Sorry, I was more questioning the "Techniques are simple and to the point" bit. And now also your "those techniques will work" comment... Though presumably the forms are arranged so that techniques flow together. They encourage people to try and use though sequences. If your attacker is never helpfully in the right place for you (and why would he be?) what does that tell you about the realism of the sequence of moves in the forms? Irrelevent? Nah. Just not relevent to everyone.
I have always been taught that the sets are not meant to be read as if you was defending yourself from the same attacker/s from start to finish but rather contains sections of movements that are applied on an individual basis (i.e. the first section of Charp Choi up to the drilling punches classed as one movement for one attack, the next section is completely removed from the first and should be read as such). The emphasis is then on the student to learn variations and link sections together from all sets learnt in order to improve your defensive game. However, I will agree that there is not enough functional sparring that encourages the use of Lau-Gar. Too much kickboxing goes on which is fine but not if you're trying to improve your Lau Gar.
blast from ze past Lau Gar KF was my life from 1982 to about 1992, I trained exclusively with Chris Boughey at Wood St in Mcr centre, and Bolton, from the time just before he got his first degree, there were only 10 of us in the class and he was a brutal man !! he never produced a single great student because of it. A good friend who had previously trained with Alfie put me on to him after CB beat him up twice he stopped training with him. After Winston holness I was his second longest training student. Can't believe all of this is so alive and well. Best fighter I ever saw - a guy called Chris Williams, sharp as a razor and a real gentleman, he made Kevin Brewerton look like a novice at an FSK at Trafford Park once left the UK many years ago now live the life in Florida, great to see all of this is alive though, keep it going guys.
He never produced a great student? I thought he was well-respected in the MA scene. The magazines like MAI certainly hold him in high regard.
Don't get me wrong he was a very accomplished fighter, he had the un-blockable sidekick. He didn't compete much at all, you know what, I think he could have stood up to any of them as well. I can only comment on the period I was there. There was this one guy from Chorley called Steve, he trained alongside his step father (Bill) lovely guy and high ranking student. Great forms person and all the time in the world to train others, great technically but not a fighter at all, Boughey battered him (and I use that term properly) every few weeks in an attempt to toughen him up. Sparring with CB was a very fightening experience, so many people left his clubs that he almost folded. Then he had his first article in Fighters Magazine maybe 1983 (Singer not the Song), and his classes filled from there, then he started at UMIST and had fresh students from the University every year. Why was there no great Manchester Lau Gar team back in the 1980's when all the others existed like Birmingham, Aston, Banbury, Liverpool (kinda), Stoke...the list goes on. Chris fought on the Warriors team by 1988 (I fought on it alongside him a handful of times) because he had no team of his own, he didn't produce a single student because he used to batter us and we thought it was normal to some degree, most people left and a few just gave up. It was just something we put up with. He knocked me out more than once. I realized how wrong it all was after training a couple of times with Sandy Holt in Bolton where I trained hard but never got hurt. Maybe he has mellowed nowadays, I hope so because he was a great fighter and he was tough, he could take a blow. I am not surprised MAI hold him in high regard, my comments only relate to those of us that trained with him 1980 1990 ish.
Jocky B, you say CB is your chief instructor, you must know what I am talking about. When he demonstrates a roundhouse kick does the target still need to move his head back to avoid a crack ?
Interesting post. Tbh, it's immediately apparent when training with CB that he is a supreme athlete and even at 50, has one hell of a snap in those kicks. It is a shame though, that almost all his association's best fighters are coming out of the many satellite clubs around the NW of England, rather than from the main HQ where he teaches. Of course, the pros are that when you train with him, you become a "good all-rounder", but the full-contact KB circuit around the UK is crying out for more class fighters and yet few of us have made the step up, except for the light-continuous and points scene.
