 Invitation to Brazil
On November 8th I landed in San Paulo Brazil to head an
intensive two week instructive course called the 6th
Annual Penglai Brazil Intensive Training Camp and
Workshop. My invitation came from my younger kung fu
brothers and sisters Andre, Elen, Basilio, and Marcio,
the group of students I call 'Brazil's pillars of
Penglai.' I taught large groups of students, small
coaches classes and private classes. The following
pictures tell a short story of my time in Brazil.
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From left to right; Marcio,
Andre, me, and Basilio |
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|
Basilio, me and Elen |
Morning Workout
Most mornings we trained with a small
group of people. I focused on San Cai Straight Sword and
the two person Six Harmony Staff form
(Six Harmony staff between my student and I in Taiwan).
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| Driving through the city of 11 million
people to the park for training. |
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| Sometimes we trained in the school in the
mornings |
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| Elen dodges and slices. |
Pineapple Juice
| Pineapple is rich in bromelain, a group of
enzymes notable for their digestive and
anti-inflammatory properties. Bromelain has
become popular in sports medicine because it
helps prevent swelling in inflamed joints and
promotes healing and pain reduction in sore
muscles. I often use it as a post work out
drink. Andre and Elen treated me to a new recipe
many people in Brazil like to drink. Fresh
pineapple with fresh mint. Put it in the blender
and you have a a cool refreshing pineapple drink
that takes away muscle soreness! |
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Jander's School
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| The day before I arrived in Brazil Coach
Jander became the 8th person to open a Penglai
school in Brazil. Here, Marcio and Andre stand
outside as I take a picture of the school. The
stairway to the 2nd floor school is blocked by
Marcio. The graffiti covers the doors to a
church on the first floor. The school sits on a
hill and is blessed with the setting sun shining
through the windows on the left face of the
building. |
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| Coach Jander's logo up close. |
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| Walking though the the school I picked up a
sword and got my picture taken. |
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| The group photo for Coach Jander's wall.
Elen, Jander, Me, Andre, Marcio. |
Seeing the Sights
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| Sometimes we need a rest. I traveled through
the art in the park and bought some gifts for
home. |
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| Grafitti is common in Brazil and many are
works of art. |
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| After training in the park one morning I got
my picture taken with some of the largest
rodents in the world, the capybara. They walk
around the park freely and are as large as a medium
sized dog. |
Eight Step Continuous Fist Seminar
During the weekdays I did late night
seminars from 9pm until after 11. The goal was to teach
the two person form Eight Step Continuous Fist.
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| Before we start the two person form we all
warmed up with the solo moves. |
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| Andre helped me to demonstrate the the
techniques and how to counter them. |
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| I am explaining how to catch a kick before
Andre attempts a takedown. |
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| High and low, that is how kung fu works. |
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| Coach Gustavo and Lucas have a close
call. |
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| Carolina jumps with a flying knee on Coach
Moraes. |
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| Coach Luis is controlled by Vinicius with
Deng Pu. |
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| The whole group training the two man form. |
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| It is almost midnight and time for dinner! |
Coaches Workout
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| I had to cross hands with all the coaches
and we had no chance to get a picture until the
end when we
did a group picture. |
Zhong Ji Quan Seminar Day One
Over the weekend we gathered together a group of Penglai
students and coaches to learn the form
Zhong Ji Quan.
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 We
trained under this bridge!
Coach Luciano, who also teaches Samba
percussion at the samba school was able to get
this spot for us on Saturday. Pictured here with
me at the samba school. |
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| The group huddles to hear the story of
Zhong Ji Quan |
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| I had to shout loud to be heard in the
cavernous samba school. |
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| They are about to learn how to ask for water
in Chinese. |
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| Trying to gather the crowd for a picture. |
Zhong Ji Quan Seminar Day Two
Only students of several years training
were allowed to join the Zhong Ji Quan seminar. On the
2nd day, Sunday, I trained another group.
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| We trained Zhong Ji Quan at Andre's Penglai school. |
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| The Zhong Ji Quan group two. |
Zhong Ji Quan Competition
After training Zhong Ji Quan so hard all
week we had a performance competition of the form.
Three coaches judged and I acted as tie breaker if one
should occur.
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| Willian does a mid-air face hanging kick. |
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| After the competition all the students got a
commemorative picture with me doing a posture
from the two person version of the form. |
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| Gabriel, winner of the young division wins a
shirt specially made for this competition. |
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| The competitors gather for a group photo
doing a pose from the form. |
The Future
Coach Raquel is the Gold Medal winner of
the Brazil empty hand Kung Fu championship as well as
winning the Gold in Shuai Jiao (Chinese wrestling). I
took pictures of her performing several forms of the
Penglai curriculum. Later these will be turned into
manuals for students to study from such as those which
can be found on our curriculum page.
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| Rachel poses for future manuals of our
forms. |
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| Piercing palm from Zhong Ji Quan. |
Each year I travel to Brazil the students have improved
and more students dream of becoming coaches and opening
their own Penglai school. Before I have returned home I
am already excited about what new talent 2011 will bring
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