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Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut's Green Grass Monk
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Sat, 17 Sep 2005
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| About Us |
About Us:
The Hung Sing Hung Loong Kwoon is a branch
school of the original American Hung Sing Kwoon
as founded by Professor Lau Bun (Officially
established in 1939). Also, the American Hung
Sing Kwoon is the first gung fu, and Choy Lee
Fut school ever to be established in the United
States, and has the longest running history of
any martial arts school in America.
The Hung Sing Hung Loong Kwoon (Glorious Dragon
School) is ran by Sifu Frank “Jew, Hung Loong”
McCarthy who is a senior student of Grand Master
Dino “Jew, Tien Loong” Salvatera. He has been
training in the Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut system at
the Tien Loong Gung Fu Club with GM Salvatera
since he was between 13-14 years old in 1981. And
has since dedicated almost 25 years of his life
to studying, learning teaching and promoting
Professor Lau Buns legacy.
Today, Sifu McCarthy teaches Hung Sing Choy Lee
Fut from 3 different lines which are all directly
connected to the Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon. Not
counting from Jeong Yim (Our Founder), under the
Lau Bun lineage he is a 5th generation disciple,
and the same goes with the Wong Say lineage ( GM
Salvatera is the first to teach Wong Say’s
lineage in the United States). Starting with
Chan Ngau Sing, Sifu McCarthy is also a 5th
generation disciple under Master Lok Gee Hung.
(whom also learned from his father Lok So).
*In a trip to Fut San China in October of 2001,
Sifu McCarthy participated in the 150th
Anniversary of the Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon, and
was directly involved in the ceremonies of the
grand re-opening of an original Hung Sing Kwoon
(Tong Seks School) *(page 2 middle photo of last
row of pictures of photo album). Also, with the
expressed blessings of GM Salvatera Sifu McCarthy
took Master Lok Gee Hung of the Fut San Hung
Sing Kwoon as his Fut San Sifu (P.5 of photo
album, first picture last row).
In his youth
Sifu McCarthy grew up in one of the toughest
areas of San Francisco. As far back as he can
remember he recalls fighting was a necessity for
survival because in the area he lived in were
many different street gangs of various
ethnicities, Street Hookers, Pimps, drug dealers,
dope fiends, and homeless folks. His older
brother was a well known fighter and member of
the Sir Lords, (which he later became it’s
president) one of the Mission Districts biggest
multi-ethnic street gangs during the 1970's.
Being one of the only Caucasians in his
neighborhood which was primarily the Latino
section of the city, but home to many other
nationalities as well, Sifu McCarthy’s older
brother used to beat up on him on a regular basis
to make him (Sifu McCarthy) tougher. It was his
older brother that actually got him into his
first fight when he was only 4 years old. An
older kid punched the 4 year old Sifu McCarthy
whose older brother encouraged him to strike
back, and in only one punch sent the older kid
running away with a bloody nose.
Sifu McCarthy worshiped his older brother whose
street name was “Rocky” because of their Sicilian
heritage. He idolized him in every way. Even
to go so far as to leave the house
wearing “Rocky’s” big baggy clothes. All of his
Rocky’s friends knew who he was and often
looked out for him out on the streets.
Therefore, during his teenage years and into his
young Adult years, Sifu McCarthy followed in his
older brothers footsteps got involved with
different Asian and Latino street gangs as well
as being a member of Polynesian Crip gangs.
The streets were all he knew, and as Sifu
McCarthy puts it “I was a product of my
environment, I didn’t ask to be raised in the
ghetto.” He was heavy into the street
mentality until Grand Master Salvatera who,
through his own personal experience, began to re-
shape Sifu McCarthy’s mind set, and slowly
swayed him from the streets. Later on down the
line, GM Salvatera solidified his efforts to
straighten out Sifu McCarthy’s life. When the
time came he promoted him to the level of Sifu,
stating “from now on you represent me, and
whatever you do reflects on me.” Sifu McCarthy,
honored to reach the sifu level, and out of pure
respect for his sifu left the street life behind
and focused on gaining experience in teaching
gung fu to others.
Gung Fu saved his life
According to Sifu McCarthy if it wasn’t for gung
fu his life would be over in many ways. Still,
one major reason was that it took him away from
the streets and away from the road to the
penitentiary. He admits he could have ended up
like some of his friends who were either killed
or in jail by now.
But, the main reason Sifu McCarthy believes that
gung fu saved his life was because on November
09, 1987 at the age of 19 years old he fell 50ft.
off of an overpass and was paralyzed from the
waist down. He broke 3 parts of his back, plus
fractured his ankle, and was told that he would
never walk again. Faced with 6 months in the
hospital for recovery, and a lifetime in a wheel
chair, it was either DO or DIE, so he decided to
turn to the only thing left, his gung fu.
