Shad Scott
(instructor)
I started my martial arts journey in 1996 when I started training with amateur boxers. Boxing didn’t fit my personality, I was a huge Steven Seagal fan and at that time I was infatuated with Aikido. I looked everywhere for an Aikido school with no avail until 1997 when I had a friend who invited me to his Karate class. I wasn’t really interested until he told me that Aikido was a part of their curriculum. I found that I enjoyed the sport aspect of Karate more than sophisticated throws in Aikido. Also around that time I started researching the legendary Bruce Lee. My Karate teacher ended up moving in 1999, thus leaving me without a steady martial arts instructor for two years. During that period I studied various martial arts, such as JKD (Jeet Kune Do), Seidokan Karate, Kali, and Kickboxing.
It wasn’t
until 2001 that I would find the art that I would fall in love
with––Wing Chun Kung Fu. When I heard from a friend that Wing Chun was
being taught at the local college, I immediately rushed over to sign up.
My initial thought was Wing Chun would compliment my understanding of
Bruce Lee’s art of Jeet Kune Do.
For the course final, we had to fight the
instructor who was dressed head to toe in body armor. Standing next to
the instructor was a slightly built middle-aged man who was dressed in
traditional Kung Fu attire. When it was my turn to fight the instructor
I was very confident––I had spent several years perfecting my sparring
skills. As soon as the instructor said go, I began to dance around like
my idol Bruce Lee. Now being the young egocentric man that I was, I
thought it was going to be a cakewalk after all I had competed in
tournaments and against seasoned boxers. The man in kung fu attire told
me something that totally baffled me at that time, “Bouncing is
for sport!” he said. I thought, “What does this old guy know!” The
instructor suddenly cut me off and knocked me on my back. Never in any
of my matches did I have someone knock me on my back so effortlessly.
After this experience I was humbled, humiliated, and determined to study Wing Chun extensively. It turned out that this middle aged man was the college instructor’s Sifu and was head of the second largest Wing Chun organization in the world under Ip Man’s youngest son––Ip Ching.
A couple of weeks latter I also ended up
becoming a student of Master Ron Hiemberger--the man in the kung fu
attire. I wish I could convey how incredible of a Master Hiemberger was but words alone
wouldn’t do justice. Unfortunately Sifu would pass away from an
aggressive brain tumor seven years latter at the age of 52. Shortly
thereafter, my oldest Kung Fu brother––Dave Pangan would become a
student of Ip Ching and latter my Sifu. Over the last six years I have
studied directly under Sifu Pangan. Like Sifu Hiemberger, Sifu Pangan
has been a great mentor, friend, and guide. Unlike many martial arts
schools, Sifu Pangan believes the best way to teach Wing Chun is by
offering his students the necessary tools for the art as efficiently as
possible. Thus, students don’t spend years working on drills before
learning to apply the art.
Wing Chun is a close quarters Southern Shaolin
art made famous by Ip Man and the late Bruce Lee. Unlike other styles of
Kung Fu, Wing Chun doesn’t use deep stances, animal forms, or
aesthetically looking movements. Rather, Wing Chun is a streamlined
system that was designed to prepare monks as quickly as possible for
combat.