Since he was 12, Elliot Leung had a passion for the southern Chinese martial art Wing Tsun. Leung made his passion into a career in 2008 when he opened Club Kung Fu in Stamford.
The business is run primarily by Leung, the club”™s sifu or master, with help from two assistant instructors as well as his wife, Elaine Leung, who encouraged Leung to start the club.
“I told her there’s really no money opening up a school if I do it the right way,” Leung said. “But she insisted I do it because this is my passion.”
In contrast to many martial arts that emphasize strength or flashy techniques, the fighting principles behind Wing Tsun simple and effective, exploiting and redirecting the strength of an opponent. Emphasis is on fast reflexes and in knowing how to react quickly to a punch or push.
“One of the principles is if the way is clear, we go in, if the way is not clear, we stick,” Leung said. “What that means is, if you’re in a confrontation, we’re going to offend, we’re going to start to punch our opponent until we hit something or if it’s blocked. If it’s blocked, most people will pull the hand back and try it again. But in our case, if it’s blocked, we stick to the hand. Now we know where the hand is, and that is where our training of sticking hands comes in, so now we can navigate while sticking to the person’s hand using his force against him.”
Leung is a major proponent of Wing Tsun as an effective martial art, but he warns those expecting instant gratification that it requires hard work and patience to reach its full potential.
“If you have a twin brother, and your twin brother takes Karate or Taekwondo and you take Wing Tsun,” Leung said, “in about a year to 15 months, your twin brother will be able to beat you in a fight. In three years, you should be able to win that confrontation with your brother in seven seconds or less. In five to six years, if and when your brother gets a black belt, you still should be able to win in seven seconds or less.”
Wing Tsun is as much a philosophy as it is a fighting system, one which stresses discipline, hard work and tranquility in all facets of life, both in and out of the fighting arena.
“I take the role of being a sifu very seriously, like in a traditional way. I’m not just here to teach you how to defend yourself and then say goodbye,” Leung said. “A lot of my students ask me for career advice as well. If they have problems with their girlfriend or boyfriend, they ask me for advice. If they go to their employer and they want to negotiate a raise, they ask me for advice.”
Club Kung Fu is a small operation that accepts a limited quantity of students. In the interest of saving time, Leung conducts interviews with prospective students in order to weed out those he feels have no real interest in embodying the principles of Wing Tsun.
Leung views martial arts as transmitters not only of fighting and self-defense knowledge, but of cultural knowledge as well. Though he grew up mostly in the U.S., Leung was born in and has maintained roots in Hong Kong, where he takes his students on trips to in order to learn the foundations of Wing Tsun.
“Every martial art is based on the culture of the country that it comes from,” Leung said. “When you strip it of its culture, you’re only getting about maybe 70% to 80% of the art. There”™s no context in what you do.”
In order to incorporate the “best of both worlds,” Leung also has his students absorb American culture through outdoor activities. The club”™s “fight camp” formally introduces adult students, many of whom do not engage much in outdoor activities, to camping and outdoor competition. The camp instructs students in armed self-defense and utilize bows and arrows, bow guns and air guns in competition.
“Within the last 10 years, I have convinced most of my students to take their concealed carry permits. So now during those fight camps, we actually shoot real rifles, so they can compete with each other, so that they can enjoy the outdoors a little bit more,” Leung said.
When it comes to child students, Leung”™s goal is more about having children learn how to defend against themselves. In line with Wing Tsun”™s aim to be a practical art both in fighting and in life, Leung believes that children around ages five or six are unlikely to get into a physical altercation that would necessitate physical self-defense ”“ instead, he observed, it is far more likely is a child accidently hurting themselves while cycling or skating, and thus the principles behind Wing Tsun can be used for self-coordination, body awareness and to boost confidence in order to handle such situations.
Club Kung Fu also offers free women”™s self-defense classes once a month on Saturdays. Leung is a proponent of women learning self-defense in part because of a mugging incident involving his cousin.
“I think women should be able to defend themselves, at least on a very basic level so that they won’t be a victim,” he said. “And if they become a victim, they at least have more than a plan of ”˜I hope he’s not following me.”™”
Despite his ambitions, Leung has had difficulty in the past spreading word about the classes.
“Very few people come,” he said, despite “doing this for about 14 years.”
Lately, however, Leung”™s fortunes have turned in this regard after partnering with local libraries throughout Fairfield County, which allow the club to do demonstrations of the martial art and to tap into the libraries”™ email subscribers.
“One of the biggest turnouts we had was about a month and a half ago at the Darien Library,” Leung said. “They had about 50 people, which for me was great, because that”™s 50 more people that know at least the basics on how to defend themselves, and hopefully they’ll come back to hone their skills”
Photo: Elliott Leung and his students; contributed photo
