I have observed a couple of Mr. Funk’s classes. From what I have seen and what I have heard, I would not recommend him. If you email me I could recommend some other teachers in the area.
To bamboo
You criticise others for anonyminity but cant spell “praying mantis” right. You type “prey”.
Frankly I dont care how long or ‘respected’ jon funk is in the eyes of clueless caucasians. His video’s are a joke.
And as far as converting to wushu. I’d like to know his connections in china. Because I’d like to know where his Quan Shi is.
Secondly, you have to be an AMATURE to compete in the olympics (sp?). If he’s setting himself up for wushi in the olympics, its not as a competitor.
Something you may need to check out:
http://www.stack.nl/%7egalactus/remailers/fallacy2.html
Turiyan, Brahmin caste, Ordos clan
The REAL taichi:
http://www.wfdesign.com/tc/
http://www.wustyle.com/108.html
Thanks for the spelling correction.
My point about anonyminity on the net was that
it’s to easy to say things here in this medium with out the responsibility of owning your words.
If you can’t say something that you wouldn’t tell that person directly or wouldn’t mind having your teacher know then why post it at all?
As I said it’s too easy.
I thought that we as a comity would band together and try and help others along the path, not put people down who’ve been teaching and spreading the art for many years.
I guess we just have to many of those clueless Caucasians teaching the art after being certified by their respected Asian teachers to teach.
So why don’t you find one of those clueless caucasians and tell them that they are clueless and shouldn’t be teaching and then come back and post the results.
enjoy life
bamboo leaf
jon funk legit
I cant believe what im reading why are people insulting this person, you cant trash a persons name, or his teaching if you never fought this person in a full contact match, that means like the old days of gung fu, todays artist only go by how flashy is his moves, but i’ll take a good street fighter over some of these new modern day wushu acrobatics people. i dont train with nor have ant affiliation with public schools, I was taught in the basement of my teachers house, he was older came over from china he didnt move like some young acrobat, but he new how to use his martial art and thats how we practiced all aplications and fighting, so if you never fought him, you should hold your tongue, because defacing a sifu only shows your own imaturity and lack of respect to someone you dont even know.
Well, first of all I have met Jon Funk a few times. He seems like a very nice guy. I have not played hands with him my self but he seen others. What he does is different of what we do in some ways as far as training from what I can tell. Not someone I would want to train with myself just because, ofcouse I like/feel the way my Sifu is training me is just best for me.(just some know one spaz out on me I did not say BETTER big diff. anyways) But he if your friend wanted to check him out I would say go for it he might be just what your friend is looking for.
sifus
lizmantis that is a good point if you like where you are and a comfertible whos teaching you, then stay and pick there brain, as for funk and other teachers who are putting there forms on tape, I think its great, you can buy a tape of a form you dont know nor have, I wish more teachers would do this there are so many mantis forms out there, wouldnt it be nice to be able to learn them, nothing beats a real teacher but when your teacher retires, or you live somewhere where there isnt no schools, you might want to use these videos just to keep your intrest i wish the monks would do a series on the mantis and other animal forms for us to enjoy, because I know i’ll never get the chance to train with one.
sifus
lizmantis that is a good point if you like where you are and a comfertible whos teaching you, then stay and pick there brain, as for funk and other teachers who are putting there forms on tape, I think its great, you can buy a tape of a form you dont know nor have, I wish more teachers would do this there are so many mantis forms out there, wouldnt it be nice to be able to learn them, nothing beats a real teacher but when your teacher retires, or you live somewhere where there isnt no schools, you might want to use these videos just to keep your intrest i wish the monks would do a series on the mantis and other animal forms for us to enjoy, because I know i’ll never get the chance to train with one.
sifus
lizmantis that is a good point if you like where you are and a comfertible whos teaching you, then stay and pick there brain, as for funk and other teachers who are putting there forms on tape, I think its great, you can buy a tape of a form you dont know nor have, I wish more teachers would do this there are so many mantis forms out there, wouldnt it be nice to be able to learn them, nothing beats a real teacher but when your teacher retires, or you live somewhere where there isnt no schools, you might want to use these videos just to keep your intrest i wish the monks would do a series on the mantis and other animal forms for us to enjoy, because I know i’ll never get the chance to train with one. 
I think it would be cool to be able to get all the forms tape to. But there is one slight problam with that. One learning something for a tape is ofcourse harder. Two I dont know if everyone does this but. I know Lily Lau on all of her tapes where she teaches a form she leaves a part out. That way no one can say “yeh I trained under Lily Lau”. Then someone can see the form and be like oh yeh thats from tape 27. Also get “every” Mantis Form on Tape would be hard cause alot of people dont want so and so to have a form, (~so and so being someone they have not trained~)
A few points.
