The Taekwondo Instructor
By
Sifu Alan Hubbard
中 文 按 此
In September 1973, Grandmaster Doc-Fai Wong was teaching in San
Francisco City College’s Chinese Culture Club. The clubhouse and the
classroom were in a bungalow on the campus. He taught classes Tuesday
and Thursday, two times per week in the afternoon from 2 to 4 PM.
One day he was instructing a class on Choy Li Fut’s foundational
form, the Five Wheel Fist form. During the last half hour of the class,
an Asian guy stopped by to observe the class. After the class over,
Grandmaster Wong asked him in Chinese to see if he needed help or not.
He answered him in English with an accent. He said he didn’t understand
Chinese and he told him that he was Korean and a Taekwondo instructor on
the Campus. He continued to boast that he had received his black belt in Korea
and he was a second degree. He said, “you don’t have much footwork in
your system.” Grandmaster corrected and told him, “That’s not true; our
Five Wheel Stance form has all the good footwork.” He said, “I hardly
see any kicks in your teaching; how can you just use hands to stop a
powerful kick?” The president of the Chinese Culture Club, Finney Yee
was there to observe the class that day. Finney with confidence and
excitement said to him, “Do you want to try him out?” The
Taekwondo
instructor said, “yes, but I am afraid I will hurt him.” Ed Fong, a student
of Doc-Fai Wong shouted, “Sifu, let him have it, show him the real
kung fu.” Grandmaster didn’t have much choice at that moment so he
invited the Korean man to come into the center of the classroom.
Grandmaster was standing up high with his knees slightly bent to confuse
his challenger. Grandmaster raised his right hand on guard and put his
left hand to protect his chest. The Taekwondo instructor was walking
around slowly to his right side. He suddenly tried to trick Grandmaster
Wong by delivering a low roundhouse kick to his right knee and following up with a quick high roundhouse kick to his head. Grandmaster
lifted his right foot up high to a crane stance to avoid the lower kick
and he saw the high kick was aiming toward the right side of his head.
Grandmaster’s right foot stepped down quickly and he used both fists
into a double kwa-chui (hit with back fists, left fist in front), which
struck down to the instructor’s leg as it extended. The Korean black
belt was in extreme and immediate pain, so Grandmaster seized the
opportunity and followed with a right tsang-jeung (palm thrust with
fingers pointed downward) to his shoulder sending the Taekwondo
instructor 2 meters away where he landed on a couch. All of
Grandmaster’s students were cheering and clapping for him. The Korean
man slowly got up and respectfully shook his hand. He thanked
Grandmaster for showing him the kung fu techniques and walked away
limping.
Grandmaster Wong ran into the Korean instructor in the campus couple of
months later, the Taekwondo instructor told him that Grandmaster
injured his shin and he wasn't able to teach for more than a month.
Grandmaster recommended that he see an acupuncturist for his shin
treatment.