# Training while travelling through Europe



## Bkouba (Aug 12, 2015)

Hey guys I'll be travelling through France, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia, Italy, Greece, Spain from late August till early December. I've been training wing Chun 1 and a half years under Alan Orr while competing in semi pro MMA here in New Zealand. I'm also a purple belt in Bjj and have been training catch wrestling under Alan also. 
I'm keen to see if there are any clubs or individuals that would be interested in training with me while I'm travelling. I'm always eager to share knowledge and learn as much as I can while meeting cool like minded people who live and breath Wing Chun. 
I've also thrown my name down for a bare knuckle boxing match hosted by a MMA show in England on the 20th November so the sharper I can be for that the better - still need the all clear from the mrs but that's another story. Any help would be appreciated, cheers.


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## geezer (Aug 13, 2015)

Bkouba said:


> Hey guys I'll be travelling through France, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia, Italy, Greece, Spain from late August till early December. I've been training wing Chun 1 and a half years under Alan Orr while competing in semi pro MMA here in New Zealand. I'm also a purple belt in Bjj and have been training catch wrestling under Alan also...



Sorry I can't help, since I'm in the States and don't have many contacts in Europe. You might try getting in touch with "Fighterman", AKA Paul Fernandez of "Wing Tsun Do" in Italy. He seems to have a somewhat open minded view about evolving his WC and testing out his ideas ...and he does speak English. He grew up somewhere down-under.

Another thing. When you take off on this journey, be sure to blog about it or at least keep posting here about your experiences. If you can post some video, that would be awesome. Like many here, I admire what your coach, Alan Orr is doing and would love to see how it goes when you work with other WC folk in Europe. Too bad you can't make it to the States.


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## Tez3 (Aug 13, 2015)

Bkouba said:


> I've also thrown my name down for a bare knuckle boxing match hosted by a MMA show in England on the 20th November



Hi, sounds like quite a journey, I'm envious! Which MMA promotion is the bareknuckle fight on? Is it in the north of England?


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## marques (Aug 13, 2015)

How can you travel so much, and so long time??

So try the spanish KEYSI and the british DNA - DEFENCE LAB and tell us the difference.
In the Netherlands I would visit Mr. Perfect (Ernesto Hoost).


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## Bkouba (Aug 15, 2015)

geezer said:


> Sorry I can't help, since I'm in the States and don't have many contacts in Europe. You might try getting in touch with "Fighterman", AKA Paul Fernandez of "Wing Tsun Do" in Italy. He seems to have a somewhat open minded view about evolving his WC and testing out his ideas ...and he does speak English. He grew up somewhere down-under.
> 
> Another thing. When you take off on this journey, be sure to blog about it or at least keep posting here about your experiences. If you can post some video, that would be awesome. Like many here, I admire what your coach, Alan Orr is doing and would love to see how it goes when you work with other WC folk in Europe. Too bad you can't make it to the States.


Thanks for the advice bro, The states is next on the list!! I already write a monthly column for mmauncaged magazine detailing the highs and lows of a 'weekend warrior' part time MMA fighter. 
But yes I will for sure be writing a blog as I travel, train and compete abroad.


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## Bkouba (Aug 15, 2015)

Tez3 said:


> Hi, sounds like quite a journey, I'm envious! Which MMA promotion is the bareknuckle fight on? Is it in the north of England?


Yep it's in the north and it's a show being run by Duane Harper - not to sure what it's called but that's all minor details in my mind


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## Bkouba (Aug 15, 2015)

marques said:


> How can you travel so much, and so long time??
> 
> So try the spanish KEYSI and the british DNA - DEFENCE LAB and tell us the difference.
> In the Netherlands I would visit Mr. Perfect (Ernesto Hoost).



I live pretty humbly and have been saving for awhile, also my girlfriend is from England so we have places to crash there. 
The Netherlands is going to be an interesting trip, I have a contact at Mikes gym. 
Knowing the way they train its lucky I've been taking beatings from Alan for the last year so I should be conditioned to survive my time there, let's hope.


