andrew lost his cool and (forgetting he was at a University gym) proceeded to slap/palm him hard in the face as punishment, knocking his glasses off. Normally Andrew tried to keep his cool and appear respectable and calm/enlightened at the college classes, and reserved most of his temper tantrums and bad behaviour for those in his private studio Shaoshan, but on occasion he lost control at the college classes. In the above example, the entire class of students (not quite groomed into the cultish mindset) were totally shocked and disturbed by the incident and his behaviour. Sid would humiliate people and pick on people in front of everyone, even more than Andrew, and especially certain favourite victims. This practice does nothing for the instructor's psychological wellbeing but also makes all the students feel uncomfortable. Andrew was emotionally incapable of dealing with certain types of situation or expressions of softness or weakness, and couldn't handle it. He would respond in a childish, negative and aggressive manner, as if to trample out such expressions of softness or weakness as he preferred to suppress them in himself and in others.
- Andrew in the early 90s would frequently have arguments with his brother Sid. His style was the same. There were clearly tensions in the brothers' relationship as Sid was Andrew's younger brother and teacher, and a big bully. Andrew in turn used to bully his own students, but to a lesser extent than Sid ever did. Andrew was clearly frustrated at the time and wasn't exactly very relaxed and jolly to be around unless you really knew him (which was difficult as he wasn't approachable until you did!) He is probably easier to get along with now that he runs his own school. Both Sid and Andrew were prone to big mood swings and had violent tempers. Andrew probably had slightly less of an ego than Sid, but both were very sizeable. And both were not unfamiliar with selective use of the truth and in many cases lying themselves.
- Andrew seemed to lack social skills. Sid was a real character and on many times, I had had a hilarious time with him, but Andrew on the other hand was quite grumpy much of the time, and was hard to talk to. Andrew would sometimes come into the studio and seem totally preoccupied, and even less approachable than normal. On many occasions, students of Andrew's helped him redecorate his kung fu studio, and one occasion, a friend of mine was alone with Andrew helping painting. For a whole hour they were alone, Andrew didn't say more than one sentence to him.
- Andrew forced and pressured everyone to come in to train even when they were ill. Ironically Andrew himself had to take a year or so off Wing Chun in his early training days as he was chronically ill, so you'd think he'd have more empathy when others were ill. Perhaps he resented the fact that this was when Sid overtook him in skill, as they had both started training with the same Sifu at the same time. Contemporaries who trained with Sid and Andrew at Savvas' private club stated that Andrew wasn't really up to much at the time in kung fu terms. Sid was far superior. Whatever the reason, it was totally unreasonable and idiotic to make people train when they were ill. Myself and many other students discussed this very matter, and the common experience was of feeling horrifically ill and awful for the first half of the lesson, and then finally starting to feel better again towards the end of the lesson. The next day, one would feel worse than one had before one attended the class, so the net effect was to drag out the duration of the illness (influenza, cold etc.) Andrew and Sid did not allow people to take their own drinks into their studios, but instead got the students to fill up empty water bottles with tap water and they were drunk by everyone. This was considered 'brotherly/communal provision.' Not only did this probably increase the number of colds and cases of the flu amongst students, but probably spread herpes too. Reusing the bottles over and over was probably unhygienic in terms of the growth of bacteria also.
- Andrew would run the college classes at UCL and Imperial college, on behalf of Sid. Andrew explained that only beginners classes would be run at the colleges, and that after a term or so, one had to start training at his private studio, Shaoshan, in Tottenham, in order to be taught more advanced techniques and for more advanced training. Some students considered this rather pushy and 'cultish', and indeed the classes at his private studio were more expensive (as well as the transport and time involved to get there and back). It is likely that is was partly for financial reasons, to make more money out of the rather poor students, but also that he was more able to condition and groom the students in private which was not possible to such a degree at the college as outside observers could watch (and possibly complain). In addition to the higher fees at Shaoshan, one had to pay fees to 'reserve one's slot' even if one missed a class. I myself as an instructor noticed a change in the character of the students as they started to train at Shaoshan, they would lose some of their relaxed attitude, and be more 'pliable', more obedient and brainwashed, and be slightly more stressed and shellshocked looking; rushing around everytime one said something in a loud voice.
