The Nam Yang Pugilistic Association - Singapore
Home of Traditional Chinese Martial Arts & Lion
Dance
.
Instructors
Profiles':
Dougal
Simmons
Dougal
Simmons began
training in the Martial arts in 1986, and was luckily enough to be
introduced
to Mater Tan Soh Tin later in the same year, in London. He
initially started training in the White Crane Soft Art, but soon
developed a
keen interest in the Tiger Crane Combination Kung Fu.
After
travelling
to Singapore in 1987
to take part Nam Yang’s 33rd anniversary, he
left the U.K. to
teach English in Taiwan.
Determined to continue with this art, he practised alone. “I looked for
Tiger
Crane in Taiwan but was
unlucky. I even contacted Master Tan in Singapore
to ask if he knew of anybody teaching there,” he says.
.
Master Tan had
not heard
of anyone practicing our art in Taiwan,
but encouraged him to practice what he knew. He was in a small town in
the
north of Taiwan, and
having a light workload and few distractions he had the
opportunity to train.
However
circumstances were to change. While on holiday from Taiwan,
on a small island, off the south west coast of Thailand,
walking along the beach one morning to get some breakfast, Dougal
bumped in to
Master Tan. “I really could not believe it! I passed him and then went
back
past three or four times, just to check it was him before saying hello!
Mater
Tan was beginning to wonder who this strange European guy was walking
up and
down past him so many times!” says Dougal.
“I
had been
training alone in my room in Taiwan,
and so of course had developed so many bad habits. Master Tan had to
take me
right back to basics. In a way I had to re-learn everything! I had SO
many
questions, and was very impressed with Master Tan’s ability to answer
them all
with such patience and understanding. He even encouraged me to ask as
much as I
liked about the art, something which other Martial Arts teachers had
often
frowned upon me doing in England.
It was clear his depth, knowledge and ability to teach the Art were
amazing.”
He was also struck by Master Tan’s humility; “People call me a Master,”
he
said, “But I am still learning too!”
Master
Tan offered
Dougal a place to stay at the clubhouse in Singapore
if he visited the club. While staying there, during a stopover to train
6 moths
later, Master Tan remarked that teaching jobs were easily available in Singapore.
That week’s stopover lasted about 5 years.
Living
at the
Club in Geylang was a great experience. Master Tan was always patient
with
Dougal’s incessant questioning. At the same time he was firm in his
explanation
of how to progress in the art. “90% of the learning has to be done by
the
student. A master cannot give you Kung Fu. He teaches the student to
get it,
but the student has to get it them self. The student has to put in the
time and
sweat! Only 10% of your training comes from me. But that 10% is the
vital
ingredient! Without it you get nowhere! I’ve shown you what to do! Now
go and
train!”
At that
time
Martial arts were much more controlled in Singapore,
and eventually, after about 5 years there, Master Tan decided to put
Dougal up for the Martial Arts
Control
Unit (MACU) Instructors Exam, in Singapore,
which he passed. This enabled him to play an active role in teaching in
Singapore.
But when he returned to Brighton, England, he was
reluctant to teach. Master Tan literally forced him to
start a class there, saying “You will never even begin to Master the
art, unless
you teach it!”
Dougal
Simmons founded the Brighton branch of the Nam
Yang Pugilistic
Association in 1999. It is now run by James Cheung and
Thomas Stiff.
Returning
to England
gave Dougal the opportunity to train with Iain
Armstrong, and so he travelled to
Epsom
whenever he could. “His knowledge of the art is very impressive and I
was lucky
to have a SiXiong (Elder training brother) who pays so much attention
to
detail, and whose devotion to the art is unsurpassed. Iain is able to
fill and
explain many of the gaps in my practice that I miss.” One needs to
train
together, since different people absorb the art in different ways. This
is why
the concept of a family is so important and beneficial to our training
at Nam
Yang.
Training
in a
group constructively sharing knowledge, aids the learning process
considerably.
Research in to people’s learning ability, specifically in the area of
Language
Learning, shows that learners, both high level and low level students,
progress
faster when ‘peer teaching’ is done. Through teaching, people examine
their
knowledge, and adapt to it to deal with each individual, just as in
martial
arts. Arriving
back in
the UK, Iain
both encouraged and trained Dougal to compete. Dougal went on
to win 3 gold medals and one silver at the British Open Martial Arts
Tournament
in Milton Keynes in 1998, for Long and Short weapons, Internal Forms
and
Traditional Forms categories. He also won gold medals at the British
Council
for Chinese Martial Arts National Championships in 1999, 2000, and 2001.
Dougal has now returned to Singapore where he continues to train and
help
teach. He also enjoys Traditional Southern Lion Dance and performs
each year with the Nam Yang troupe at Chinese New Year in Singapore.
“I was
told
early on in training by Master Tan that there was only two things I had
to do
in Nam Yang to improve my kung fu. The first is to start. The second is
not to
stop.”