With the idea of “Mind Over Matter” Sifu McCarthy
felt that if a form of meditation he learned from
his sifu could help him memorize his forms
better, in other words, internalize his
techniques then maybe it could help with getting
his legs to work again.
Every waking moment that Sifu McCarthy spent in
his hospital bed he would practice what his GM
Salvatera calls Metal Gung Fu, it is where a
student visualizes himself in his minds eye going
through routines from beginning to end. But
because of Monkey Mind (the constant bombardment
of random thoughts while trying to quiet the
mind) is somewhat hard to do. Yet, it is very
effective in increasing the students ability to
focus on a higher level.
Instead of gung fu Sifu McCarthy began to
visualize his legs moving, bending, and even toes
wiggling. He was so determined to beat the odds
that all of his spare time was focused on
recovery. Mental Gung Fu must have worked
because when everyone believed the worst, all of
a sudden (slowly but surely) one by one his legs
began to regain their life. On his very first
try to walk since his accident he defied everyone
and took a total of 15 steps, leaving all who
witnessed it (including Dr’s, patients, and
Physical therapists) in tears.
Then on January 11, 1988 Sifu McCarthy was
released from the hospital 4 months earlier than
expected. Just before leaving the hospital his
doctor asked him how he turned him into a liar?
Sifu McCarthy turned to his doctor and said, “it
was my desire not only to walk but to be able to
practice gung fu again.” His doctor then said “it
looks as if gung fu has saved your life.” Sifu
McCarthy then says just before he turns and walks
out of the hospital, “yes, it has.”
Returning God’s favor
About a year after being released from the
hospital, Sifu McCarthy happened to run into his
hospital room mate who happened to be paralyzed
from the waist down also, and was there from day
one to witness what Sifu McCarthy experienced
during his hospital stay. “Oh my God, look at
you you’re walking ” says Sifu McCarthy. And his
old room mate responded by saying “it’s because
of you.”
Sifu McCarthy was a little confused to how he
ever could affect this man's life and become the
reason he would walk again. Then the old roommate
clarified what he meant by saying that “you said
you were going to walk again, and because you
believed you would you did. And if you could do
it,then I believed I could do it too.”
It was at that point that Sifu McCarthy knew he
was meant to help people, but didn’t know how to
go about it. Then he met Henry, who was in a
wheel chair after breaking his neck and was
paralyzed from the waist down and lost the use of
his hands as well. One of Henry’s dreams was to
be able to learn martial arts but didn’t feel
that dream would come true, until he met Sifu
McCarthy who knew EXACTLY where he was coming
from.
Upon hearing that Henry wanted to learn gung fu
Sifu McCarthy began to train him in the art of
Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut. Henry was taught how to
use Sow Choys, Chop Choys, Upper Cuts, elbows,
and how to block to protect himself. He also
learned from Sifu McCarthy how to use his
electric wheelchair as a weapon if needed.
Almost immediately Henry’s self confidence was
apparent to anyone who knew him. He had also
used the technique he was taught on people right
in front of Sifu McCarthy proving that with a
little confidence and training anyone could learn
gung fu and even be good at it.
Henry trained hard with Sifu McCarthy and loved
learning the Choy Lee Fut System. And due to the
training he was receiving was actually beginning
to see signs of life return to his legs. Because
of this his wish was to regain enough strength in
his legs to stand up on his own and bow to his
sifu, but sadly Henry passed away and was never
able to realize that dream. He will be in Sifu
McCarthy’s heart forever.
A world of knowledge
With at least 25 years of experience in the Choy
Lee Fut system, Sifu McCarthy has combined his
own personal experiences, mixed along with that
of Grand Master Salvatera’s, and is able to bring
a fresh, unique, and modern approach to
traditional Chinese gung fu. He also continues
to help others with disabilities to realize their
dreams of learning martial arts, and has made it
his mission to help them regain as much of their
lives back as possible.
As well, Sifu McCarthy is the originator of a
relatively new hybrid single and double stick
fighting system he calls “Tien Loong Bai Mei”
(Heavenly Dragon Slashes its Tail). This system
was developed and based on both Latosa Escrima,
and Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut’s theories, concepts,
and principals to make it a very effective and
easy to learn method of self defense.
Sifu McCarthy’s Latosa Escrima comes by the way
of his SiSook Guru Briggy Villalon (a senior
student of Rene Latosa), who was also a student
of the Hung Sing Kwoon under Great Grand Master
Jew Leong, as well as the Late Brendan Lai of the
Praying Mantis Style.
Check us out
At the Hung Sing Hung Loong Gung Fu Club we offer
a wide variety of hand or weapon forms, Lion
Dancing, Wooden Dummy Training, Sparring, modern
self defense techniques and approaches. We are
also involved with community service
organizations such as Self Help For the Elderly,
(an organization supported by Jackie Chan).