- Andrew made his instructors turn up to teach classes on public holidays and bank holidays, and they were not allowed to take an evening off unless they were physically incapacitated. This included Christmas Eve, Valentine's Day, you name it. It made the life of the instructor quite miserable, and family life and social life was considered secondary. Many factors of Sid's and Andrew's schools at the time were decidedly 'cult'ish.
- Instructors at both Fatshan and Shaoshan, having been pressured into instructing in a roundabout way, and into attending every single class that they were designated to attend, often used the time to practise their own techinques on the students taking their classes, rather than merely doing what was in the best interests of the fastest possible learning of the students. Often a student would have various moves performed on him or her. I did this myself on occasion, usually cutting into the students session time with him and at their expense (usually not in a pleasant way! i.e. being thrown onto the floor or being hit, for no good reason)
- Andrew once shared with our class (during class time that we were paying for not afterwards) a story about how he had a minor collision with another car in Tottenham, and how the other motorist got out of his car and was fuming. The first thing Andrew claims to have done was to punch this man in the face as he came up to Andrew! Andrew's advice about violence and the teachings of Taoism were rather contradictory. He often repeated to classes that one should maim not kill, hurt not maim etc. - meaning that it was acceptable to say blind someone in an extreme situation but not to kill them. Presumably if one's kung fu was good enough, it would not be necessary to resort to maiming or disfiguring one's opponent in order to immobilise them. Anyway, at other times, he and his instructors stated that if you knew someone was going to hit you, it was better to hit them first rather than the wait for them to launch their attack. This is also in contradiction to the teachings of Taoism and Buddhism and indeed much of the science of Wing Chun, which relies on waiting for an opponent to commit themselves to a strike, using their force against them, to deflect the blow and either throwing them onto the floor or delivering a counter strike. The whole concept of hitting someone first is contrary to the teachings of virtually all martial arts which are defensive arts in philosophy. This was however in tune with the overall bullying mentality of the school and the instructors and students were groomed to become bullies themselves with armed with generally ineffective martial arts.
- Andrew having his instructors lead most of the class time, would only occasionally turn up to classes, and usually only for half of the class if that. When he arrived, I was as an instructor party to observing him receiving an envelope full of bank notes from the instructor, containing the students fees. 'Money for nothing'? I can understand their internal logic but it still made me feel rather uncomfortable and felt slightly distasteful. It was clear where Andrew's (and indeed Sid's) priorities were.
- Instructors at Shaoshan were not really given any guidance on how to instruct in detail - only on the format of the classes, and sometimes (but not always) on the particular aspect of the technique that they wanted to emphasize. The lack of understanding of what concept to emphasize sometimes led to confusion in a class, where I was emphasizing one aspect and a senior instructor would come along and say something totally different. Where this left the students who knew less about what they were supposed to be doing is anyone's guess! Beginners students were not infrequently expected to know how to freefight and were told to 'get on with it', when they really only knew three hand techniques, a tan sau, a bong sau and a pak sau. Some senior instructors were keen to explain techniques and provide explanations (even if they were somewhat flawed in logic or one-sided), whereas the junior and assistant instructors had less knowledge and felt more insecure about being asked questions. When asked, they often responded aggressively with flippant responses and with attitude, as if this is some kind of substitute for proper information. Both Sid and Andrew were perhaps inexperienced in the best way to teach a martial art, accentuated by their style not really making so much sense in the body and being difficult to build a solid stance foundation upon which everything else is built. They both expected students to know what freefighting was all about, and when visitors came to the school or to shows, they expected them to understand what was going on too. A good martial art should not really require too much explanation and should include sparring and other activities where the realism and street fighting practicality can clearly be seen, rather than an implied potential for practicality that is never actually practised. Sid even expected a person from the audience at the Sadler's Wells show to know how to freefight with him and to know to let him sweep him. Sid and Andrew would often scold their students for not understanding what they meant and not practising what they had been told to do. The uncertainty and lack of clarity in freefighting was probably accentuated by the fact that students were taught to be light and fast, yet by doing so, the definition of the moves disappeared and the result was that too much grabbing the other person's arm was going on. As it was fast, then the student wouldn't realise what they were actually doing, nor would the instructor notice what was going on either (in terms of technique definition). Thus one often trained and really learnt bad habits.
