Sihing James started his martial arts training, at the age of five, when his father introduced him to the Korean art of Moo Duk Kwon. He trained in this style for five years, attaining the rank of junior black belt at age ten. One year later, his father enrolled him in a Japanese Karate school, where he studied Shotokan and Judo. Four to five times a week, for an average of two to three hours a day, he studied both systems simultaneously until his seventeenth birthday. He obtained his first Dan in both styles just a few weeks after his seventeenth birthday.
It was around that time that he was introduced to The Siamese Shaolin Kung Fu Institute. This was his first experience with Chinese Martial Arts. At this school they focused more on conditioning, application, and fighting. Sihing James was only with this school for a few years when he obtained his green sash. Shortly thereafter, the school closed it's doors and was no more. He took this very hard, but refused to stop his training and continued at a Kenpo Karate school.
After a year and a half; attaining a purple belt level, he ran into one of his Kung Fu brothers who informed him that he had continued his training privately with Grandmaster James Allen of the Siamese Shaolin Kung Fu Institute, after the school had closed. Upon hearing this, he immediately began training in chinese kung fu again under the guidance of his older kung fu brother, for the better part of ten years.
Sihing James had been honored to help with the schools growth over the years, and had experienced it's many changes. In December of 2002 he began training on and off with Sifu Dale McDine at the Chinese Martial Arts Center. In December of 2003 he became our second Si Hing and has helped us build a strong, positive, respectable Chinese Martial Arts School, right here in Middletown.
Through the years while training in these styles, he'd been introduced to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and submission wrestling, which he had studied with friends and other instructors he's met during his travels.
"I believe that each style, whether Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Kenpo, Kung Fu or Jiu Jitsu, all has there strengths and weaknesses. It comes down to the individual and how he or she thinks and trains, which will determine their level of success, skill and understanding in the Martial Arts."
"I have learned one universal rule in my twenty-five years of experience - which is learn, view, and respect all styles, philosophies and people and you will find inner peace."
"Morihei Ueshiba (the founder of Aikido and a man I greatly respect) once said, 'Master the techniques of peace and no enemy will dare challenge you.'"