Wow this brings back some memories bad and good of Chris Boughey @Manchester YMCA trained with him late 80s and 90s yes he he used to beat students up specially when he had too many in the class and needed to whittle down the class hence the extreme sparring and exercise .Class to big beat up a few students and hence a smaller class for the next lesson. But saying that he was a excellent at what he taught just couldn't stand anyone wimping out in sparring or exercise.When I started he only had 3 black sashes Darren .Hazel and a Scottish guy I cant remember his name, they were usually who he demonstrated techniques upon or students if you were unlucky to catch him in mood.I remember once he was in trainig for the warriors he got everyone in a circle and padded up and just through gloves at some one and you sparred full contact with him, next one in and if you wimped out he crucified you so it was better to fight back than stand and get battered a lot of people disappeared after that lesson. True he never had any success with his own students on the tournament circuit, but what a dedicated teacher remember big Winston,Alan the two daves and Ozzi, Ray and Boyd, as his senior students when I retired keep thinking I should go back as I heard he has mellowed a lot.
The word "mellowed" is subjective here, lol. I've been cracked in the jaw by him at least once for carelessly dropping a guard while knackered and many others have felt his wrath for letting their concentration go, or for being a "lazy toe-rag!" :hat: I have to say though, the fact that his NWCKB has become such a huge, for want of a better word, franchise, speaks volumes about the loyalty his long-term students have for him and rather than go their own way, they have stayed part of his set-up. Much respect for the guy.
Well retired kung fu, and Jocky I have to say I agree with you. I remember the dark haired girl Hazel she trained at Bolton with Paula originally (if its the same one). Chris punched Hazel so hard he turned her chest protector inside out once!! The scottish guy I remember at Manchester was called Alex, there was another scot called Alan and actually maybe a third called Connor all great guys. There was a smaller young lad there called Evans or Evo (an electrician) and a black kid called Robert, I saw him 2 years ago he's 50 now and looks 30 !! we joked about Chris Boughey's side kick. We all trained at Wood St mission in Mcr in 1984 and then we moved to a studio above Master Toddy's. What you say about Chris Boughey is bang on and perhaps he's mellowed out. Before you started he was worse believe me, I started after he had been going for only maybe 6 - 9 months, he had just got his black sash. He wasn't that good then, you could always see the blows coming, but in the following 12 months he get really good and you couldn't see it coming after a bit. I was one of the seniors in Manchester second only to Winston Holness within 12 months, such was the drop out rate. I started the first UMIST classes with Chris Boughey, Chris seemed to like me, maybe he thought I trained hard (there was no choice !!) and he generally took it easy on me, but he was brutal with a lot of people. Personally I think it was needless, bad practice and actually counter productive. Different people have different ways, so if you don't like it go somewhere else, we all did in the end. We hung on with Chris as long as we could because deep down we really respected him and were prepared to put up with a lot from him to be with him, a very charismatic guy indeed who inspired loyalty, I don't know how but he did. For those of you who remember me - 6ft 4in tall, blonde, very skinny Andrew McDonnell, Manchester Lau Gar (great backfist and axe kick now aged 48 still fit and living in Fl. Funny story. One of the guys at Bolton called Steve had a lot of life and was hyper active, was moaning to Boughey about never doing traditional King Fu sparring. So Boughey said ok, I am not a fan of it but if you want to do it lets try. Right everyone gather round....Boughey did a straight fingered jab in to Steves thoat but Steve saw it coming and bit Boughey's hand - hard, Boughey went arggghhh !! grabbed Steve by the balls with his other hand and near ripped them off. That was the last time we did traditional KF sparring !!! there were loads of funny incidents back in the beginning.
Have not done any martial arts at all since 1995, work out in a gym a few times a week, and ride a push bike up and down the Florida coast, thats it really. I have a bad back and probably need a new hip so what can you do ? Maybe I should take up Wing Chun or something that doesn't need to put a stress on my back. I feel that i would not be able to do it properly or as good as I wanted or expected of myself now, so I don't bother, its probably not the right attitude really. All the clubs here would be full of yee ha Americans too.
Anyone ever go back to the first SIfu to see how things have changed compared to when you first started