- The senior instructors and even Andrew himself did not appear to understand all the movements properly and their meaning/energy/purpose. It was not uncommon for different instructors to perform the Sil Lim Tao in a different manner, even after years of training. Students were told to copy the instructor who performed the form in front of them, but it was not a very good way to learn. One had to wait until a Sil Lim Tao seminar came around every 4 years before one would have some of the applications of the moves in the form explained (as if they were esoteric secrets only taught to the deserving). Contrast this with other Wing Chun schools where the form is taught in a clear manner, and where the applications and purpose of the move are usually clearly explained, and make clear sense even to beginners.
- If the kung fu was really that good, then the instructors wouldn't have needed to keep pointing out to the students how good it indeed was, or how good the Sifu was, and why they should be so grateful for every little piece of information shared. As if the school was doing the students a favour. Genuinely good kung fu is just that. You can tell when you are doing it or training that it really is practical, effective and devastating. The body recognises it intuitively. And it feels natural. It is only when one doesn't feel confident in the kung fu that one is learning or it inspires no or mediocre levels of natural confidence in unpredictable situations, that you need to compensate with over-aggression, power trips, and constant reminding that it really is good. You have a natural enthusiasm because every little thing you learn adds to your sense of the effectiveness of the art and body's understanding of the strength of the structure of the moves. You don't need to be forced to be enthusiastic if you art is genuinely good. Some egging on and encouragement is good of course in lapses of concentration etc, an inspiring sounding voice etc, but badgering and bullying is clearly ridiculous and reflects poorly on the actual content of the kung fu. Very rarely in freefighting did you really learn anything of substance, and you were made to feel grateful for every tiny piece of information or knowledge, as if it was expected to be given to you. If you did learn anything, then you'd be patronised by the instructors that you'd had a great lesson and that you should really appreciate it, and at Sid's school, forced by the instructors to 'cough up' for a present to show your gratitude. One would become conditioned to staying loyal in the school with a view that after years of attendance, one might pick up a few nuggets of secret techniques, at seminars etc.
- Andrew reputed to hold various world records in martial arts, including the most tiles broken in 2 minutes and the largest number of moves executed on the wooden dummy in a given period of time. The latter, whilst impressive, is perhaps not so as the angles and footwork were flawed and hence it was not really a proper dummy form. The way the Sofos brothers taught the dummy form was to not move around the dummy sufficiently, such that if the arms of the dummy were to extend, the body would be struck and not enough structural strength would be behind the defensive moves to prevent being pushed over backwards. If Andrew did indeed obtain a world record in tile breaking at the Sadler's Wells performance in 1996, it was not officially judged and hence has not been recorded in the Guinness Book of Records or anywhere else. No mention of Andrew's tile record on the internet either. I think that the tiles were pegged (tiles spaced apart and easier to break) as opposed to unpegged, but is not 100% sure. This should have been explained to students or the audience in any case. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_(martial_arts)
- Andrew made exaggerated claims regarding the attendance of the shows that were put on in official documents or press releases, including the attendance of the school's Sadler's Wells show. Andrew claimed it was attended by 1800 people. However the capacity of the theatre is only 1568. And I was there, watching it and helping out, and the theatre was much less than half empty, with a few hundred people or so in attendance. Perhaps Andrew did not bother to find out the capacity of the venue, but either way he was heavily exaggerating the number of attendees and being less than honest about it. In my opinion this showed a lack of humility and honesty.Also the Commonwealth Institute show, which I also helped out at and watched, was in no way full to capacity and was barely half full if that. Also the seating capacity if I am not mistaken is 450 not 500.
