andrew sofos

Discussion in 'General Martial Arts Discussion' started by alex0000, Dec 7, 2005.

  1. alex0000

    alex0000 New Member

    has anyone herd of andrew sofos wing chun in north london or his brother sid sofos? who did they learn the system from? are they any good? what is there lineage to yip man? can anyone recomend a good wing chun school which teaches sparring and applications as techniques are learnt in north london of reasonable price who teach for the love of the art...
     
  2. CosmicFish

    CosmicFish Aleprechaunist

    I used to train with Andrew Sofos. I left a few months ago because I was displeased with the way one of his top instructors was teaching. For details, see:

    http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38759

    I should say that what happened wasn't Sifu Andrew's fault personally, and I doubt he was even aware that it was happening.

    I've only been doing wing chun for about a year, so I can't really judge the quality of his kung-fu, but I'd say he's a sound guy and, if you don't mind the possibility of being turned away from Sunday class once in a while :rolleyes:, worth checking out.

    As for Sid Sofos, avoid him like the plague! Even though I've never met him I'm pretty sure he's running a cult-like school. There's couple of guys in my new school who used to train with him who have confirmed this too. Apparently he's a pretty manipulative guy, as well as having an extremely high opinion of himself and a correspondingly low one of everybody else. He also calls himself "the sijo" and "the new messiah of wing chun" :rolleyes:.
     
  3. alex0000

    alex0000 New Member

    i witnessed the same thing

    the thing is when your a kung fu novice all it takes is for anyone to show you a flashy move and you think wow... they are the real thing....
    i found that with andrew sofos there were alot of things i did not like in his school.. i have other mates who train in other wing chun schools so by comparison im saying this...
    1. the prices just keep on rising your brain washed thinking its 40 when you start with unlimited this and that he fails to mention that as you increase in rank prices go to 60, 80 100, and then to progress you gota have a private lesson of 50 odd an hour or whatever... common for someone who claims they are fair and care about the students... y rip them off...
    the thing about 1 student turining up.. what the hell is that about.. thats no reason to cancel the lesson... the seminars whats that about you gota go to 2 seminars before the next grading, you might aswell say you gota pay an extra 100 to progress.. heres another... you lear a few gates maybe some counters later, but you do not learn the proper applications.... in other words its very timed.. you do this i wait for you to finish and the i counter you...
    this is not realistic.... overall i found that the way the school is run is extreamly cleaverly organised in taking a hell of a lot of money out of students... and does not concerntrate on the love of the art and the talent of students.... the fact of the matter is my mate is learning the chum kil.. and so was i, when trying to spar with him he beat me every time, his wing chun or shall i say ving tsun is much more street orientated focuses more on applications and does not increase in price...
    one thing that andrew sofos school is good for is fitness and stamina as you do a lot of kicks and punches.. but put it this way.. you may do 100000 punches and kicks, 1 there prob doing it all rong 2 you still dont know how to fight and 3 youve prob spent a couple of hundred pounds doing arobics...
    comon think about it, if you honastly look and some of the top sifus in the school, and even the students... do they look like fighters... doubt it... i gota say that some of the top students are good but then again if youve trained under 10 years with someone you would be to.. il prob be better..got mention props go out to panny because hes a real good martial artists who does many arts... hes very realistic and down to earth...

    one last thing.. there is no history of who they learnt from no mention od cecils proper involvment with the school.. no pics with other renowned sifus.. no mention of them in any other wing chun site...all sounds a bit bogus.. and believe me ive searched the entire internet....
    martial arts world is very corupt.. its hard to prove the credability of masters and in a way you cant test them... its amaing what a few pics with some stars can do...
    anyway all you x sofos students what are you studying not??? any good wing chun schools in north london????

    just keep it real and dont be brainwashed by the system.....
     
  4. CFT

    CFT Valued Member

    Other way round for me. I trained for about 6 months or so under Sid when I was a university back in 1990. Seemed OK to me at the time. I think they might have a link with Ip Chun but I don't think it's formal. I agree with CosmicFish - if you look at Sid's website then you would be put off.

    How far North in London are you? If not that far then consider Desmond Spencer in the Wong Shun Leung line of Ving Tsun. Mr. Spencer's teacher is Philipp Bayer of Germany who was a pupil of WSL. I can't vouch for him, but I would give him a try if I was still in London.


    Training:

    Sunday's at the Swiss Cottage Community Centre Trophy room, on Winchester Road Swiss Cottage NW3, times 2:30pm to 5:00pm.

    Tuesday's and Thursday's in South London Area, Time's 8:00pm to 10:00pm.

    Tel. 02087767705
    desmond.spencer@bt.com
     
  5. CosmicFish

    CosmicFish Aleprechaunist

    Alex, I didn't realise you'd trained with Andrew Sofos already. When were you there, and how long for, if you don't mind me asking?

    It sounds like you have some serious grievances with the school! To be honest, many of the things you mention niggled me, but none of them individually seemed that bad. In any case, there's good and bad in every school, and from my personal experiences with Sifu Andrew and his instructors I'd say they're an okay bunch. Coincidentaly, he wrote to me a short while ago, asking why I hadn't been training for 3 months. I wrote a long reply describing exactly why. His reply to that was polite and friendly, saying he was sorry to see me go and wishing me well in whatever I decided to do in the future. Not the kind of reply you'd get from someone running a cult (and I should know, I was suckered into two as a teenageer!)

