Current Students
Jonathan Chang
Hometown: Andover, MA, USA
Age: 21
Blog Link: YMAA CA Retreat Center Journal
I have been practicing martial arts at YMAA since I was 5 years old. I started learning at YMAA's Andover Branch under Mr. Christopher Fazzio and have since continued to study there until my recent move to the Retreat Center. For the past 15 years, I have studied and taught Long Fist and White Crane Kung Fu. It was not until recently (2007) that I began learning Yang-Style Taijiquan under Andover's Mr. Paul Blake, and now directly from Dr. Yang.
I hope to greatly expand my knowledge of Chinese martial arts and to become proficient in what I learn. By doing this, I hope to effectively teach the next generation of martial artists in the future, by sharing my knowledge and positively influencing the training habits of practitioners. I enjoy practicing and teaching martial arts very much and wish to pursue these passions throughout my lifetime.
Mike DiMeglio
Hometown: Pennsylvania, USA
Age: 23
Blog Link: Mike's Blog
I started training martial arts at the age of 18 and trained a style which I thought, at the time, was authentic Eagle Claw Kung Fu. I later discovered that it was far from authentic. After leaving my first school, I trained some Hung Gar and Long Fist. When I participated in the working/training camp at the YMAA Retreat Center, I was able to understand Dr. Yang's dream and the decline of martial arts quality in modern day. I think a majority of people do not know the full extent of martial arts, and many don't even know that Taijiquan is also a martial art. I have been training White Crane Kung Fu and Taijiquan with Dr. Yang since March 2008. I feel that I've learned much more than I ever have, with much better quality and with a teacher who teaches with passion, not a teacher who teaches for business.
I am training to pass down these arts and to help preserve them. I also want to learn self-discipline, self-awareness, and focus. I am interested in the health aspects of martial arts, Qigong, and the mind/body connection. I want to see how far I can push myself, and I hope to see what the students here will be capable of doing after attaining a high level of skill.
Tom Dudkiewicz
Hometown: Orange County, CA, USA
Age: 24
Blog Link: Journey of Self Discovery
Prior to YMAA, I had 6 years of traditional Kung Fu training. I began my training in traditional Hung Gar in northeast Pennsylvania under Allan Ondash. I later continued my study of Hung Gar, and also began training Long Fist, White Crane and Taijiquan, under Mark Seidel, a former student of Master Yang.
By returning to the ancient ways of traditional training under one of the few remaining qualified masters like Dr. Yang, the arts have their greatest opportunity of preservation, to once again reach their highest standard. If a program such as this is not successful, then I strongly believe that the arts will continue to degrade until they are completely diluted or lost entirely. I am therefore willing to devote the next 10+ years of my life to both Master Yang and the YMAA Retreat Center to ensure that this dream of preservation is fully realized. I am honored to be a part of this project with all those involved, and together we will be able to accomplish a great feat of tremendous value, beyond anything we could hope to accomplish individually.
Patrick Manriquez
Hometown: Florida, USA
Age: 24
I currently have about 6 years of martial arts experience. I began by training myself through reading books. From there, I developed several training routines. I then continued my training at John Wai's Kung Fu Academy (Choy Lay Fut) for approximately 5 and a half years. At the same time, I also studied sparring techniques and conditioning drills on my own. After attending various tournaments and Sanshou competitions, I wanted to achieve a deeper level in my training, so I started searching for Qigong and other forms of internal practice. I met some people and began training Qigong regularly with them. Soon after, I met their master and was later able to achieve my instructor status. After teaching for about 1 and a half years, I found an article in a magazine where I learned about Dr. Yang and the YMAA Retreat Center. Now I am here continuing my studies.
My goal is to get deeper in my study of martial arts and learn from a prestigious master who I found is not only a great master of the art, but also a great man. I learned to greatly respect Dr. Yang, and the quality of my learning experience has greatly increased because it is very easy to listen, admire, and learn from him. He is a great teacher. I am learning from Master Yang because he allows me to learn. To me, this is all like a dream come true, to find a real master who is willing to openly teach me. I feel very privileged and lucky to be in this position, and I am not willing to pass up this opportunity. I will do all I can to fulfill his expectations of me as a good student.
Ricardo Tonet
Hometown: Almada, Portugal
Age: 24
Blog Link: A Path to Mastery
I have 5 years of YMAA training in Shaolin Long Fist, Shaolin White Crane, and Yang-Style Taijiquan.
I intend to sacrifice the company of my family and friends, as well as my old lifestyle in Portugal, to invest my time in conquering myself while preserving the ancient arts, which are the product of thousands of years of human experience. I believe that this knowledge can be very useful for studies in the fields of Martial Arts, Sports and Health. I chose Dr. Yang as my mentor because of his strong background in martial arts and science. He has always emphasized this important teaching, "Always question everything. What? Why? and How?"