Linda
Linda was a senior student of Master Chan Cheung prior to his passing, training in Lung Ying (Dragon Style) Kung Fu since 1997.
Linda was authorised to teach Lung Ying from Master Chan in 2003 when he retired after 30 years of teaching the art in Hong Kong and Australia. She has travelled the globe in her dedication to the art, training and meeting with many top Dragon Style masters in Hong Kong, China, USA, UK, Ireland, France, and spent 3 years overseas - 2 years of which was in London training with the UK Dragon Style Association.
Linda has also made several trips to Hong Kong and China in continuing her training of Lung Ying, and has performed at annual events held in Waichow China, and Hong Kong.
In 2009, at the Dragon Sign Athletic Association's 40th anniversary celebration in Hong Kong, Linda was awarded the Regional President of Australia, recognising her as the representative of Master Chan Cheung's lung ying legacy in Australia. She is one of a handful of women across the world authorised to teach lung ying; a relatively rare art outside of China and Hong Kong.
Since 2018, Linda has established a martial arts child development program, which holistically develops kids/youths leadership skills by combining the martial arts discipline with education and personal development. She has also successfully coached students from 8yo+ to 1st place and Top 3 rankings in sparring competitions over the last 10yrs.
"Lion Dancing is an integral part of traditional southern kung fu styles. I started learning how to drum a few weeks after I joined the Association, and learnt the head movements from watching my seniors perform whilst I matched the beats to their movements. Considering I was young, female, and very skinny, I didn't get much opportunity to practice being in the lion myself, however my seniors would teach me during free class time whenever possible. I missed many CNY dinners with my family performing with our club at temples around Sydney, so when I was invited to further my lion dance knowledge in 2006 in China, it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. Training 6hrs everyday sounded like a dream! It was very intensive and a lot of hard work, but definitely an experience I will never forget."
Linda lives and beathes Lung Ying, and has also travelled to Thailand and Cambodia training at fight gyms in the nation's capitals to gain experience in furthering Lung Ying training. She is also a qualified Master Trainer with the Australian Institute of Fitness, and spent 3 years overseas in Canada and UK personal training clients in weight loss and strength conditioning.
Linda returned to Australia in 2010 and re-established the Association in April 2011, six months after the passing of Master Chan Cheung. She is a Learning & Development professional, and has extensive experience developing training strategies and programs for private industry and government agencies. This experience has enabled Linda to develop a unique curriculum for the Australia Dragon Style Kung Fu Association; combining traditional methods and modern progressive learning strategies to enhance and promote the development of Lung Ying Dragon Style.
"One of the aims of the Association is to provide people from all backgrounds the opportunity to learn new skills and knowledge to apply in their daily lives, via the disciplined nature of training Dragon Style kung fu, lion dance and volunteering. My goal is to provide an environment where students can train hard, feel welcome and safe, make friends and not only learn kung fu, but to gain skills and abilities to become the best person they can be and give back to the community."