We teach traditional Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut as
passed down from our Fut San lineage, as well as
offer modern Choy Lee Fut training methods.
We offer group sessions or private lessons are
available by appointments only.
Men, Women, and Children. All ages Welcome.
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Posted 10:17
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Mon, 12 Sep 2005
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| About Sifu McCarthy |
About Sifu McCarthy
Sifu Frank Joseph McCarthy a.k.a. Jew Hung Loong
has been doing martial arts for the most part of
his life. Both his father and older brother were
blacks in Karate, and they were his inspiration
to travel along the same path. He started with
Karate, then moved on to Tai Mantis, and
eventually on to Tai Kwan Do. Still, none of
these styles were what he was looking for so he
quit the lessons, sticking to his street fighting
abilties for the time being.
After the death of his mother in 1980, his father
moved them out of the Mission district which was
a tough place for any kid to live because of
streetgangs, Pimps, Hustlers, dope fiends and
hookers on every street corner, and relocated
them to the Sunset District. It was here that he
happened to come across the Tien Loong Gung Fu
club when he noticed a group of people in a
garage practicing some form of martial arts.
Curiosity got the best of him so he sat on the
sidewalk and just watched until Master Dino
Salvatera came out and invited him in to take a
look around the school.
The only gung fu Sifu McCarthy had ever seen
prior to that day was in Bruce Lee movies and
never really had any idea that it was taught in
San Francisco. However, he instantly knew as he
watched the students spar, and practice their
forms that this was exactly what he was looking
for, and jumped at the chance of joining a gung
fu school.
In 1981 between the ages of 13-14 years old Sifu
McCarthy joined the Tien Loong Gung Fu Club. It
even worked out better for him since he lived on
the same block as the school. Every day from
5:30 to 9:00 p.m. he spent practicing gung fu
which for the time being took him off the
streets. At the time there were no caucasian
males practicing under Master Dino Salvatera, and
neither did he know about the rules against
teaching outsiders. As he recalls, “the day I
walked into the school all the Asian students
stopped what they were doing and looked at me as
if ‘who the hell is that white-boy in our
school?’
As a child Sifu McCarthy grew up around
Latino’s, African American’s, and Asians, rarely
any Caucasians. Because of this he knew it would
only take time before they accepted him. It was
the same way for him while living in the Mission
District where he would actually get into a lot
of street fights for not being a so-called
minority. In that type of situation he learned
how to adapt and blend into his surroundings,
eventually becoming a product of his environment.
According to Sifu McCarthy fighting was a tool
necessary for survival while growing up. He
remembers his older brother getting him into
fights by the age of 4 years old, “he always used
to kick my butt because he wanted his little
brother to be tough like him. His older brother
whose street nickname was “Rocky” because of
their Sicilian heritage was a member (and later
became the president) of one of the Mission’s
biggest multi-ethnic street gangs called the Sir
Lords.
Therefore, by the time Sifu McCarthy took his
first gung fu lessons he was already a fighter,
and knew how to blend in with different ethnic
groups fairly easily. As he recalls there was a
few reasons that he chose the Tien Loong Gung Fu
Club. One was that GrandMaster Salvatera was a
real sifu with real skills to pass on to his
students because of being involved with street
gangs himself. The second was Professor Lau
Bun’s Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut looked as if it was
geared towards realistic combat.
Sifu McCarthy’s younger brother was hit by a car
and put into a coma a little more than a year and
a half later which caused his family to move,
taking him away from the only place he ever felt
at home. His situation got worse as his father
broke from all the pressure he was under and
placed him and his younger brother in foster
homes.
During this time Sifu McCarthy tried his best no
matter how far away he lived to continue
practicing gung fu and participate in the Lion
Dance performances by travelling long distances
by bus. However, the foster care system
eventually moved him too far away, and he had to
stop going back and forth. Within the years away
from the Hung Sing Kwoon-because street life was
all he knew-back in his youth Sifu McCarthy was
affiliated with such street gangs as the Crips,
various hard core Asian gangs, as well as Latino
gangs. It was here that he kept up with the gung
fu he learned under Grand Master Salvatera by
using Choy Lee Fut techniques in his fighting
arscenal.
Meanwhile, Sifu McCarthy hooked up with a couple
of friends who were also martial artists, all
from different styles. Although he couldn’t
actively practice at the Tien Loong Gung Fu Club
he practiced everything he learned and stayed
only with the Choy Lee Fut style. Whenever he
and his two friends (Harry Salas and Alan
Bartolome) got together it was nonstop sparring
no matter where they were be it in the kitchen,
living room, in a mall, or even out in the
streets. “We used go out cruising and we’ be
throwing punches at each other in the car until
we got to a red light. Then the cars doors would
swing open and all 3 of us would spill out into
the streets in a flurry of kicks and punches.
