Nino bernardo

The Real Real Deal

By Nino Bernardo

When a new student, or what I call a “fresh victim”, starts, he/she is made to memorize the first form. Initially the form is retained in “rough”. Then it is methodically refined and tuned, a process that takes time. To keep the student from getting “bored”, some “basic drills” are “prescribed”. It is of extreme importance that these “basic drills” don’t interfere with the development of the student who at this point is not aware of the fact that, as far as the teacher is concerned, all these exercises are there only to maintain the student interested and enthusiastic and to prevent the possibility of losing a student/client.

The system, being a system, has to be systematically and methodically “installed”. Once “installed” and “functioning”, fresh “tools” and accompanying “software” will be “downloaded”. Naturally the student has to be taught how to use and apply each new tool and software throughout the entire term after which the student “finishes” the system and only then does the “system” start to manifest itself within the student who then gradually converts into a “master/expert”. There is no set length of time for each “term/course” as this depends on the student’s own “hard drive” or previous conditioning. Sometimes the student’s “hard drive” can “reject” programmes, tools and software. An experienced teacher is usually able to deal with such problems.

When a student has finished the “whole system” but has not gone through the refinement and the tuning, the programming will remain in its “crude” form without any of the tools or software fully understood and applied. An analogy of this would be that of a person who has lived in a foreign country for many years and still does not speak the language or still speaks it in a “tarzan” style. Another cliché is “you start learning to drive after you’ve passed your driving test”. Having said that, we all know that there people out there who passed their driving test years ago and still can’t drive. What makes these people dangerous is that they think they can.

Then there are those who have indeed “finished” the whole system but not only have they not been tuned and refined but also collected a load of viruses along the way. Wing Chun is a very complete and sophisticated system but due to the lack of appreciation, suffers from having a rather unfortunate reputation. I have been teaching for many years and quite a number of people have come and gone through my classes. Some have their own kwoons, schools or academies. If anybody wants to verify an instructor’s authenticity, please feel free to call me for an opinion.

The “instructor” is in a very delicate situation and runs a very high risk of inflating his/her own ego because of the traditional belief that the “Kungfu Master” has the “knowledge” and the “wisdom”. This is because each fresh victim is usually left in absolute awe of the instructor/master. I noticed this in myself when I first met my own sifu, Wong Shun Leung, and to this day I am still overwhelmed by him. I also noticed this among my own “fresh victims” and indeed amongst some of my older students. It is my job to make them understand that it is simply a state of mind and a phase that they are going through and that they should be in awe of the amazing system that they are learning. I have to remind them that I took up “Kungfu” because of my own personal insecurity and that it was after I had been practicing for a number of years that the curiosity and interest developed which in turn helped the understanding and subsequent development of a deep respect for my teacher as a human being and the system for its sophistication and wisdom.

Then there is the classical individual, who like everybody else, fell in awe of his teacher and started to parrot fashion repeat things that the teacher says to friends and the friends now fall in “awe” of this individual. This person now converts himself into a teacher by copying his teacher and repeating everything the teacher says. This goes on till this individual impersonates the teacher to perfection. His students believe that this man is the real thing, the true “McCoy”, the absolute deal. In order to maintain this image, his students must never see or meet his teacher or the proverbial cat will be let out of the bag and leave this “master” in a really embarrassing predicament. He now has the unenviable task of steering his “students/victims” away from ever meeting or seeing the real real deal.

In my opinion there are four main categories of practitioners. There are those who have completed the system, do not “teach” but still practice either by going to a kwoon or meeting regularly with other practitioners. There are those who have finished and have their own kwoons where they teach and practice. There are those who have not finished but teach a small group and cultivate a “revision tool” and continue learning from a sifu/teacher. Then there are those who teach on a full time basis without having finished studying any system nor have any intention to do so.

I stopped giving “certificates” in 1993. I simply write a “personal” letter to the student in question talking about his/her time spent with me, describing what we have covered and also mentioning what is needed to “round off” or finish the programming which we started. These letters are personal letters which of course can and should be used as testimonials to the training time and areas covered. Such a letter should not be regarded as a “certificate” of authorization to teach. Anybody claiming to have learnt the whole system from me should have in their possession a letter from me. Should this letter be used as a testimonial, it is important that the contents be read in detail. Then again, contact me for my opinion on the person in question.