Street survival Seminar 26th Feb 2012 1.30 -7pm members £55 Non members £75

Learn how the Wing Chun System can be used in practical street fighting applications, using the science of Wing Chun. unarmed combat, weapon attacks, multiple attackers, and the psychology of high tension situations.

Master Andrew Sofos has been involved in the martial arts for 37 years and has run a security company for basic door work to close protection security here in the U.K and abroad, Porto Buenos and the Middle East are just two. I have taught the police and Navy cadets and worked for a short while on special armed weapons in Huntington Norfolk, the experience wealth of knowledge and skill is backed by the two decades of encounters that I have experienced.

The street survival situations that are taught in the seminars are practical, explosive and straight to the point, in a real high tension situation you will only get one chance to strike an opponent or attacker, so knowing when, where and how to strike is of vital importance. Your confidence and state of mind plays a high factor in dealing with this situation and many find themselves locked into a “white rabbit syndrome” you just freeze and ask your self what have I done? These vital few seconds are essential for survival as this is the time to switch to “auto pilot mode” to react to the situation in a calm and relaxed manner. Easier said than done I hear you say but with the experience from our self-defence classes you have you will be surprised what you will do if your life or liberty is at stake. I have seen mothers give themselves to attackers so harm does not come to their children, I have seen them also lift a car to get a trapped child from under a car, this rush of adrenalin to the blood to do the job in hand is a survival instinct we have since the evolution of time, its just that we do not use it and when we do we are more surprised than any one else, this is the auto pilot I am talking about, you don’t think you react, respond as if you have touched something hot, its your nervous system that responds not your mind. These first few seconds are vital if you are to be successful in defending yourself. Psychology and state of mind is also covered in the seminar.

Everyone is protected by the law, you, me, and all, because you got attacked or because they threw the first punch does not give you the right to maim or kill your attacker, you could do time for the “heat of the moment” defence, so beware of your temper, always stay in control of your emotions or they will take care of you. Overall you will be enriched with the wealth of knowledge and techniques that will be on offer on the day, this is my lifetimes work and all techniques taught are true to the wing chun laws and principles not to mention the “predator like attitude” towards your opponent but at the same time been aware of the law and consequences.

Please book now, places are limited.

WING CHUN FILM NIGHT on Friday 20th was a great success popcorn, hot dogs and chocolates were on offer for the showing of two wing chun historical films “Warriors 2″ and “Prodigal Son” both films were excellent accounts of the life and times of Dr Leung Jan the pioneer of wing chun in the mid 1800s. The studio was transformed into a cinema and was a great social evening with children, junior and adults attending. Next showing is on Friday 23rd March 7pm of “Ip Man 1&2″ the life and times of the late grandmaster of wing chun.

FREE SIL LIM TAO REVISION WORKSHOP on Sunday 22nd was an excellent opportunity for students to revise the 1st form breathing concepts and the street fighting applications of our first form. Master Andrew Sofos also discussed the wing chun history and the significance of the vulnerable 5 monks that escaped the Shaolin Monastery to the modern day instructors of SAS.

2012 New Year Message

I hope that everyone had an enjoyable Christmas. It is traditionally a time when families are able to meet, share the festivities and exchange gifts.

To those less fortunate, who have no family to share this time with. And those who have lost relatives, May you have been able to at least stay strong during this period of time.

We have much to look forward to in 2012 – The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the Olympic Games particularly. The staging of local events in Camden for these celebrations will be fantastic, SAS Martial Arts Academy, would like to be involved and set up some great celebration 2012 days. Your suggestions are welcomed.

The Olympics are a masterpiece of human achievements and we will witness on home turf positive and new world records, we will also be celebrating the Queen’s Jubilee in Camden with parties and events locally. I plan that we all have a wonderful time.

We may face many challenges in 2012, but if we can work together to help one another, then we can move forward successfully. SAS had a good but difficult year last year celebrating 25 years of teachings and I been awarded the Freedom of the City of London. We have been fortunate to survive for so long, when so many established businesses had closed over the years.

All my Instructors and staff at SAS Martial Arts will do our utmost to deliver good teachings and services to you all. We are a small social enterprise but with big ideas.

I want SAS to be a great place to achieve your own records for 2012, those working or volunteering I want you to feel great for the excellent tuition you all provide, as you are the backbone of the Academy.

This year I plan to have many new initiatives in place and new positive experiences for all our SAS family.

May I wish you all a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year.

Master Andrew Sofos

Christmas school holidays are nearly here

Our Christmas week Aspire boot camp is coming-book now

£90 for the week / £25 per day

Monday 19th -Friday 23rd December from 9am-5pm

Choice: Your children will always have a choice of activities at SAS Aspire.
Kung Fu, Tai Chi, Meditation,
Games, football, dodge ball,
Circuit training, boxing, drawing,
Music and dance, drama, and beat box music production.
Visits on the heath for races and games (weather permitting) and rest time, they will always have a choice of activities to choose
from – every session, every day, every time!

