In his indefatigable way Sifu Piet has trained countless students who are now themselves instructors with schools of their own. His many students particularly appreciate him for his extremely memorable and enlightening seminars.

The introduction of the odd-numbered ”grading badges“ was also due to him. Since then all WT students have carried this accreditation showing their current grade. ”This motivation was born of need“, as Sifu Piet says. Many of the “younger“ boys and girls in his children’s group have rise to this measure, namely to create a different badge showing the grade held at each level. In fact Sifu Piet’s attention is above all directed towards training children: “The aim should be to ensure that every child is able to defend itself effectively with WT in a health-endangering situation“. The prevention of violence and self-assertion play an important part during classes. For younger children the emphasis is on specific coordination and concentration forms. Role-playing is used to portray situations and different ways of dealing with conflict. The following interview touches on these aspects and more, with a little about the private life of Sifu Piet.

WTW: What brought you to start WT as a martial art?

As a fan of Bruce Lee I joined the WT school in Kiel in the summer of 1981. I officially became a member of the EWTO on 12.10.1981.

WTW: What do you find so fascinating about it personally?

WT has many fascinating aspects; for me they are the principles which can be applied in all situations in life and the inexhaustible technical repertoire of our grandmasters. The strong sense of family in our large association, which is demonstrated again and again by Si-Fu Kernspecht and Si-Mo, as well as our entire team of masters and instructors, has had a strong influence on me in my own relations with students.

WTW: How long have you had your WT school?

I opened my first school in Eckernförde in April 1988, and the school in Rendsburg in November 1989. I was 22 years old when I gained my first experience as an instructor. Looking back, I would like to see better preparation of our assistant instructors where children in particular are concerned (though this area is soon to be given greater attention). I now teach 10 children’s classes and 5 adult classes each week, plus private lessons, school and kindergarten courses, EWTO seminars and instructor classes for my own team of assistants. And a stack of office work.

WTW: What made you start up in Eckernförde?

The location was an easy choice! Anybody who has ever been to Eckernförde and knows its wonderful beach and special atmosphere knows what I mean. But seriously, I spent some of my childhood in Eckernförde and wanted to go back to these beautiful surroundings. At the end of the eighties there was only the WT school in Kiel. I increasingly wanted to leave my profession as a painter and decorator and start something new. After 5 years of part-time teaching I was able to turn my hobby of WingTsun into a new profession.

WTW: How many students do you currently have in your schools?

In our 2 schools we currently have approx. 350 children, young people and adults. We have divided the children into age groups: pre-school children, primary school children and adolescents. In addition my wife, Simo Birgit, looks after our ChiKung group in Eckernförde, where I am allowed to attend as a student when I can find the time.

WTW: What kind of “active“ advertising do you do?

When we receive calls we always ask how prospective students became aware of us. It is easy to see that the Internet has gained in importance. We recently produced our own flyer for children and adolescents, which has the same appearance as our Internet site. A constant presence in the local media and a major annual event – the “Pirate Festival“ – give us a great deal of public exposure. During this event, members of our school and from our partner schools in Stralsund, Greifswald and the island of Rügen headed by Sifu Torsten Rollberg appear as pirates and ensure plenty of fun and entertainment in Eckernförde.

WTW: What made you choose the advertising methods you now use?

We have always tried all manner of things, e.g. demonstrations, posters etc., but the methods I have chosen have proved to be the right ones for our region in Schleswig-Holstein. In the autumn we intend to place advertisements with photos of our female WT-CK students. We will also combine trial sessions with articles in local newspapers.

WTW: What form do your classes take?

There are differences in the teaching structure for children’s classes, adolescents and adults (for a start, we always teach body awareness first, in other words we begin with the forms and have these repeated with the eyes both open and closed). There are also certain ways of ensuring that children do not claim that they have had enough after five repetitions! We then continue with child-related exercises to train the tactile sense, followed by a series of stamina, strength, coordination and technical exercises in which the children are actively included. I consider Blitzdefence role-playing to be extremely important, e.g. a child is prevented from going through a door and taught to use appropriate behaviour. At regular intervals we carry our exercises using a car to practice situations that are important for children. The children practice how to make their escape if they are e.g. followed by an adult. Finally there is extended training using focus-mitts, with methods of defusing situations and everything that involves. At the end there might be free-fighting or an alertness exercise. There are many other important things I could tell you, but let’s leave that for another time.

WTW: One last question: what are you future aims in WT?

In future I would like to follow my new motto a little more closely: “Teachers instruct students, and masters instruct teachers”. This means that I will devote more of my energy to my advanced students. In addition, whenever Si-Fu Kernspecht is able to give us some of his valuable time, I try to work on the WT weapons programmes with my Kiel colleagues Sifu Rainer and Sifu Frank on a regular basis. My personal aims also include spending more time with my son Joey Rick and my wife Birgit, with whom I would like to go diving in the Baltic more than just once this year.

Another aim is to pass on my experience with children to our team of EWTO instructors. At present I am writing down the most important aspects with a view to summarising them as an all-round concept.