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## Dylan9d (Aug 18, 2015)

If you want to train Ving Tsun contact this organisation in Holland they are pretty good

Gratis Proefles - Ving Tsun Wing Chun Kung Fu in Almere Amersfoort Amsterdam Zoetermeer Zeist


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## Tez3 (Aug 18, 2015)

Bkouba said:


> Yep it's in the north and it's a show being run by Duane Harper - not to sure what it's called but that's all minor details in my mind




We have a few bare knuckle fights that are held in straw bale 'rings' in fields, most of the fighters are gypsies, hard men ( and women) so I'd check carefully to see if it's a legit fight night.
I do know of Duane Harper but not as a promoter.


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## Bkouba (Aug 18, 2015)

Tez3 said:


> We have a few bare knuckle fights that are held in straw bale 'rings' in fields, most of the fighters are gypsies, hard men ( and women) so I'd check carefully to see if it's a legit fight night.
> I do know of Duane Harper but not as a promoter.


Thanks for the heads up. Yeah here in NZ MMA is still like the Wild West, every opponent I've faced has had been a local guy. The promoter seems to neglect to give their proper record but you just gotta roll with the punches sometimes. I'm after a tough fight but as long as people are respectful afterwards then all cool.


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## Bkouba (Aug 18, 2015)

Dylan9d said:


> If you want to train Ving Tsun contact this organisation in Holland they are pretty good
> 
> Gratis Proefles - Ving Tsun Wing Chun Kung Fu in Almere Amersfoort Amsterdam Zoetermeer Zeist


Thank you I'll will definitely check them out!!


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## Tez3 (Aug 18, 2015)

Bkouba said:


> Thanks for the heads up. Yeah here in NZ MMA is still like the Wild West, every opponent I've faced has had been a local guy. The promoter seems to neglect to give their proper record but you just gotta roll with the punches sometimes. I'm after a tough fight but as long as people are respectful afterwards then all cool.




I'm asking around to see what show ( if it's close I'll come and watch ) and who's promoting it. I do know someone who promotes bare knuckle fights though.


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## Bkouba (Aug 18, 2015)

Tez3 said:


> I'm asking around to see what show ( if it's close I'll come and watch ) and who's promoting it. I do know someone who promotes bare knuckle fights though.


Cool thanks for the help. I'll get back to you when I have more info, I'm flying out tonight so will check back here once I get to London.
That be great if you could check it out, would be nice having at least a couple people cheering me on haha


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## r'n'r (Aug 21, 2015)

Wing Chun Kuen

I would recommend you to go to Slovenia and contact him for a private lesson. He's one of the best.


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## Bkouba (Aug 23, 2015)

r'n'r said:


> Wing Chun Kuen
> 
> I would recommend you to go to Slovenia and contact him for a private lesson. He's one of the best.


Slovenia has just been added to the list


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## Bkouba (Sep 3, 2015)

After getting mangled by Leo And his guys in London, I'm off to Belgium next for a couple days. Anyone know guys there to train with?


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## Mac01 (Sep 6, 2015)

It will be nice to touch hands with you, your Sifu is well known person in W.Chun comunity.
You are welcome to visit for BJJ at 
Carlos Maia BJJ Macedonia 
and also we can do some private  Wing Chun "rolling" as well.
Place to visit Skopje-R.Macedonia.
(Contact: Zikov Marjan | Facebook)

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk


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## Bkouba (Sep 7, 2015)

Mac01 said:


> It will be nice to touch hands with you, your Sifu is well known person in W.Chun comunity.
> You are welcome to visit for BJJ at
> Carlos Maia BJJ Macedonia
> and also we can do some private  Wing Chun "rolling" as well.
> ...


Thank you for the offer, yes it's been great training with different people from varying backgrounds/cultures. After a few minutes rolling the barriers come down and you leave with a new friend - nothing like being dropped with head kick then taken out for coffee afterwards haha. I will keep in touch, Greece was initially a must on this trip, which would make visiting your gym easy. The only thing holding us back from visiting is the cost of insurance, but I'll keep in contact regardless, cheers.