 Fun: Our staff will be 100% raring to go
to deliver fantastic FUN for your kids – meaning they get to have an amazing
time and you’re happy knowing they’re exactly where they want to be.

Fair Price: We will always bring FUN at a fair
price. Great service costs but we do everything we can to keep our pricing fair

Purpose: Our biggest promise is that whatever
happens, every person in our team will jump through hoops, burn a trail and Move
Mountains to make sure your child has such an amazing experience they can’t
wait to come back­.

The Sil Lim Tao Seminar was a great success, it was refreshing to see students attend from University college London and Imperial College, mixing with SAS members of our Gospel Oak Head quarters.

Sil Lim Tao is our first form and the basics for structure and understanding of wing chun principles, there were 26 people that attended and all left the academy enriched with knowledge and new skills in our 1st form. A detailed one hour Wing Chun history was also provided by master Andrew Sofos. The street fighting applications of the form were covered and most students were surprised by the street applications of this fascinating form.

There will be a free revision workshop early next year for persons who have previously attended this seminar.

This was our last seminar for 2011, and although the Sil Lim Tao means little idea way, we certainly finished with a big bang.

SAS 25^th Silver jubilee Dinner and Dance

Saturday 12^th November

In
aid of CLAPA Great Ormond Street Hospital

Thank you to all 110 persons who supported the event, we truly had a nostalgic and magical evening, meeting up with students we have not seen for two decades. Thank you to our Magician Tim Sutton who fooled us with his magic and tricks. Also Thanks to our compare Rory Vassall and his team of comedians who had us in tears of laughter with their comedy sketch.

Special Thanks to Sifu Alex who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to prepare a photo video of 400 old pictures from the past 27 years of Master Andrew and his students in action and performing on stage for charity shows.

All speeches by Dr Michael Mars retired Lead Consultant Orthodontist, Dr Sifu Mark Green, Sifu Alex Istari, and Professor Nick Charalambous from Goshin Jujitsu were excellent and some personal. Master Andrew daughters Athena and Sophia made a personal speech that touched all our hearts, and had many reaching for their tissues.

Master Andrew presented prestigious “Sifu” awards to Anthony Antoniou, Marc Thompson and Rony Ganguly, they now accompany Sifu Mark Green and Sifu Alex who received their “Sifu” titles in 2001.

The 8^th Rank awards were also presented to the Sifus who took their grading earlier this year.

Thank to all the staff at the The Pavilion, Crouch End who provided excellent service and delicious 3 course meal.

15 Raffle prizes were on offer – Thanks to all who donated prizes for the event.

Special Thanks to the Sanctum Soho Hotel who offered us a first prize for the raffle. Instructor Michael Dimitiriades was the lucky winner

 A special thank you to “Capital Homes” who donated an Arsenal executive box for a special raffle won by Mr Jiten Vagela a student of SAS for more than 10 years but sadly no longer trains.  Also thanks to Professor Nick Charalambous who arranged to get a signed Arsenal ball and keepers gloves in addition to the Sanctum Hotel prize.

We hope to raise £2500 with the Christmas raffle.

We are still collecting donations and will have a Christmas raffle for the charity. Tickets selling at our studio for a draw on the 13^th Dec during our Christmas drinks night out at the Grand Union Kentish Town 8.30pm

We danced the night away till the early hours, and many left in taxis weary-eyed and with empty pockets.

Photos by Sai Photography will be available to purchase all funds are for the charity.

Thursday 20th October was our biggest beginners grading success in three years, excellent standard and very good marks achieved, congratulations to the following members. It was encouraging to watch 4 females pick up the highest score trophy.

Beginners Level 1 (self defence-domestic violence)

Abby Nortey 61 highest joint score

Rochelle Vidal 61 higest joint score

Peter Ely 58.5

Reka Horvath 56.5

Harry Williams 57

Ryan Williams 56

Kaori Ito 55.5

Yan Keung 51

Nasir Tellaire 50

Beginners Level 2 (self defence street attacks)

Mariano Camerlingo 62.5

Pierre loic Hamon 67 highest score

Matueusz Giezek 56

Chris Rowtree 63.5

1st Rank Dipolma

Ben Fredrick 56

Taidgh De Cairne 53

Paige Stockley 63 highest score

2nd Rank Diploma

Jane Johnson 61.5 highest score

Gary               58

Alan Bryant 60.5

SAS 25^thSilver jubilee party awards night.

Date -Sat 12th November

Time – 7.30pm

Join us for an memorable evening celebrating the 25th Year of SAS Martial Arts Academy.

7.30pm – Drinks and reception

8pm –  Choice of 3 course dinner

9pm –  Speeches and awards of Sifu and 8^thrank plus other student awards

10pm  - D.J Music

10.30pm  - Raffle draw for charity (2 tickets included in the price)

11pm  - Fireworks

Party Time

1am – End

Fundraiser for CLAPA Great Ormond Street – hoping to have representative as guest speaker.