- Andrew was a believer in past lives. Some people who believe in past lives tend to gravitate towards glamorous claimed past existences, as you would expect. People's beliefs are at the end of the day their own business. Most people keep their beliefs to themselves or only briefly reference them when relevant unless it can be determined by their actions and psychological make up. The only reason I was made aware of Andrew's belief in reincarnation was because after a lesson one night, he showed a small group of senior Shaoshan students including myself a series of photographs he had taken of himself, in one his rare 'close philosophical post-lesson moments'. The photos were of him dressed up as a Roman solider posing in armour, breast plate, helmet and sword, trying to look menacing. He stated that he firmly believed that he was 'either' a Roman soldier or centurion or an ancient Greek warrior. He was non-specific about which. I believe that this was another example of the overly-inflated, grandiose and romantic/glamorous opinion he had of himself. I felt a rather awkward about the situation but went along with it and showed muted enthusiasm. It's one thing to tell people what you believe you were in a past life, but quite another to do a photoshoot in costume. If he had taken the photos for personal use as a fetishist, a private act of fantasism, then fair enough, but I think he only showed us to impress us and show off. Later on he stuck one of the pictures on his wall, and several students commented to me that they thought it was disturbing and at the same time hilarious. Myself being an assistant instructor did not comment but felt rather embarrassed. I could not criticise my teacher in any way in front of my students.
- Andrew was a rather unreasonable and sulky man at times. He was always losing his temper (presumably as he disliked being beneath his younger brother in the Academy and having to go along with everything). He was rarely ever satisfied and this came across to the students who all wanted to please him, and felt awkward and guilty much of the time. He often held back on teaching certain things or training methods as he felt the class didn't deserve it. This made everyone feel rather inadequate. I can bet that Sid and Andrew's own teachers were never this mean. One example was punching sand bags on the wall for power training and conditioning the knuckles. We tried it on one lesson, and as it was the first time, and everyone's knuckles had soft skin, everyone's knuckles bled. Each student was forced to punch bloody sand bags on the wall, and break their own skin and mix blood. This is great way to catch various diseases, including Hepatitis or AIDS. After the lesson, Andrew had a go at the class and told them how digusted he was at them for having baby skin. He then said that we weren't to do this anymore. Surely doing a small amount over a large number of lessons is the way to actually condition the knuckles and punch so the skin doesn't break and gets tougher? His behaviour on this occasion was really idiotic, unreasonable and immature. And everyone had to just take it and agree and feel apologetic for their inadequacy.
- The feeling of not deserving to be taught the really 'hot' techniques, feeling guilty, never relaxing truly was rife amongst the students. Even when you were on holiday or away, you never quite felt totally relaxed or free. All the students I ever knew did not look forward to the training sessions. Rather, they dreaded them. Like impending doom. It was a fear of the horrible experience of the training session (intense freefighting and 'hassle', ie instructors throwing you around til you can't take it anymore, all the forced work rate etc). It was kinda ok once the warming up was out of the way. It was only after the session that people actually started looking relaxed and smiling, as they felt the sense of achievement and they had a respite for a few days before the next lesson when they could forget about how horrible it would be all over again.
