I Choose Vien Ngo By Sifu John Cho
It was during the covid year of 2020 when businesses such as gyms and martial arts schools were mandated by the state of California to stop operations to reduce the spread of the deadly pandemic. We complied and close the doors of John Cho’s Kung-fu School for at least four months. However, we kept paying the monthly rent. I did not apply for any government assistance since the kung-fu school was not my main source of income, which was from teaching Asian American Studies at Fresno City College. I felt that the government relief assistance should go to those business owners whose livelihood depended on their establishments.
Vien joined the kung-fu school. I recalled that he was a student in one of my classes at Fresno City College years ago. There were probably less than ten paying students at the time. I made a conscious decision to not close the school in 2020 but to wait till 2021 as I had been at this location for about thirty years and did not want the pandemic to close the doors of my kung-fu school. Anyway, I noticed that after our class that Vien would be sitting on the benches by the front window and writing in a notepad. I asked him what he was doing; he replied that he was taking notes of the instruction given that evening. That surprised me as I have never seen anyone make notes of the lessons afterward in my classes. From casual conversation, I learned that Vien had practiced kendo for over a decade.
In December 2021, I officially closed the doors to my kung-fu school and vacated the building. Two of my students, Reggie Lamborn and Luan Nguyen opened their own kung-fu school, Long Fist Association, in Clovis. So I teach a couple of hours weekly to a handful of private students only.
The Chinese Stick Fighting Program is a project that I had started at my kung-fu school. I had asked Vien if he would be interested in collaborating and helping me to develop the program. I was happy when he replied in the affirmative. There are certain attributes or qualifications Vien possesses that have merit in this task: Vien already has a martial arts background from his kendo training, Vien pays attention and tries to understand the concepts and techniques from our stick fighting program, Vien is one of few students that I regularly teach, and I think that Vien will guide our Chinese Stick Fighting Program (CSFP) with honor into the future.
Therefore, I choose Vien Ngo as the CSFP inheritor.
On Myself By Vien Ngo
I’ve always had an interest in all things related to the Martial Arts, but I didn’t get to start my formal martial journey until I was 26 and the martial art was Kendo. I practiced Kendo for a little more than 12 years and attained the rank of Yondan (Fourth Degree Black Belt). Despite being a sensei rank, I did not consider myself a true martial artist. Without a sword, bamboo or otherwise, I would not be able to defend myself. And so I embarked on my musha shugyo (martial journey). I started to train in Muay Thai to learn the basics of striking, and then went on with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Towards the end of the pandemic, a local Kung-Fu Sifu, whom I have known since I was a third grader, was going to retire. And so, I embarked on my Kung Fu journey as one of Sifu John Cho final pupils. At the time, Sifu was working on the Chinese Stick Fighting project. I was honored that Sifu wanted my assistance to develop and grow the program. We continue expanding and refining the program into what we have today.
Chinese Stick Fighting Program 