I found a teacher here that recently opened up a Mantis School in San Antonio, Tx. I haven’t really found time to check out any classes, but It sounds sorta shady to me. Does anyone know of this style or has any heard of Enrique H. Alverez, D.Sc.?
BTW, The school is called “The Little Praying Mantis Kung-Fu Academy”.
Hey Capt’n,
Sounds fascintaing.
My guess is that this is an uncertified Wah Lum person who really likes the WL form called Little Mantis.
Keep us posted.
Ask him to show an example of the Wrestling hands(jut sao) and Tan Tuei.
d@mn tainan, you’re good.
Think you are completely right.
So we are looking at another cr@p school, no?
Why not stop in at “The Little Praying Mantis Kung-Fu Academy” and pay a friendly visit ? That way you could find out first hand what they are about.
Best regards,
UM.
I plan on it. The reason why I ask is because I’ve never heard of Tam Tui Jut Sow Praying Mantis, but thats not saying much. I’m not a Mantis Coinnisour. Is this a ligitamate Mantis Branch?
Meat,
I can’t say they are cr@p just yet.
Wang Lang supposedly researched and combined different styles to make a system that would enable him to win fights.
If this “Little Mantis School” can whip my butt it is hard for me to say they are no good.
UM,
I would do what you say.
Captin,
Keep us posted.
Every once in a while someone says they found a new PM school and will tell us what happens after a visit… then we never hear from them again!
I hate that!
Tong Long Jut Sow or wrestling hands is SUPPOSE to be the mantis part of what Wah Lum Tam Tui Pai is composed of as well as the Tam Tui System.
It may just be a another disgruntled former certified insructor of the Wah Lum School that left on his or her own.
Doesnt mean their kung fu is crap just means they chose a different path.
jut sow PM
Tainan Mantis,
What do you know of Jut Sao in America? Outside of Wah Lum, I don`t hear too much about this system in the States. Is there Wrestling Hands in Taiwan?
Like Tainan Mantis and Ursa Major put it, make a friendly visit. Ask to see Tan Tui and Jut Sao. Dont leave us hanging! Im with TM, finding a new GF school is important, fill us in on the details.
Possible JSPM teacher`s in this area:
Ruben Lerma
Rob Roy
Wallace Cupp
Unfortunate to the WL system , there lineage did not include the ling side of forms. What I have learned thru the Pong Lai System, I see Mantis in Wah Lum. Too bad they are not being taught.
Tam Tui Jut Sow Praying Mantis is what Wah Lum is supposed to be. I trained Wah Lum 9 years ago. I believe this Little Praying Mantis School is probably run by a former Wah Lum practitioner.
Made a phone call.
Talked to him, he sounds like a nice guy.
He is teaching in San Antonio & Bulverde (my home-town).
He took Wah Lum in Boston for 16 years.
Enrique Alverez.
I’ll most likely visit him on my next trip home.
Best Wishes to all,
~BTL
That’s cool. 
I was waiting for BTL’s input. I plan on visiting tommarrow. I talked with him also, and he spoke of his Pig Style Kung Fu that he learned in South America. Very Interesting, I’d say. But, I’ll definitly let all of you know how it went.
CaptinPickAxe
So how did your visit go? You were definitly going to let us know!
Yes, please let us know how things went as well as impressions.
Kinda cut for time to visit… Will most likely pay a visit to him on wednesday.
I’m having a hard time making it out there. His class goes on @ the same time and day as my Shuai Chiao. I’m definitly going, and yes, I’m going to let ya’ll know…just maybe not for a short while:D
Lets all give a big communal sigh for tam tui jut sau
Hmmm… I dont even know where to start.
Well, nice things first. He was a very nice man. Seemed quite humble.
Ok, on to the bad.
The explanation he gave to us as to why northern styles tend to focus more on kicks and aerial techniques, is that its rockier terrain inthe north and its easier to jump, and the south they were forced to fight close.
We learned “8 chain punches” and “Dropping horse”. They moved in square patterns, actually quite similar to the tae kwan do I learned as a youngster. The blocks and strikes were rigid, and the “pig style”… Well… I need to see more to make an accurate statement about it.
Every time he explained something to us, he seemed like he was trying to convince himself as well. He continually improperly corrected us. The mechanics were bad. The techniques were interestingly not efficient…
Stances - 7 star stance - like a cat, but on the heel on the front foot. No explanation was given. Crushing stance, about like standing straight up. No explanation was given. Horse was a high horse stance, and shaky at that. Cat was cat..
Punches - Rigid. Back fist was a 90 degree angle to the upper arm, to attack a person standing directly to your side. He said to “Always imagine you are fighting a person that is the same size as you.” Good advice? no. He also took it upon himself to examine the amazing profficiency of an inverted crescent, and how just one could knock someone out… :roll:
All in all, I feel that the best thing about it was that I got to work my stances mildly for a little while. Anything I missed Im sure CPA will cover.
That is all for now,
-Meat Shake:rolleyes:
Edit: Just wanted to reiterate that he was a very friendly person, and seemed a little nervous and most likely new to teaching. I appreciate the respect he gave me when we met him.
Notice: The Captin is Disappointed
Quote of the night:
“Tam Tui Jut Sow has enough material to keep you busy for 5 years.”
really…I didn’t make this up…5 WHOLE years…
An interesting tidbit of information:
“Tam Tui Jut Sow is the only recognized Shaolin art here in the US.”
So you 7 star guys and 8 steppers are outta luck, sorry.
He also said a semi-rude things to one of his students. It turns out that the student owns the gym…:eek:
Another point, He said he could knock someone out with a wierd ass twisted arm punch. Which, obviously, could not knock someone out.
He showed us an arm break where you pull the arm behind your head…Sadly, you have to bend the arm the other way which was very hard to do with this particular break.
Oddly, the whole class felt like Karate. I found myself clockwatching (something I don’t have time to do in Shuai Chiao)
On top of that, good ol’ Shake was yawning constantly.
I half-assed my stances and got complimented. Its good to know my 50% is better than most 150%. I’ll agree with Shake on this though, the man was very nice and so was Thomas, but his Kung Fu was lacking to say the least.
-The Captin
class
good old wah lum, sorry you wasted an hour of your time,
I could’ve warned you but seeing is believing!
Was he certified? Not that it would’ve made a difference.
Just goes to show what some of us have been saying for a long time.
I have to say again, He was incredibly nice & had nothing but respect for us. So, I wouldn’t go as far as to say he wasn’t a good Shifu. I plan to go back and check out how his students are doing in a couple of months. Right now, he only has one formal student who is a white belt. I doubt the Martial Art, but I’m in no position to call him a bad Shifu. Only time will tell.