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## Bkouba (Sep 15, 2015)

After too many cold showers post kettlebell training we're moving on from Belgium to Amsterdam. Booking into campground for much needed warm shower and check out the local WC scene!


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## Transk53 (Sep 15, 2015)

This maybe of some help. Click on the associated links. Big Euro presense with WC.

http://ewto.co.uk/index.html


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## geezer (Sep 15, 2015)

Transk53 said:


> This maybe of some help. Click on the associated links. Big Euro presense with WC.
> 
> EWTO - England Official Site of European Wing Tsun Kung Fu Organisation in England



Yeah, but I don't know how open they are with people outside of their organization. On the other hand there are a lot of EWTO "rebels" (former members). Some may be accessible and open to exchanges.

BTW this is just speculation. I've never trained WC/WT in Europe. When I studied LT WT here in the States however, some EWTO people came over and worked with us. The ones we encountered were very good. Emin, for example. He even ran our US Assn. for many years before starting his own EBMAS organization. That was after my active time in WT though.


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## Bkouba (Sep 16, 2015)

geezer said:


> Yeah, but I don't know how open they are with people outside of their organization. On the other hand there are a lot of EWTO "rebels" (former members). Some may be accessible and open to exchanges.
> 
> BTW this is just speculation. I've never trained WC/WT in Europe. When I studied LT WT here in the States however, some EWTO people came over and worked with us. The ones we encountered were very good. Emin, for example. He even ran our US Assn. for many years before starting his own EBMAS organization. That was after my active time in WT though.



I've got a mate over here who's had afew kickboxing fights so might just train with him and his guys. There's only half a dozen of them training out of a garage. I might leave the training to guys I've been referred too from people I trust. I just hate training not knowing the tempo. It's hard to guage people from different backgrounds. Rolling with some of Leo's guys in London I was real defensive at first because a lot of them were jacked Eastern Europeans haha. After the first session though I found out they were cool, just had a different demeanour to what I was used to back home.


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## Bkouba (Sep 26, 2015)

Got some good Dutch kickboxing in while in Amsterdam with an old mate from high school that funnily enough happen to be training out here. Just spent the last  three days in Switzerland and meet up with some guys from a WC school. Learnt some new things and manage to show a couple techniques also. Really cool and humble guys which makes training fun, tough but without ego we were able to control the level. Will miss this place and can't wait to return. Heading to Italy now to get some more training in with one of my sifu' online students.


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## Bkouba (Oct 1, 2015)

Many thanks to Wing Chun Schule Chur for letting me train there while I was passing through Switzerland. Also thank you to Daniel and Marco for coming along to the session I ran the following day. Tough, humble and open to new ideas - it's no wonder your the top students in the club! Look forward to returning and staying a little longer.


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## Transk53 (Oct 1, 2015)

Bkouba said:


> Got some good Dutch kickboxing in while in Amsterdam with an old mate from high school that funnily enough happen to be training out here. Just spent the last  three days in Switzerland and meet up with some guys from a WC school. Learnt some new things and manage to show a couple techniques also. Really cool and humble guys which makes training fun, tough but without ego we were able to control the level. Will miss this place and can't wait to return. Heading to Italy now to get some more training in with one of my sifu' online students.



Online student? Are there to verify something about the knowledge learnt or not?


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## Bkouba (Oct 1, 2015)

Transk53 said:


> Online student? Are there to verify something about the knowledge learnt or not?


Nah not checking up or anything haha, just keen to meet up with like minded people while travelling. It's been cool putting faces - and fists, to names. Only positive experiences so far!


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## Transk53 (Oct 1, 2015)

Bkouba said:


> Nah not checking up or anything haha, just keen to meet up with like minded people while travelling. It's been cool putting faces - and fists, to names. Only positive experiences so far!



