Hi, my name is Sifu Frank Ahlers and I run the most northerly WT School in Germany on the beautiful island of Sylt. I have now been learning this fascinating martial art for almost 14 years, and still consider it the most logical and effective of them all. I became acquainted with WingTsun in 1989 in my home town of Mülheim/Ruhr under Dai-Sifu H. Olbers - just when I had decided to move to Sylt. Although it is approx. 600 km from Sylt to Mülheim, I took advantage of every opportunity to attend WT training there. However I had nobody to train with in Sylt, so in 1991, with the support of my Sifu H. Olbers, I decided to open a school on the island.

One of my first students was a former student of Si-Gung K.R. Kernspecht from Kiel, who was pleased to find that WingTsun had now reached Sylt. The island has an area of approx. 100 sq. km and around 20 000 inhabitants, half of whom live in the principal town of Westerland. The average age is 43 and many ‘residents‘ are owners of second homes on the island. Others only work here for the tourist season and then return home to the mainland. Accordingly I have seen many students come and go during the last twelve years, but I also have a regular contingent of hard-working students. Six of my older students are now instructors themselves and assist me during classes, and there is a steady flow of newcomers thanks to regular advertisements in the local newspaper, the Internet and word of mouth.

We train three times per week and I attach great importance to the traditional programmes and the realistic application of the Blitzdefence programmes. I tend to end the classes with stamina training and isometric stretching exercises. To our great pleasure Dai-Sifu H. Olbers comes over to Sylt twice per year and examines my students in the programmes they have been learning. Naturally I always seize the opportunity to take private lessons from him as well. In addition I often take my instructors over to the mainland to attend seminars held by Si-Gung Kernspecht as well as other instructor classes. I am keen to take my 3rd Technician grade soon, and am using every spare minute to further my skills. My goal is to make as many people as possible enthusiastic about WT, and to bring every single one of my students up to at least 2nd or 3rd Technician level. My pleasure and enthusiasm for WingTsun grows with every new movement I learn, and I want my students to feel just the same.
So keep working!

Frank Ahlers, Sylt