EWTO

WingTsun aids cooperation between the EU members

Following an initiative by the Spanish national instructor Victor Gutierrez, 5th PG WT, the President of the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife recently received Grandmaster Kernspecht and the Bulgarian ministers.

As the Bulgarian ministers were teaching parts of the WT course of study – the first week of the course was held in Tenerife from 14. to 19.01. – and happened to be present, they took the opportunity to accept an invitation to pay an unofficial inaugural visit to their Spanish counterparts. Sifu Victor Gutierrez had informed the official government bodies in Tenerife about the visit of the Bulgarian ministers to the island. President Don Ricardo Melchor Navarro therefore invited the Bulgarian colleagues and the German kung-fu Grandmaster to his official residence for an informal discussion. During this meeting, interesting perspectives for future cooperation between the new EU neighbours were discussed.
During another reception, the unofficial delegation also met the dean Don Angel M. Gutierrez Navarro of the University of La Laguna. Here too, possible cooperation between the Bulgarian universities in Sofia and Plovdiv and the University of La Laguna were discussed, and further meetings were agreed.

This time the WT students had travelled to Tenerife to attend the sixth semestre of their course, where they were able to enjoy the spring sunshine of the Canaries and receive intensive instruction from their Bulgarian professors and lecturers on the subjects of cultural history, callisthenics, sports journalism and statistics. The Deputy Sports Minister Prof. Margaritov and his wife Prof. Margaritova, the Deputy Culture Minister Vanja Dobreva, Prof. Koitchev and the television journalist Todor Schabanski joined them from Bulgaria.

To make sure that practical training was not neglected, and also to do justice to the extremely mild and sunny climate of Tenerife (27°), Grandmaster Kernspecht held classes on almost every day when the lectures were over. On two occasions there was even a seminar for the local students in Tenerife, during which Dai-Sifu Oliver König, Dai-Sifu Giuseppe Schembri and Sifu Victor Gutierrez assisted their Si-Fu. Other Spanish WT students also arrived to take advantage of this opportunity to learn ”at first hand”. Even a number of German WT fans had flown to the island off the coast of western Africa to attend the seminars.
After all, who would not prefer to freshen up his WT reflexes in the warm spring breezes of Tenerife rather than dodging flying roof tiles back in stormy Germany?