Carlos Fernández Álvarez began studying kung fu with José Luis Rodríguez and judo with José Luis Couto at the end of the 1970s in Lalín, where he taught classes before beginning his journey to learn about other martial arts. He studied in China and was appointed official representative for cultural exchanges between Wu Han University and USC. He introduced Wu Shu to the Galician Judo Federation. In Madrid, Valencia and Los Angeles, he was a student of Dan Inosanto, a practice partner and recognized heir to Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do system. With him he trained in Eskrima and Pencak Silat, styles that he teaches to the security forces. He trained hundreds of military police in the Alicante CIR for two years, performing numerous demonstrations before various generals during the days of the Armed Forces. And he has given several seminars for security forces at the A Estrada Security Academy. Since 1989 he has directed Centro Vitalia – the oldest of those that currently exist in Santiago – and now returns to neighboring lands to teach classes at FM Sport (Silleda).
–We have opened a dojo (martial arts room) in FM Sport and we will teach the same disciplines as in Santiago: Chinese martial arts, Japanese martial arts, Filipino-Indonesian arts and Western combat sports such as MMA, boxing and wrestling. We have a group exclusively dedicated to training for security forces, since their programs should not be the same as those of the civilian population. We also have Tai Chi and Yoga school.
–What facilities do you have?
–We have two rooms, one for martial arts and another for fitness. The dojo is one of the largest in Galicia. I have seen that martial arts in this region are in decline, being practiced mostly by children. Our intention is to expand this offer also for older people. In our boxing and wrestling groups, for example, the average age is between 40 and 60 years old. We are more interested in traditional practice more focused on self-defense and health improvement than in the competitions to which those under 25 years of age are more devoted. The federations have relegated martial arts to competitive sports and we think that it is time to recover the old martial and wisdom spirit with which they landed here, in the West.
–Teach self-defense classes for children. What does it give them, apart from the obvious: techniques to defend themselves?
–Normally, children are taught competition techniques that are often unrealistic for self-defense. We positively value the exhibition techniques with their colorful fantasies and acrobatics, since, without a doubt, they have a high educational value and development of motor skills, but it is also important to teach children self-defense. I teach them to manage the distance with those next to them, to learn to mark the distance, also in a visual and verbal sense. Controlling breathing and emotions is more important than kicking 180 degrees.
–The concept of martial arts is used in a very generic way. What and what are they, really?
–We teach mixed martial arts but not in the way of MMA which, as I said, are not aimed at self-defense. But what we teach is not a totum revolutum either, but rather an ordered praxis in which techniques from different schools are combined according to the movement patterns they use. In order to combine, for example, an aikido technique with a boxing technique, a system is necessary that connects them and that is where we focus when teaching them. Another important factor to teach is to take into account the so-called proportional pyramid, since the degree of virulence of the defense must be proportional to the attack and the attacker. The same type of technique is not used against an attacker who pushes us in a fit of anger as against an attempted stabbing.
–Are martial arts still in fashion?
–Unfortunately, the original martial arts are in decline. It is no longer easy to find teachers who advocate traditional disciplines. Today the fashion is MMA, which only focuses on its violent fights in the cage. To a certain extent we can say that praxis focused on the sapiential, civic or moral sphere, more aimed at the world of self-defense, is no longer fashionable. I repeat that we do not disqualify the competitions, but this gap in the environment of the tatami is very noticeable. Greetings are becoming less and less, class etiquette is being lost, something that, for example, is very important in Japanese martial arts (without a doubt, the ones that best take care of this aspect).
“The extreme misery of Wu Han in 1993 stayed with me; “It has nothing to do with the impression one has in China today”
–Where have you trained and what has been your professional career?
–During my university studies I continued the practice of both disciplines with several teachers. In Valencia and Alicante I met masters of numerous disciplines, such as taekwondo, jiu jitsu, boxing and others. At that time I had the opportunity to exchange knowledge with all of them. We organized demonstrations and tournaments, especially for the Armed Forces. Since then I have continued with the study of all these arts, so it can be said that my teaching is a synthesis, always under the eclectic perspective of Jeet Kune Do. Between 1993 and 1995 I completed my studies with my wu shu / kung fu teacher Zeng Yü (now rector of Wu Hang University, the city where I lived with him). Already in Santiago de Compostela I was the promoter of sanda (Chinese kick boxing) in Galicia. Later he would direct the first approval of teachers of the Judo Federation in collaboration with Alejandro Blanco (today president of the Olympic Committee). Later, I left the federation and continued with my travels and courses, meeting new teachers.
–What impressed you the most or what stands out the most about your trips?
–What stuck out to me most about Wu Han was, without a doubt, the extreme poverty and misery that existed in that city at that time (1993). In the house of my teacher, who was an emeritus professor at the Wu Shu College, the filth and poverty were overwhelming. Instead of bathrooms, like here, they had latrines. The dirt in which they lived caught my attention so much that when the news of Covid broke I remembered those years. They didn’t even have telephones at home and there were very few taxis; To call Spain on one occasion I had to rent a minibus to go to the call center. Today everything has changed so much that if I went back I would only recognize the monuments I visited. That impression has nothing to do with the one one has today when going to China. That year I remember that in Galicia we paid this teacher one month’s salary, which for him was like being paid at his university all year round. The many teachers I had the opportunity to visit apologized for the modest standard of living and the few amenities. Today, however, everything has changed and it is the other way around. Another thing that surprised me about the unstoppable desire for progress of the Chinese was when I participated in the twinning days of the Council of Santiago with the city of Confucius: literally, they took many ideas from the Camino de Santiago and applied them to said pilgrimage. They also did not hesitate to destroy a part of that unique wonder in the world that is Qui Lin to make a kind of park. In the cultural twinning of the Japanese city of Kumano Kodo, our school participated in an aikido exhibition when the authorities came to the university.
2023-10-04 07:50:16
#Control #breathing #emotions #important #180degree #kick