Cost £40pp

Dress – formal wear

Venue -(“A” on map)The Pavilion 185a Park Road, Hornsey, N8 8JJ (Also part of North Middlesex Cricket Club)

October Half term school holiday children’s programme

Venue – Gospel Oak Studio

Dates 24th-28th October 2011

Time 9am-5pm

Age 7-13 yrs old

Activities – Kung Fu-grading-Tai Chi-Meditation. Multi sports, drawing, games, competitions, prizes, trips on the heath (weather permitting)

This is a popular activity and is offered on a first come frst serve basis

Cost £90 for full week or £25 per day

For booking form please email info@sas-martialarts.co.uk

Telephone 0207 267-9000

By Junior Instructor Saul Shelton 17 Yrs Old

The benefits and values of martial arts

 I began training with the SAS at 13. At this time, I was a relatively shy boy with no great deal of physicalaptitude. During the first few weeks of training, it became more and more apparent that this was something that I not only enjoyed, but wanted to continue doing. Before I joined the SAS, I had been a part of a different kung-fu academy. It had not been that good and was often very monotonous, with students performing the same basic moves over and over again. I was there for a few years and in that time had not taken a single grading, which made any form of development seem almost impossible. So when I started with the SAS, the concept of pad work, forms and footwork were astounding, and the idea that I would take a real grading blew me away.

After a month or so of training, I took a double white grading, being the only one in my class to do so meant that when I passed, I was completely hooked on martial arts. It immediately gave me a huge confidence boost that I had rarely seen from anything else. From a young age, I had never been that good at sport. I had always enjoyed it and loved taking part, but I had never shown any skill within anything I had tried. So once I had passed the double grading, it really did feel like nothing I had done before. Whats more, I became hungry for more.

At 15, the SAS gave me the opportunity to begin teaching wing chun as a peer tutor. I jumped at the chance and immediately begun training to do so. I had always looked up to the peer tutors around me and so the idea of becoming one was too good to miss. Becoming a peer tutor has changed my entire way of doing things. The small level of authority that came with the role really endeared me to try my very best to pass on the knowledge that I had been given. The level of responsibility that has come with it, has increased my level of maturity tenfold, as it gave me a real sense of purpose and direction within my life. However, my time as a peer tutor has not only allowed me to teach young people, but has also opened my eyes to the benefits that martial arts bring, and the values it teaches people. When you watch one of your students who you have taught go up and collect their grading certificate after passing a grading, you can see it all in their face. Even the most insecure of students goes up beaming with confidence and with a huge grin from ear to ear. The martial arts inspires confidence within people, it gives them a realistic, physical sense of achievement that I have seen little else bring.

Martial Arts teaches you to treat your body right, the physical aspect of the training has helped me enormously in this respect. When me and a lot of my friends were smoking, the commitment needed in the martial arts to progress, allowed me to see that this was a stupid thing to do, as it did nothing but slow me down and make the training more difficult. To maintain the healthy body, that I felt was essential to my progression in the wing chun, I stopped and whilst those around me have continued, I have since not felt any desire to start again, as I know now that it is not worth it. In a time when more and more young people are destroying their bodies through alcohol abuse, smoking and eating junk food to the point where they are becoming obese. I believe that martial arts is more necessary than ever, because it really does teach people the value of treating your body the right way, though its natural promotion of a healthy lifestyle. Without anyone telling you to stop doing these things, the martial arts shows you itself that they are not the right things to be doing – self discovery, which is far more effective than any adult telling you what not to do. Respect has become a major issue in today’s society. With more and more people now showing little or none of it at most times. Martial arts are a perfect way to bring back respect into people’s lives. It installs within you a sense of belonging and brotherhood that comes from training with other people. Once you are on the kwan, you are amongst equals, who like you are there to train and reap the benefits of martial arts. The personal connection between an instructor and a student, allows the student to see that although one has the role of authority, it is being used to help them to progress and learn, so mutual respect develops between not only them but also the other students who are also there to help and support one another.

Martial arts have often been thought of as simply a way to teach people to fight, but in fact this is untrue, they in fact teach people the value of self control and discipline, that there is no need to go and start fights and to allow people to control their anger. It is called self defence for a reason; they are only to be used in defence if no other alternative is possible. They are not there to train the next generation of street brawlers a few new moves.

Martial arts also open many doors to people and can give them opportunities to learn new skills. For example, through the SAS, I have gone on and taken part in a first aid training day, as well as completing a 12 week course in early stage security. Both of these are highly valuable skills and references for jobs, neither of these would have been so openly available to me had I not taken part in the martial arts classes. By showing that you do a form of martial arts as well, many employers will see this and recognise the confidence and self assurance that comes with it. So they are also highly beneficial within your personal life as well.

So in conclusion, by practising martial arts, you not only learn highly useful self defense skills, they can also open your mind to new philosophies, help in your career path, improve yourself confidence, teach respect to others as well as yourself and instil a level of discipline rarely seen in many other areas.