Sifu Iain Paterson...(Gallery)

Iain has been training in martial arts since he was 14 years old, starting with the karate style of shotokan which he studied for 3 years, but after being inspired by some of the Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan movies, and watching the way they moved and the speed that which the moves were performed he was hooked. This attracted Iain to the style of chinese kung fu and after he had done more research into kung fu he found that it was a graceful way of fighting with both hard and soft moves, and with plenty of practice can be applied with high speed and great accuracy. Not only did it offer forms with hand movements, it also had forms with weapons like the sword, spear, three sectional staff, staff and everyday objects such as umbrella,chair, fan and cymbals.

Iain first started by joining his local kung fu club in Paisley, Lau Gar deriving from the Lau family tree and has been studying this for the last 13 years resulting in him being one of the top instructors in Scotland in this style. He has achieved many trophies at club, national and international levels with some of his favourites being the five times, first place Scottish National Champion at semi-contact fighting and three times Scottish National Champion at continuous fighting. He has studied a little in other styles such as Jeet Kune Do, kick boxing and Hung Gar Kung Fu all helping to improve his wealth of knowledge in martial arts.

Over the last few years he has been studying Shaolin Hung Fut Kung Fu which continues to improve his skills and fitness. This has let him get more involved with the chinese culture and community. He has also been given the chance to perform in the Chinese New Year celebrations and other special events through out the year such as the Lion Dance exhibitions.

As for the future he wishes to keep on improving his skills and club through determination, hard work, continuous practice, respect and patience from his instructors and students alike.

"Together we will make this club continue for many years and generations to come"

Contact:
Iain Paterson
tel: 07792 980375
email: iainpaterson71@hotmail.com

Mark Boyce...(Gallery) ...to be updated

One of the club instructors is Mark Boyce who has been studying Kung Fu since 1988. Mark admits however, that his study has had some breaks in the early years due to work commitments and sport injuries. Thankfully he has had no serious injuries since 1996.

Like most West of Scotland youngsters Mark's first adventure into the sporting world was through football playing for school teams, district teams, and youth teams - and in fact he still enjoys a run out at the Pitz playing 5-a-sides on a social basis. Mark also played Rugby from around the late 80's and only finally retired in 2003 despite intentions to quite a bit earlier.

Mark (or Boycy as he is known) first began training in Kung Fu in a locally opened club in Paisley. He went partly because of intrigue, partly because of a need to get fit, and partly because a friend was looking for a training partner. Over the years his reasons for training have altered from the original reasons going through various changes until his present reason of wanting to be the best he can be & to enjoy himself whatever path he takes, and to encourage students to be the best they can be whatever path they take.

When teaching students, it is his wish that when they attend classes they put in effort, show willingness to learn and enjoy themselves.

Mark says that his first real memories of Kung Fu were: the mysterious stories of how Bruce Lee died; and watching the legend of "The Water Margin" which used to be shown on BBC2.

...Favourite thing about the club?:
...Weapon fighting - it's a good test of skills and gets the adrenalin pumping

...Least Favourite?
...Hard warm ups - I'm getting on a bit !!

...Favourite Martial Arts film?
...Anything believable that isn't too badly dubbed & with a bit of humour

...Favourite Chinese food?
...Any non-spicy beef dish - preferably on club nights out

...Aim of the club?
...To continuously improve the standards of myself and students