The Chief Instructor of the Progressive Wing Chun Academy is Sifu Neil Sydenham. Sifu Neil has lived in Milton Keynes all his life and has been training in Wing Chun Kung Fu for over 12 years.

Neil studied Wing Chun Kung Fu with Gary Payne at the RSDA Academy for over 10 years. Neil trained first at in Woughton Leisure Centre and later when it moved to Newport Pagnell both of which are in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire.

After four years of hard training Neil reached assistant instructor level where he helped out during most Wing Chun classes for over a year. Neil was then given the opportunity to grade up to the full instructor level. Neil passed this grade and was able to teach his own Wing Chun class un aided which he did for over 5 years for the RSDA, under Gary Payne.

Whilst training at the RSDA, Neil also trained in Close Quarter Combatives (CQC), which involves grappling, ground work, Control & Restraint (C&R) which he now likes to teach the Wing Chun students every now and again. As Wing Chun is a close quarter’s art, this gives students something to add on to their training.

Neil also gained a great deal of experience in teaching children, as he often used to help out in the little dragons and young master’s classes at the RSDA Academy.

Despite being trained solely by Gary Payne, Neil has an extensive knowledge for the Wing Chun system. He remains open minded and humble with his art. The core that Gary provided was fantastic which has lead to Neil striving to get the best physical training and gain as much information as possible, from various media’s.

Sifu Neil has now moved on with his training and his level of expertise continues to grow and grow. The core that Gary Payne taught Neil all those years ago is still taught by Neil today, however with a much greater and deeper understanding of both the physical techniques and mental theories.

Sifu Neil continues his learning by attending various training courses, seminars and training days under various instructors.

Sifu Neil enjoys the traditional art of Wing Chun Kung Fu, however he is not traditional in the way that he thinks. Sifu Neil has learned that over the years that many Martial Art Instructors teach forms or katas and techniques to students who do not question what they are being shown, and are therefore none the wiser.

Sifu Neil likes to be questioned about what he teaches, if there are no questions, it means that the student understands or they do not want to ask.

Sifu Neil is different, as he continues to do his own research and he likes to fully understand the theories’ of the concepts, forms and techniques.

Sifu Neil likes to understand where techniques fit in, how they are applied and how similar or how they differ to other styles. Sifu Neil also likes to understand why other clubs teach different Martial Arts, their various concepts techniques and he also studies other Wing Chun Clubs and looks in to if and why they do things differently.

Years ago Sifu Neil was heavily in to body building where he used to be down the Gym training five days a week, Neil reached 15 stone at his peak.

Whilst Neil was training he researched the body and understands all about the body, muscles, strength, fitness and diet. He researched how to get a good body by studying body mechanics as you can only train a muscle a certain number of ways before it gets repetitive.

Sifu Neil has bought this experience in to his Wing Chun and Martial Arts training which he now uses to analyse how each technique is similar to another and also how other Martial Arts theories and techniques are similar to our Wing Chun training.

It takes sometime to understand that no matter how big or how strong you are, someone trained in Wing Chun can easily defeat you. However it was quite early on in Neil’s training when he realised his passion for Wing Chun Kung Fu and that he would like to pass this passion on to as many different people as he can.

However just because you are an instructor, it doesn’t mean that you are a good teacher! Sifu Neil is a fantastic instructor, teacher and mentor. He has excellent qualities, he understands that ALL his students are important and each of then are equal.

Sifu Neil is very approachable as he is very welcoming, he can be asked any question, he will listen to students opinions and views, he will do his best to understand, he will teach you at your pace and not at someone else’s, can read peoples body language.

Sifu Neil packs fun in to every training session no matter if it is a group class or a private class (one to one). Fun increases the students learning as they will remember a fun training session. Sifu Neil is a very open minded and likes new ideas and concepts which he is searching for constantly, some of which are bought to me by students of new and old.

The way that Sifu Neil was taught is if you understand something fully then you can teach it. So having more than one answer to a question is fundamental to being a good instructor.

Whilst training in Martial Arts can be somewhat difficult at times Sifu Neil has learned that you can become good if you are prepared to put in hours worth of training with practice at home as well as in the class, be humble and patient, as you cannot rush perfection.

Sifu Neil has a great passion for Wing Chun Kung Fu and this can be seen in the level of his teaching and the way that it is taught. Understanding how to utilise Wing Chun’s key concepts and how they can be incredibly effective is fundamental.

During Neil’s training in Wing Chun, he found that information was not as free flowing as he would have liked and struggled to get information as books on Wing Chun were not as readily available as they are now. The internet has further benefited students who check out videos on YouTube and other websites.

Neil also realised that that every Martial Art club differs, and these differences can be very frustrating to a student especially when they are trying to learn outside of the class. Understanding this frustration Sifu Neil has tried to create this website as an information base to aid as many Wing Chun students as possible in their training.

Early in 2009, Sifu Neil was given the opportunity to open his own academy where I could run and teach my own classes which is where we are today.

Sifu Neil has qualified and has been awarded:

• Martial Arts National Instructor
• Proficient in Child Protection
• Risk Assessment
• Business Studies
• Sports Coach
• Instructor Teaching
• A Club for All & Equity in your Coaching.
• First Aid Trained

Happy Training
Sifu Neil