- Andrew and his instructors of the day were happy to go along with all of Sid's perverse demands, and were complicit in bullying, brainwashing and so forth. No one stopped these dubious activities or intervened. One group of senior instructors from Fatshan, including one of Andrew's current top instructors, were instructed to follow someone in their car all over and intimidate them. They informed me of this directly at the time in the car one night when I got a lift. Apparently Sid or Andrew had had some argument with them, and left the person scared out of their wits. To use the excuse of just following orders or being 'forced' to do something, in the context of a cult, is still a weak excuse, and one must take responsibility for one's actions. Perhaps it is a reflection of Sid's desire to exude a gangster image and have his 'soldiers' do his dirty work for him. Even if Andrew has mellowed out now he is no longer under Sid's influence or not is another matter, but anyone who has partaken in all of the above could be worth avoiding even if they regret it (but don't want to talk about it or admit it because it makes them look bad). Andrew clearly still has quite an ego left. The idea of martial arts is to negate the ego apparently. It is worth noting that neither brother mentions the other on their respective web sites, nor do they give any indication of where their knowledge and style came from. Perhaps Andrew has too much of an ego to admit that his style was based on Sid's and that he made a few changes himself. Sid never gave an indication of who he actually learnt from, presumably so his students couldn't go and see this instructor or Sifu and learn from them instead, or see how Sid had changed/perverted the style. Sid alluded to the branch of Wing Chun he practiced, based on Grandmasters of 50 years or so ago, who were safe and 'dead'. Some claim that Andrew was just under Sid's influence during their time together, and that he was really a nice guy underneath. However, he has not chosen to be honest about the Wing Chun Boxing Academy on his web site, to be brave enough to face the truth about what he used to do and where his style came from, nor to apologise to countless numbers of people he bullied over the years. Nice guy? You decide. Anyone with any humility would be honest about the whole thing, perhaps not dwell on it, but be open about it and let it go. He probably does not want to ruin his self-important image and does not want to admit that his technique (from Sid) is flawed, but rather fix it a little and make out it is unique and his own powerful style, not just a mutation and slight improvement of Sid's style - rather than train from scratch with a solid foundation. The unreality and fantasy elements of Sid's style no doubt remain.
- The grooming and conditioning of the school meant that although one would know that certain aspects of the school or behaviour of instructors of teachers was highly dubious or totally inappropriate, one would compartmentalise this and somehow it would not affect one's loyalty to the school and would not encourage one to question the school. This is psychologically unhealthy.
- There was an overall air of pomposity, self-importance, arrogance and love of power that pervaded the senior instructors and Sid and Andrew at the academy. Arrogance was encouraged as 'confidence'. Some instructors who trained only with Andrew sometimes started off as very nice people, and after moving to Fatshan to train with Sid soon because arrogant, aggressive, rude, obnoxious, bitter, evil and nasty. Their 'confidence' was a front to hide the insecurity that lay beneath. There were very few people in the school who had natural relaxed confidence.
- Andrew had this obnoxious attitude that anyone currently training with him with somebody, and that anyone who wasn't currently attending classes wasn't. They were a nobody. Even his senior instructors and loyal students who had trained with him for many years who had to quit as they moved away, were looked down upon and almost with contempt. Photos of them were removed from the walls. This was probably an attempt to be 'zen' and be in the here and now, but it did not come across as very 'zen'. Andrew had a habit of being rather bitchy about people and things, often for no good reason at all.
- Andrew was and is today considered to be 'the good bloke' of the two brothers. This may be true if one has no experience of martial arts instructors, little life experience or self knowledge or self confidence, and has only ever experienced Sid and Andrew. In this sense, in relative terms, Andrew was a nice guy.
- During practice for kung fu show, along with other 4th scroll students, Andrew would practice with a partner with a knife, would would lung at him and simply hold their arm out, putting their weight on their front leg, just like 2 or 3 onto 1 practice. The opponent would be delt with rather slowly, and in a very stressed manner. And sent to the ground with a big grunt or shout. Not that impressive really. Not very realistic or relaxed. I can only recall a handful of times when Andrew was actually relaxed and looked relaxed. This was sometimes after a class when he was digressing about Buddhism or the meaning of life. He never looked relaxed during a class and it reflected in his kung fu.
- Andrew was no stranger to foul language. Or losing his temper. Is this in accordance with the Tao or Buddhist traditions of martial arts?
- I brought my girlfriend along to my 3rd scroll grading, and Andrew, a married man with a pretty wife, was excessively learing at her when I introduced them. This was slightly gross.
