If we solved this problem, we could not only do something about the shortage of housing space in Hong Kong and make double use of our training facilities, we could also licence two WT schools to operate where there is only room for one.
But let me leave that until later and return to the biology lesson:
If the fly were to grow to the size of a human, would it still be able to perform its elegant gymnastics on the ceiling?
Well, its suction pads would be one thousand times more powerful than now, but it would unfortunately weigh a million times as much and therefore fall down, land on its insect back and remain there, like Gregor Samsa when he was transformed into a beetle in Kafka’s ‘Metamorphosis’.
For becoming bigger is inevitably accompanied by an increase in weight. Unfortunately however, the fly’s increase in weight is not commensurate with the increase in size. Life is not that simple. While the size in terms of surface area increases by the power of two (x2), the weight increases by the power of three (x3). For non-mathematicians like me this translates as follows: the effect as the size (height) doubles is 2x2, but the effect on the weight is 2x2x2!.
Becoming larger therefore inevitably means becoming disproportionately (!) heavier. Being larger and heavier has the advantage of being stronger and more influential and important, with the ability to hit harder, but the price is reduced mobility, ponderousness etc.
There is no advantage without a disadvantage, that is the rule in life. An elephant is unable to hop around!
The EWTO has become such a powerful elephant. In 1967, when it was still called Budo Zirkel after I had founded it at the high school class in Kiel, it was a mere flyweight. In the beginning I was still able to manage, control and check everything down to the last detail myself, but now the spark of life is by no means able to penetrate down to the last cell any more. But why should things be any different from what happens in the body? I can still order my arms to lift, my fists to clench and my finger joints to bend, but my will does not penetrate to the tiniest vein or the last nerve cell. The situation is similar with the information I send out to the instructors and membership of the EWTO: my words no longer reach everybody! New communication channels need to be created! Would it perhaps be better not to grow, or in our case to contract again? No, contracting is not possible, only shrinking as in the case of old people. Growth is a characteristic of life. What no longer grows begins to die. The EWTO steadily continues to grow – despite the warnings of pessimists, foolish internal problems and sabotage attempts from outside. The elephant is constantly growing in size and strength.
And this is a good thing, for an elephant has to be big. A fully-grown but small elephant would be a joke, just as a fly the size of a man would be a contradiction in terms. A small, artificially slimmed-down EWTO would no longer be the EWTO. Taoism teaches us that the opposite of a statement, or in this case a strategy, can be just as correct as the original thesis. This means that something small can survive just as well as something large. The small organism because it can hide more easily and the large because it does not need to hide, as it is strong enough to overcome any opponent. The EWTO can only live if it remains large and grows, for otherwise it might be able to survive, but it would no longer be the EWTO.
It is also important that growth is not only restricted to quantity, as the quality must also improve. This means research (academic study), training, image-enhancing measures, service to our school instructors, improved communication and advertising etc. Continuing to grow necessarily involves change, for only those who are willing to change remain true to themselves. Change is the be-all and end-all of WingTsun. Just like the No. 1 law for survival: adaptability.
Let’s remember: where a WT-user must really be fast is in adapting to new situations. We must be able to change as the situation changes. Thnking in terms of the status quo is the opposite of WingTsun.
It is important to adapt constantly to the changing circumstances, the market and the spirit of the times. Only if we can do this – and show that we can do this on a day-to-day basis – will we remain adaptable and flexible despite our size and weight!

Next we need to take stock of the current situation in order to formulate new goals, and this will require cooperation by all our instructors. Among other things we must consider other ways of achieving growth, as simple cell division is no longer equal to the task. 25 years ago it was my declared aim to establish a WT school in every large town. This aim was achieved quite a few years ago, and now we must adjust our goals so that our younger instructors are also given their chance. In Nature every cell is roughly the same size – an elephant does not have larger cells than a mouse, it just has many more of them. Unlike the other animals we are able to plan for the future, however, and we can consciously enlarge our cells. By making use of our experts – and nobody has more of these than the EWTO - and by building on the experience gained by our successful school instructors, we must refuse to let the future happen to us like fate, but rather be proactive and shape it ourselves!
The EWTO has become too large for me to continue managing it alone, without the help of our school instructors and experts.
Accordingly I hereby urge every instructor to help determine the new objectives and therefore our course for the coming years at the impending instructors’ meeting. The EWTO consists of all of you, of all of us, and – united we are strong!

Keith R. Kernspecht