I started taking lessons from Adam about 5 years ago. Back then, there wasn't ev...

I started taking lessons from Adam about 5 years ago. Back then, there wasn't even a Dragon Institute, there was his garage and about 4 of us not including Sifu(Adam). Before this I was extremely introverted, awkward, had horrible body posture (I hunched over and looked like I really didn’t have much self confidence). At the time (before I had found The Dragon Institute) my close friends, two brothers, invited me to their Karate Kempo class. I thought it was the coolest thing ever—people working hard to become able to defend themselves and to have fun. But there was something about it that completely turned me off. The attitude of the class was a little spartan: the teacher would punish you if did something wrong you, often physically. He’d kick you or make you do large amounts of exercises. It gave me the impression that the things I would be doing most of the time was being punished, growing muscles and memorizing combo strings, when I really wanted some magical technique that would allow me to be able to handle myself regardless of the size, speed, or strength of the opponent. This seemed like a fantasy to me at this point. I began to research different types of martial arts online. I was drawn to Tai Chi and I called every single school in my area and told them what I was looking for, They told me it was for old people and was basically just for health, not for self defense. I told my mom about my frustration of finding the right thing for me. She said she would keep a look out for me. One day she said she saw an ad online for some place in San Clemente for something called “Wing Chun”. I had never heard of it before but I decided to give it a shot, not expecting much. When I showed up at the address I found out that it wasn’t a studio like all of the others, it was some guy’s garage. The garage was open and there was a strange wooden thing attached to the wall, a big bag, a wooden pole and a few guys in T-Shirts and gym shorts warming up. They were all very friendly and there was a different attitude about these people, similar to the difference between a mainstream restaurant and a home-style restaurant, everything felt so personal. The teacher, Adam, explained to me what Wing Chun was about, being able to overcome someone is bigger or stronger than I. I had heard it all before and I wasn’t convinced, most places had told me the exact same thing. We did some drills that had some very awkward movements and stood and funny stances that felt extremely unstable. I felt like this was not what I was looking for. During the class Adam had us spar in slow motion, turn-by-turn, now this was the strangest thing I had seen so far. When I finally got my turn with Adam I didn’t really know what to do. Adam was a good foot and a half taller than me and was a big guy, I was, and still am, slim and 5ft.6in. tall, I didn’t think I could even reach him before I would have his fist in my face, and that’s what happened. I moved forward and he put his hand in my face. He must have seen the frustration on my face and he did something I will never forget. He didn’t say anything he readjusted my posture in a strange way and put my hand on his wrist. He then continued to follow through with his punch and instead of hitting my face it went past it. He then told me to step forward and keep that weird posture. Not believing that it would do anything, I did, and his body went hurtling backwards into the big bag—I’ve been sold since then. That was the beginning of my life-changing experiences with this man and his students. I began to gain confidence, I couldn’t explain why either. My posture began to become straight, and previous back problems that I had suffered, problems that people 40 years older than me usually suffer, went away. I began to feel happier; less stressed, and with this, became more extroverted and reaped all of the benefits that come with it. One day Adam told us his intentions of making this something more than just his garage, of moving to a studio, our own studio. I was resistant to the change at first; I remembered the attitudes of all of those people with studios, the elite vibe that they gave off. I wanted to continue to study with Adam and his students so I went along with it. We all donated to the future school and it was created. New students came and time went by, the attitude didn’t change, I noticed the people around me, the ones who stayed, they started to change, some similar to me, some different. One thing was certain: their lives were improving. I began to realize that this wasn’t just self-defense against people anymore, it was about dealing with life as well. I’ve been watching his kid classes doing things like charity work as well as his adult classes allowing people to change the way they act and think (similar to my changes). I owe many positive changes to my life to Adam and his school and I would never pass up that chance if I had to do it again. -Jim







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