- During his stint as an assistant instructor at Andrew's school, I was keen to give all the students the best possible lesson, and to help them to improve their kung fu as much as possible. I enjoyed encouraging students to train as hard as possible, and in a slightly sadistic way enjoyed watching them being pushed to the limit and badgering people who looked like they were slacking off or whose arms were aching too much to continue the specific exercise. I was however keen not to hit any student hard, but whilst freefighting with them, did enjoy slapping them in the face frequently. I on occasion felt like 'destroying' his students, physically and mentally. Not literally, but pushing them to the very limit, but in a somewhat negative manner. Feeling total disgust for any physical or mental weakness or imperfect in technique. Such mental urges are not healthy and were no doubt a result of the conditioning at both Andrew's and Sid's schools.
- As described in the previous section on Sid (c/f Andrew's claims about the Wing Chun Boxing Academy's shows), Andrew was no stranger to gross exaggeration. It appears this is the case in his current school. He seems to have copied Sid's arrogant style and refers to himself as 'Sijo' (on his web site), the creator of the style, which is a title technically only reserved for Ng Mui, the Shaolin Monk who created Wing Chun in the 17th Century, and certainly not for someone who modifies the style a little. He also claims to have met James DeMille, who was a guest of his in 1989. Perhaps this is true, but this hardly constitutes a lineage, but he never mentioned this, and all we were aware of was his book by James DeMille in his office and his DeMille training aids that we never saw him use. Perhaps he met him for 5 minutes, who is to say. His write up implies that he was with Andrew for some time. I too had a copy of this book, but I do not make claims about having learnt from DeMille. Andrew mentions various seminars, but my recollection was that when a student mentioned that there were seminars coming up of one of these Grandmasters, Andrew humiliated the student in front of the class and implied it was disrespectful to attend another Master's seminar. However, Andrew claims to have done this himself. Attending a seminar hardly constitutes a lineage, and I could just as well claim the same thing himself as he attended several WC seminars. Sid and Andrew, as described in the previous section, were no strangers to slagging off every other Sifu, Master or Grandmaster in the Wing Chun world. Andrew never discussed his lineage with his students, and who he trained with before Sid became his master. Surely this would be something he should have explained to his students? He preferred to shut out the entire Wing Chun world to his students to keep them loyal to him. www.sas-martialarts.co.uk/Pages/Academy/People/sifus/sijo.htm
- Andrew formed his breakaway Wing Chun School, the SAS Academy. This of course has no connection to the SAS, but it makes the kung fu sound more effective and 'hardcore'! Perhaps the name was inspired by Lakis' Delta Wing Chun Academy which had a special forces sounding name - Delta Force - but could possibly have been a Greek reference - clearly SAS is not a Greek reference! Or also it could be a reflection of the fixation the Sofos brothers had with running their respective schools as if they were part of the military.
Sifu Lakis Philippou
Sifu Lakis Philippou founded the The Delta Wing Chun Academy in 1989. After having been initiated as a Sifu by the late Sifu Moy Yat, Sifu Lakis started to develop his Delta Wing Chun system, which is based around practical street self-defense applications, more than many Wing Chun styles. He has Schools in London Edmonton, Larnaca, Nicosia, and Dali in Cyprus, Bulgaria and also LA.Lakis' web site is below.
www.deltawingchun.com/
www.deltawingchungungfuacademy.com/
The web site of Sifu George Hadjicostas, a student of Lakis', is below.
www.deltawingchun.net
Perhaps Lakis was no saint, but he always treated his students with respect, allowed for a positive, highly energetic but relaxed and often entertaining atmosphere in classes where people could work to their own pace and ability, and had an awesome natural, childish enthusiasm for what he was doing, that was totally infectious in the class. The chief instructor Michael, who runs classes in London today, was hilarious and the way he shouted out the numbers when counting the punches and press ups would make everyone in the class laugh hysterically - but whilst still training hard. Only once at one of Andrew's classes did this ever happen, when Andrew was away and one of the more reasonable instructors was taking the class. He farted whilst doing a form, and we all laughed - he allowed us to laugh for a few seconds then said shut up and get on with it. That is almost human for one of these instructors!