Jun Fan Gung Fu/Jeet Kune Do

What is Jun Fan Gung Fu/Jeet Kune Do?

Let's start by breaking down the name. Jun Fan is the Chinese name of legendary martial artist Bruce Lee. If you don't know who he is, Google it! Gung Fu (specifically Wing Chun) is the "Kung Fu" art he mastered in China, and then the United States. Jeet Kune Do translates to "Way of the Intercepting Fist".

Over the years, Bruce Lee's Gung Fu evolved. He dumped what didn't work and added techniques and concepts that did, such as those found in Western boxing and fencing. This new art, which he named Jeet Kune Do, incorporated the practice of attacking while defending - hence the "intercepting fist".

Bruce Lee's student, Guru Dan Inosanto continues the journey of his late teacher. It reaches our school through one of his students - Sifu Raffi Derderian.

In JKD we defend/attack with our strong side forward, unlike the stance taken in traditional boxing. This puts our strongest, quickest weapons (arms and legs) between us and our opponent. Striking and kicking play a very strong role, but added to our arsenal is a variety of effective traps and locks. There is a balance and flow to our foot and handwork, which is put to the test in light (safe!) sparring sessions.

While there are no belts awarded in this art (at least in our particular system), students advance through levels. Level 10 earns a black sash, the equivalent of a black belt. Our certification comes from Sifu Raffi Derderian at Derderian Academy of Martial Arts in Johnston, Rhode Island. We have also benefited greatly from the generous tutelage of Sifu Collin Lieberman (Centerline JKD), and of course, Sifu Sean Gallimore who brought the program to our school.

Black sash holder, Sifu Karl Neumann, has studied this art since 2008 and runs our JKD program. Sifu John Himmelman, also training in JKD since 2008, is a black sash holder, and teaches as well.