Black Belt International  Executives Profiles - United Kingdom

 

Name:   Jaymes Faulkner  Northern Ireland Kung Fu Instructor and Kung FuClub                                   

Club Name : Imperial Dragon Kung Fu     Location: Northern Ireland, Eire, Tandragee, Portadown

Martial Arts Styles:  Imperial Dragon Kung Fu is predominantly a five animal style kung fu school.  It draws its direct lineage from Arn Yoon Gung Tao   Grade: 4th Degree Black Sash   Qualifications:  First Aid (British Red Cross) Health and Safety (SELB) Child Protection (SELB) Instructors Coaching Certification (NIKFA)   Titles and appointments: Former Chief Instructor (Arn Yoon Gung Tao Kung Fu) Co-Chief Instructor (Imperial Dragon Kung Fu) Chief Executive (Northern Ireland Martial Arts Association)   Links and Associations: BNMAA NIMAA BBI   Affiliations: BBI BNMAA NIMAA

Photo Profile

Bio

I was born in February 29 1972 in the UK and spent the first 20 or so years travelling around the World with my parents and younger sister.  My father was in the RAF and so we moved from base to base every few years.

I spent a lot of my formative years in Europe (Germany, Belgium and Holland) with frequent return visits to Northern Ireland where both my parents are from.  For that reason Ireland has always felt like 'home' to me and this is where I choose to settle after a time spent living and working in London.

I now live (and work) in Northern Ireland with my wife Carole and my four month old son, Mackenzie.

Martial Arts-

My first foray into the martial arts was actually in fencing and archery, rather than the 'traditionally' viewed combat/self-defence arts.  I took this up in boarding school in Germany and then, after moving to Holland, continued it there where I fenced as part of the local team, competitively.

While I have never allowed it to affect me (or at least as much as I am able) I actually suffer from a mild form of spina-bifida and a muscle disease.  These two things combined to make me weaker than normal as well as causing the tendons in my legs to stop growing.

An operation fixed the tendons and as soon as I was able to (despite the concern of my doctor) I took up the martial arts proper.

This was Golden Dragon Kung Fu, originally under Frank Murney.  One of his instructors – Steve Timblin - split from that style and formed his own style and school called Arn Yoon Gung Tao with two of his own assistant instructors (Cyril Flannigan and Niam Kureshi) and that is where I ventured next.  Arn Yoon Gung Tao and kung fu would fill my life for the next years as I went through the ranks there to attain first degree black sash.

My sifu had a devastating injury in which he lost a leg and he asked me to take over the running of the school which I did.  Over the following years I went on to attain third degree black sash in Arn Yoon Gung Tao.

During those years I dabbled in a few other styles, including judo, shotokan karate, tai jitsu and tae kwon do but while I enjoyed some aspects of each one I always returned to kung fu.  I felt then and still feel now that it is the main, core, style for me.

After getting two other students up to black sash (David Lee and Andrew Magwood) I decided to move to London and whilst there I trained further in fencing (returning to it for the first time in many years) as well as trying preying mantis kung fu.

I returned to Northern Ireland with a previous black belt from Golden Dragon Kung Fu and Arn Yoon Gung Tao Kung Fu, as well as one of the black belts who had taken over the running of Arn Yoon Gung Tao Kung Fu in my absence (Cyril and Andrew.  It was decided that we would put all of the lessons we had learned in our different paths together into a new style, Imperial Dragon Kung Fu.

Like both Golden Dragon and Arn Yoon Gung Tao, Imperial Dragon is firmly based in traditional five animal kung fu.  However it has adapted and changed over time so that it has as many of the strengths of other martial arts that we have experienced and less of the weakness, caused predominantly be an inward looking exclusivity and grip on the past.

Both Cyril and Andrew have retired from teaching and I currently run Imperial Dragon Kung Fu with that styles first & new; black sash, Richard Dawson who I am currently getting ready for his first degree grading.  At the same time we have five students getting ready for their brown belt grading and one for his black belt grading.

I am in my twentieth year of martial arts and while the body is no doubt slowing down I find that my love of the hobby (which is really more of a lifestyle)  hasn't diminished at all and I still love to teach as much as I ever did before.
 

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