Well good luck, but positives are fine, but tempered with the negative. Learning is a hell of thing ain't it


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## Bkouba (Oct 1, 2015)

Transk53 said:


> Well good luck, but positives are fine, but tempered with the negative. Learning is a hell of thing ain't it


It sure is! Once you go down the martial arts road there's no turning back, a healthy addiction - depending on who you talk to.


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## Jake104 (Oct 1, 2015)

Don't let all this negative arguing forum crap discourage you from sticking with WC. Wing Chun has a lot to offer fighting/ fighters. You probably already realize that there is a lot of overlapping ideas in MA's. In my group my teacher will have me show a huen application from the clinch. The wrestlers smile and say, " wow kinda sort looks like pummeling".


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## Bkouba (Oct 2, 2015)

Jake104 said:


> Don't let all this negative arguing forum crap discourage you from sticking with WC. Wing Chun has a lot to offer fighting/ fighters. You probably already realize that there is a lot of overlapping ideas in MA's. In my group my teacher will have me show a huen application from the clinch. The wrestlers smile and say, " wow kinda sort looks like pummeling".


.  Yep I was taking a small roup of WC guys in Switzerland through some wrestling drills. They were so stiff, but when I referred to pummelling as the wrestlers Chi Sao, they relaxed and started throwing me around haha.


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## Bkouba (Oct 11, 2015)

It was cool to catch up with Michael Bark while in Trieste, Italy. In between the pizza and coffee we actually managed to do some training! Such a nice guy, I also picked up a couple new skills I'll hopefully get to use soon.


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## Bkouba (Oct 19, 2015)

Back in London, man what a trip. Training with Aaoron Baum tommorow at kings cross. Enjoyed myself a little too much while I was travelling so it's going to be a tough few weeks getting back in shape. Going to head up north to visit Duane Harper  and get beat up by Josh Kaldani before his next fight. Between those guys, Pete Irving and getting mauled by Leo Negao I'm sure I'll be in fighting shape in no time. Worse thing is I actually have to get a job now haha


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## geezer (Oct 19, 2015)

Bkouba said:


> Back in London, man what a trip. Training with Aaoron Baum tommorow at kings cross.....



Can't wait to hear how things go with Aaron Baum. Keep us posted!


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## Tez3 (Oct 19, 2015)

Bkouba said:


> Back in London, man what a trip. Training with Aaoron Baum tommorow at kings cross. Enjoyed myself a little too much while I was travelling so it's going to be a tough few weeks getting back in shape. Going to head up north to visit Duane Harper  and get beat up by Josh Kaldani before his next fight. Between those guys, Pete Irving and getting mauled by Leo Negao I'm sure I'll be in fighting shape in no time. Worse thing is I actually have to get a job now haha



Pete Irving is a star, first met him when he was a very skinny weird teenager way back in 2003, he's grown in everyway since. He fought on our very first show against Ian Butlin ( the guy who now works with the bare knuckle boxing guys) first time I saw him he was wearing ripped jeans, a sort of red tartan kilt and had a Mohican hair cut. Now, I feel really old. He's fought some really good guys including a legend ( not necessarily of MMA lol) Paul Jenkins. Seriously though he's fought good fighters and won.


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## Bkouba (Oct 27, 2015)

Just got back training with Aaron Baum at kings cross and man everything my sifu said about the guy was right. One of the nicest, toughest guys I've meet. There's not many people I would sparr bare knuckle with upon first meeting but felt instantly at ease with the guy. There was no ego entering his class and he guys - and girls, were all friendly. We were able to sparr hard, soft, flow and grind. His striking in the clinch through me off. Looking at him I thought he would be a handful physically but the way he take my balance left me grinning ear to ear. Because I started competing almost as soon as I began wing Chun, I feel I need to go back to the fundamentals. The obvious consequence of competing so soon in MMA is you kind of fall into the jack of all trades predicament, or at least I have. You kind of learn just enough to get you by before the next fight ect. It's funny how you come full circle in your training - the same thing happened with my bjj. I will be training there every Thursday from now, preparing for some bare knuckle bouts I've got planned while I'm over here.


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