Sima Kuntao

I began my martial arts journey in 1974 and have continually trained since then, except for a 2- year break when I focused on playing rugby.  I began with hard/external styles then after gaining proficiency in various systems and suffering from a life-threatening illness I started training in and investigating the soft/internal styles.  My experience in training, competing, teaching and coaching goes from local, through regional, national and international levels.  I am based in London but have travelled around the country and the world deepening my knowledge by training with practitioners from various systems and managed to obtain Black Belts or equivalent teaching grades in at least 7 martial systems.  In most systems I studied I have learned the forms, basic techniques, and drills along with various weapons, breathing, meditative and healing exercises. I have studied martial arts from all parts of Asia, Africa, North America, South America and Europe.  The fighting system I now teach is Progressive form of Kuntao Silat. Kuntao has a base of Chinese Kung Fu, Indonesian Pencak Silat and other South East Asian martial techniques. .

As well as my extensive training I also participated in numerous competitions in varied disciplines, which helped increase my experience and
deepen my understanding.  I have competed in traditional full contact (San Shou and San Da), Tai Chi pushing hands, Kickboxing, Semi-Contact fighting, Karate Points-fighting, Light continuous points fighting, Chinese Wrestling, Knockdown Karate fighting, Judo competition,
Russian Sombo and various amateur Submission Fighting events.  During competition I managed to attain many Gold, Silver and Bronze medals along with various awards for Best Technician, Most spirited fighter and Best Fighter of the event.  I also won many medals for empty-hand and weapon forms in both hard/external forms and soft/internal forms.

In 1989 after months of far-from-good health I was diagnosed as suffering with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. This is a cancer of the lymphatic system that affects the white blood cells and the body’s immune system.  For most of that year I underwent various medical procedures that began with diagnostic surgery, included chemotherapy and concluded with a bone-marrow transplant.  As I was physically unable to continue with the strenuous kung-fu training during this time I decided to investigate Tai Chi and other internal arts. I already knew basic Breathing and Energy exercises from years of Shaolin training but now began to study the Internal Energy systems.  The softer exercises coupled with deep breathing and lots of walking aided me in the recovery process.  The years of hard training also played a major factor in forging the will that helped me overcome the disease, pus I knew it wasn’t my time.  After recovering from the illness I returned to Kung-Fu training but continued practising Tai Chi.

From the early 90’s until retirement from fighting in 1996 I was the most successful full-contact kung-fu fighter in the country.  I was one of the only Sifu/Instructors who actively competed in full-contact competition. Many teachers refused to compete through fear of ‘losing face’ if they failed to win their bouts.  During my fighting career I was noted as being a ‘Technical Fighter’ and a ‘Stylist’.  I was one of a few people who could actually display techniques that resembled classical martial arts as opposed to-quote ‘fighting like a kick boxer’.  During this time many fighters often came to me seeking technical advice on using their trained fighting techniques in competition.  This was the beginning of my coaching career.

In 1991 I started teaching a small group of eager students the Lohan Buddha’s Fist system while still continuing with Tai Chi Chuan studies.  I had always advocated full-contact sparring and decided to continue with full-contact competition.  I trained my class in a complete traditional syllabus that included forms, techniques, drills and lots of traditional sparring.  I competed in various competitions and had great success in many different disciplines.  My students also began competing and did very well within both the traditional and non-traditional circuits.  I ocntinued teaching traditional kung fu until I returned from the 1996 World Kung-Fu (Kuo Shu) championships in Taiwan.

I did voluntary work at an HIV Drop-In centre in South London for 2 years.  At the centre I taught the Energy and Meditation practices of Tai Chi Chuan. I also ran self-defence courses on a voluntary basis over 2 summers at the One Love community centre in Upton Park, East London.  I conducted Summer workshops teaching African martial arts for Islington Summer University, was a guest instructor at Newham
Martial Arts Federation summer program, instructed at East London’s Langdon School introduction to alternative exercise week and conducted a self-defence course for the E15 Housing project in Stratford, East London.

I was one of the founder members of UKCKI-The United Kingdom Chinese Kuoshu (Kung Fu) Institute and WICKF-the West Indian Chinese Kuoshu Federation.  These organisations were dedicated to promoting traditional Chinese Martial Arts.  Due to my broad training connections I was able to bring practitioners from different styles together to participate in traditional full contact fighting.  The UKCKI organised the first traditional full-contact Kung Fu tournaments in London.  At these events we introduced the innovative and exciting Team-Challenge which added an exciting extra dimension to the competition. Breathtaking displays by noted martial art masters who rarely demonstrated in public were also featured at these events.

I was frequently asked to demonstrate the Monkey forms-one of the most physically demanding forms of animal-play in Chinese martial arts.  I was twice asked to demonstrate at the prestigious London Festival of Chinese Martial Arts held in Wapping East London.  I choreographed the performance and aslo appeared on SKY TV accompanying the GUO Brothers Band in the WOMAD music festival performing Lohan Gung-Shaolin Tai Chi-on stage.  After winning the European Kung Fu Championship 1993 I was featured in a SKY TV documentary that featured members of the British team displaying various aspects of Kung Fu.  I was one of only 2 British martial artists to win a Gold medal at this prestigious event.