    I've been training with these guys for two months now:

    http://www.ukwingchun.com/

    They're in north London too. They seem pretty good so far. Aside from the Wing Chun, there's plenty of pad work, fitness and conditioning. Nice relaxed atmosphere but with enough discipline to keep you working hard. No sparring yet, but they do spar as you get more advanced.

    CFT, it's interesting that you say Sid was ok in 1990. I'm only going on patches of information I've scraped together from here and there, but the impression I get is that he's got steadily worse over the years. Fifteen years ago he was probably quite different.
     
  6. CFT

    CFT Valued Member

    CosmicFish,

    I think he was starting to tell stories and hyping himself up but no obvious delusions of grandeur. But I was more naive then so probably missed things. His Wing Chun skills seemed OK and no obvious bad practice that I can remember.

    I do remember being pressured into attending a SNT seminar, but I probably would have gone anyway.
     
  7. Suhosthe

    Suhosthe A dwarf! A dwarf!

    I also studied with Sifu Andrew and my impression of him always has been - and remains - that he is a nice guy. I really enjoyed the classes and felt that I was making a clear and marked progress, which was reinforced by the grading system. I experienced good progress in my level of fitness, and enjoyed the way the classes were structured.

    Though Sifu Andrew is a good teacher, keen to encourage his students to find a lesson in everything, I found that there were inconsistencies in the teaching of some of the other instructors. As a beginner, I recognised that I wasn't in a position to accuse an instructor of being wrong, but I was concerned, particularly as I approached gradings, that some of the instructions I was given seemed to directly contradict others. I know now, of course, that much of the reason for the apparent conflict was simply 'flavour', but it was confusing at the time.

    Also, there is a sense of throwing a new student in at the deep end and ironing out the creases afterwards. After our first grading, it transpired that no-one in the new 2nd-Level class knew how to throw a punch properly. Given that these were students who had already studied for 3-6 months, that seemed a little lacking.

    I greatly enjoyed many of the drills; chain punching, kicking, gates, footwork and so on. Particularly with regard to footwork, I would think Sifu Andrew's students excel in comparison to many other practitioners of wing chun of equivalent capability. However, you're in for 6-12 months of drills in kicks and punches, and specific taught techniques and applications - depending on how hard you work and how often you train - before you move on to chi dan sau, or learn the whole sequence of the sil lim tao, etc. This has the advantage of making sure you're familiar with the basics of the shapes and energy of wing chun, know many of the names for things (and also of weeding out people who aren't serious) but means that you might spend up to a year there before you get to the real bones of the art itself.

    Despite this, I don't have any reservations in recommending the school. It's friendly, the people are welcoming, and the building itself has a pleasant atmosphere (though would benefit from air conditioning). The price does seem high, but for one monthly fee, the school offers several Wing Chun, Tai Chi and Chi Gung classes each week, and you're free to drop in and out of these as you choose. There are fitness classes and combat classes, too, for all levels of ability.
     
    Last edited: Dec 8, 2005
  8. sanj

    sanj Valued Member

    Yes he's good- I am a student there- he knows alot of the theory side too, and does discussions on techniques, the history and meanings- he is also very friendly, and not a pig like some of these big instructors in other styles who can make you feel like a piece of Fucus vesiculosus when you make mistakes.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 30, 2013
  9. Ben Gash CLF

    Ben Gash CLF Valued Member

    Wow, you necro'd an 8 year old thread for that?
     
  10. Hannibal

    Hannibal Cry HAVOC and let slip the Dogs of War!!! Supporter

    BEGONE NECRAPMANCER!!!
     
  11. Frodocious

    Frodocious She who MUST be obeyed! Moderator Supporter

    Sanj, please remember that profanity (masked or otherwise) is against the ToS. Thank you.
     
  12. Smitfire

    Smitfire Cactus Schlong

    I thought this was some spam advertising a settee sale.
     
  13. sanj

    sanj Valued Member

    What is this- some sort of kids talk, I suspect most of the members here are over 18- and I was just expressing the way some instructors treat their students- not swearing directly at anyone!:bang:
     
  14. Smitfire

    Smitfire Cactus Schlong

    No one cares what you suspect. The TOS are the TOS.
     
  15. Hannibal

    Hannibal Cry HAVOC and let slip the Dogs of War!!! Supporter

    No one actually cares what he thinks 8 years after the thread died and rotted either
     
  16. Mushroom

    Mushroom De-powered to come back better than before.

    Actually no, not all members here are 18. Also there are rules that you signed up for and should've read. Main one is profanity whether it is masked, abbreviated etc.
    And just because the majority are adults here, its not an automatic right to swear.

    So no its not "kids talk", but we are all adults (mostly in age if not maturity) and yes we swear in person and in conversation but on this forum there is no place for it.

    Its a public forum and MAP goes by a family-friendly rule.

    Saying that, I hope you understand and we look forward to your future contributions.
     

Share This Page