Martial Arts Bio – Sifu Victor Jordan

For me, interest in martial arts started as a kid growing up and watching Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris and Kung Fu Cinema. Even Batman and Robin instilled a love of action movies and dreams of martial art moves.

The first style I tried  was Ryukyu Kempo from a cable TV program. Then there was studying moves from books with school friends who also had a desire for martial arts knowledge. Before the end of high school, I had talked my parents into taking me to a Karate school to study. The teachers there asked if I would mind being taught by a woman. I told them no, as long as she was good and knew what she was doing. To me, then and now, a teacher is a teacher and if they have some knowledge of what they’re teaching then I’m willing to listen and learn as a student. Not all people know how to teach and not all teachers know what they are teaching. After studying various styles over the years - Tae Kwon Do, Shotokan, Ryukyu Kempo - I learned and retained only the basic kicks, rolls and punches but no katas remained in my mind.

Hundreds of Samurai and Kung Fu movies later, I decided to make some phone calls and see what was out there since I had never mastered a style and only had a little of this and that. One thing I had never tried was Kung Fu, so I searched the phone book for a school that I had seen often while driving. I made an appointment to see what they offered and to meet the teacher. I always had a love of weapons, so I was amazed at the display of weapons and animal techniques being taught there. In all my years at other schools, I knew those styles had weapons but they seemed reserved for just the black belts and upper students. Here they were teaching an animal form followed by a weapon – what a sweet deal, I thought to myself. The head instructor came out and asked if I needed a demo and all I wanted to know was how many weapons I could learn, not knowing that in Kung Fu anything could be a weapon. To this he replied that he taught 30 weapons. I asked how long it would take to make it to a black belt, to which he replied that they have sashes, not belts, and that it took about 5 years. My next question was how to sign up because I was ready to start that minute. He said there was no contract to sign, told me what to wear for the class and to pick a day to come in to start. I thanked the Sensei, which he corrected saying the title was Sifu, which is the Chinese title for teacher. On the drive home I made up my mind to stay at least 8 or 9 years, not only to make it to black sash but to learn as much as possible.

During the first class I was overwhelmed with everything there was to learn from stance work to kicks, hand punches to the opening salute, with application demonstrations for all of it. I quickly found what I had been missing in the other styles, something that fit me. After studying for some time, once a week was not enough so I started attending more and more classes. The more I went, the more there was to learn and the more I loved it. I eventually added sparring and Trapping/Intercepting classes to the schedule in my never ending quest for martial arts knowledge.

Many promotions, awards and rank titles later, Si Gung Winokur bestowed the title of Sifu upon me. I was only his tenth black sash even though he has taught hundreds of students over the years. This promotion also meant I was allowed to open my own school, Three Harmonies Kung Fu Center. Through Si Gung Winokur, I have learned the passiveness of the leopard, the evasiveness of the crane, the power of the dragon, the fierceness of the tiger, the destructiveness of the mantis, the speed of the snake, with only the elusiveness of the monkey and dominance of the eagle yet to learn.

Even though Si Gung Winokur does not teach Japanese styles, he still shows us forms that he remembers from those styles, some of which he also has black belts in. He not only teaches the 8-Animal Kung Fu style but also Lung Lum Pai Dragon, Wing Chun, Tai Chi, Trapping/Intercepting, 5-Animal Fist and his own creation of White Willow, which incorporates movements and techniques from all of the other styles he knows. He teaches not only the techniques of the animals, but the differences in animal, human and elemental forms. Also taught are the differences in how weapons move and work differently depending on which animal the weapon is related to - spear being snake and sword being tiger.

After nine years, I am still surprised when my teacher shows forms that we had previously only heard about, like ghost dragon, tiger dragon and all the drunken forms and various weapons that I hope to learn some day such as drunken eagle, drunken monkey, steel whip and rope dart.

It has been a long road and I realized long ago that it was hard and bumpy but also loads of fun. With Si Gung Winokur’s help I have learned more than I thought possible and there is still much more to learn.