Hi Nic, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory
I started out as a kid infatuated with martial arts and kung fu and the like. Like many others I started my training at the only Tae Kwon Do school in my small town. When I moved to Houston in the late 90’s the options really opened up for what martial arts were available and once I was old enough to drive I visited as many as I could trying to find the “one” that was teaching the most powerful and effective style I could find. I found a mixed martial arts gym that seemed right and I trained as often as I could; in addition to the time training, there was a lot of time spent in the car driving across town to the school while my friends were out having fun. After years of this I still felt like what I was training wasn’t complete and that is when I found Sifu. Sifu introduced me to the Ving Tsun system (aka Wing Chun) and well I guess I have been completely consumed by that ever since. When you do something day in and day out and do it seriously, not like a hobby or something when you pour your time and energy into it things happen… so here we are 18 years later still doing Ving Tsun, just now our school is the one sharing with folks (like me) looking for the genuine thing.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Well, starting any business is never easy; challenges always arise, but the Ving Tsun training is about overcoming challenges and facing your shortcomings so in a way that was just another part of the training. This COVID things has been a real challenge, not only for us but for our students and communities. We have had to find new ways to make the training safe for those who want to train in person and for those who need to stay at home. Of course, I’d prefer if COVID never happened, but a lot has come out of it in terms of keeping everyone moving forward and learning new ways to share and teach the system when you can’t always be right there in person. Also, I think it has helped the students appreciate the training space even more and realize that you can’t take your training partners for granted.
We’ve been impressed with Moy Tung Kung Fu Academy, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We teach martial arts to Adults. Our classes are a space for people to train and learn real martial arts that can save their lives and improve their health and wellbeing. What we teach has been around for hundreds of years and is probably nothing like what people imagine martial arts training is like. People don’t realize how many preconceived notions they have been sold about the martial arts. Many students are relieved to find us, we provide real martial arts that doesn’t feel like a macho gym and at the same time doesn’t feel like some new-age thought group. Our students come from all walks of life and the training we do doesn’t require our students to be athletes to be able to participate. Our students learn to fight, learn to think, and learn to relax into whatever situation they encounter. The Kung Fu that our students get is unlike much anything they will find anywhere else. I teach what I was taught and that’s it; no reinventing the wheel. Ving Tsun passed down authentically.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
None of this would be possible without the hard work of my teacher and his teacher and those that came before them. What we do is very much an apprenticeship and the techniques and methods only learned through doing the work. Without my Sifu (Aaron Vyvial) and Sigong (Anthony Moy Tung Dandridge) I would not have the chance to share this amazing system with my students. In addition, my wife is a huge contributor to the school as a teacher to our students, business partner, and fellow training partner.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1508 Leander Rd, Georgetown, TX 78628
- Email: georgetown@txkungfu.com
- Website: https://georgetown.txkungfu.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Moy-Tung-Kung-Fu-Academy-379766058883989/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/georgetownvt
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm9bcxkXU3c_pEKcKctr2bQ
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/moy-tung-kung-fu-academy-georgetown
Image Credits
Rudy Ximenez