People who saw this was like ‘what the hell? Then
we’d just pile into the car when the light
turned green and keep on going until the next
light and it would start all over again. That is
one of the reasons we became known as the 3
Deadly Dragons” adds Sifu McCarthy.
In 1987 only two months after turning 19 years
old sifu McCarthy was involved in a serious
accident where he ended up paralyzed from the
waist down resulting from a 50 ft fall. He broke
3 parts of his back, almost died within the first
3 hours of surgery, and was told he would never
walk again. This tore him up inside because
aside from walking, he would never be able to
practice gung fu again, which for him was even
more devestating news.
Still, Sifu McCarthy has been a survivor since
childhood, and turning to his figther within
along with Mental Gung Fu, a form of meditation
that originally was meant to aid him in
memorizing his gung fu techinqiues he managed to
revive his legs and did what everyone believed he
wouldn’t. On January 11, 1988 he walked out of
that hospital in only two of the expected 6 month
recovery stay there, turning all of his doctors
into liars.
Around 1991, Sifu McCarthy’s recovery from his
accident had come to a stand still. He walked
with two canes and literally was taking one step
at a time. His recovery wasn’t moving fast
enough so he decided that gung fu was going to
become his savior. On the two canes, he returned
to the Tien Loong Gung Fu Club and asked
regardless of his physical condition to be let
back into the school. Grand Master Salvatera
then took him personally under his wing and
foresaw all of his training first hand.
The first stage of Grand Master Salvatera’s plan
was to start over from scratch, and made him
practice the various Choy Lee Fut horses which
eventually began to rebuild the strength in his
legs as well as stability. Then it was the
running horses mixed along with the Hung Sing
Chut Sing Kuen stances which slowly helped him to
regain his mobility and the confidence to try and
take it to the next level. And the final phase
of Grand Master Salvatera’s plan was basically
forms practice retraining him from scratch how to
maneuver in the Choy Lee Fut manner.
Over time as he progressively got stronger and
stronger, Sifu McCarthy began to compete against
world class performers, even managing to take
home a few 1st and 2nd place trophies in the
process. Little did his competitors know that he
wasn’t nearly ready to compete, but sifu
McCarthy was determined to get back to normal as
much as possible so he never let them know about
his condition.
Sometime in the mid 1990's Sifu McCarthy earned
the title of Sifu under Grand Master Dino
Salvatera. Ever since, he has worked hard at
promoting Professor Lau Bun’s legacy by reaching
out to other Hung Sing Kwoon’s around the world,
reminding them that they still had one of their
own in America. According to Sifu McCarthy, the
Hung Sing Lineage in America was locked away
tightly within the walls of Chinatown, behind the
scenes and out of sight from the non-chinese
public for decades, so no one outside of San
Francisco really ever knew we existed, especially
in Asia until I began my co-respondance.
In the Mean time Sifu McCarthy began teaching
small groups of people. Included in his students
was a man named Henry who is in a wheel chair,
partially paralyzed from the neck down, whose
dream was to learn martial arts but because of
his handicap believed it would never happen.
Henry couldn’t open his hands so Sifu McCarthy
worked with his limitations and taught him to use
the crane techniques, elbows, upper cuts and
even sow choys, as well as various blocking
techniques. Sifu McCarthy also taught Henry how
to use his electric wheelchair as a weapon if
needed.
Needless to say, Henry made major improvements in
his physical strength (upper body) and gained a
sense of confidence that was even noticeable to
those around him. Henry’s one wish was to gain
enough strength to stand up from his wheel chair
and bow to his Sifu. Unfortunately, Henry passed
away and was never able to fulfill his wish, but
is hopefully able to practice his Choy Lee Fut
from Heaven.
Then in October of 2001 Sifu McCarthy along with
two of his classmates and Grand Master Salvatera
took a trip to China to Participate in the 150th
anniversary of the organization of the Fut San
Hung Sing Kwoon. There, Grand Master Salvatera
has managed to retrace Professor Lau Buns roots
to which to have been proven to be true and
authentic Fut San Hung Sing Choy Lee Fut by the
Fut San elders. During their trip, Sifu McCarthy
was faced with a unique opportunity, and with the
blessings Grand Master Salvatera, he took Master
Lok Gee Hung as his Fut San Hung Sing Kwoon Sifu,
who was a senior student of the late Ho Cheurng.
Today, Sifu McCarthy is the first Caucasian to
make it to Professor Lau Buns direct family tree
and under the strict guidance of Grand Master
Salvatera he plans to take the Hung Sing Kwoon to
new heights.
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Posted 00:05
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