As LizMantis pointed out, no master is willing to put the sum of his/her knowledge in a book, video, or other form of media. Just look at what is put out by masters such as Chan Pui, Lily Lau, Tat Mau Wong, Paul Eng, etc. They most definetly do not put everything that they know into their books/vidoes; and it is safe to assume that sometimes they even change the basic information contained therein in order to ensure that only their actual students know the “real” stuff.
However, it is also safe to assume that they would not put out something with their names on it that would not be indicative of their level of skill. From what I have seen of Jon Funk, he seems to be a nice guy who, IMHO, does not give enough bang for the buck, as they say. I have met a former student of his who has told me as much, and have met a few others online (who used to be his students and are learning under other people) who also agree with those sentiments (although I cannot really vouch for their authenticity, as reality isn’t as absolute as one might hope on the internet, heh). But let’s be clear on one thing - he is a legitimate lineage master. Whether or not he is better/worse than the others out there is, on the other hand, objective
I herd that teachers leave things out to, I was in email with a ertain school in san fran. I was intrested in learning a five animal form somthing totally diff, and they told me to get the tape then fly out when I can and they would fix the form for me. I never figured out why these people leave things out. it only degrades the reputation, if somone has trained many years, and just wanted to learn another form for intrest. then performs it and its wrong it makes the person who made the tape look foolish not the practitioner. most people use tapes for learning another form to do for fun, they will always use the arts they where taught by there teacher when in a fight. unless there idiots, ive seen some applications on some tapes, i couldnt beleive what i was seeing. they should be ashamed of them selves, my teacher told me if i get into a fight and loose i deface him and the art. thats why fighting and applictions are the most important not flash
They leave it out, so people cant go around saying that they train under someone when really they dont. Which sad enough to say people will do that. Which in some ways is really others fought for going around and saying that they ruin it for the rest of us that just want to learn a cool form. One thing though I know its hard because of travel/money/etc. But you what to learn a form bad enough and your Sifu does not know it. Maybe he will know someone that does. (like his/her sifu maybe) And you can learn it through them. Other wise pretty much out of luck. But just train hard on what you know, and good can come.
good shr-fu’s
you missed Master Shr Jeng Jong of Taiwan and John Scolaro
18elders,
I think he missed a lot more than the just the two you mentioned. BTW, I’ve heard quite a bit about John Scolaro from a Kung Fu brother and had the opportunity to meet him at Nick Scrima’s tournament in St. Pete. A real nice guy. He did a two man set with Steve Otaviano, an ex-Wah Lum Sifu. Do you train with John?
Faking the funk?
Jon Funk is my Si-gong (teacher’s teacher). It always amazes how much he is bashed in online forums. I have conflicting feelings about submitting this message: on the one hand, I feel I should stand up for him, and on the other, I feel like forgetting the whole issue would be more in line with the Tao. Argh.
Having touched hands with him once, and having observed him tossing my teachers around like rag dolls, I don’t doubt his skills or abilities. However, he is not known for having a reverence for other styles. He has, on various occasions, made denegrating comments about other systems and styles, and this has certainly not endeared him to victims of his remarks.
Funk’s technique (labeled in previous submissions in this thread as too ‘karate like’), is characteristic of our Wo Hon Fon lineage. 7-star has a long history of arguments between Wo Hon Fon- and Chiu Chi Man- descended players.
Students who desire to train under him should be aware that Funk came up under the brutalistic old-school training methods of Al Cheng. Especially with his senior students, Sigong will not spare blows to communicate the importance of things like structure and the reaction-distance line. These lessons, though harsh, are not easily forgotten.
My suggestion to the potential student is to observe or try a few classes, and try to gauge whether training there would be appropriate for him/her. The benefits of his expansive knowledge and understanding could prove a boon to any player.
hua lin laoshi
Yes i train with Shr-fu Scolaro. His teacher Shr Jeng Jong was also here for 3 weeks. He taught a nice seminar at John’s school and went over alot of history and applications. His knowledge of applications is unbelievable. His teacher will be back in July for a month.
18elders,
Unfortunately I couldn’t make for the seminar Friday. It sounded like a very informative seminar. Applications is an area I’ve been exploring quite a bit lately. More than I have in the past. Especially the mantis side of Wah Lum. I believe there are a lot of ‘hidden’ applications I haven’t found yet in the forms I’ve learned in the past. I’ve been taking my current knowledge and going back over old forms to see if I can find anything new. I’m discovering some interesting things that I missed when I first learned the form. Progress in the Martial Arts isn’t always about learning new forms or material. Sometimes it’s just taking what you already know to a new level.