3 Section Staff Seminar
Sifu Paul Burkinshaw (Chief instructor of Sil Lum Kune and executive member of the B.C.C.M.A.) invited Simon Osborne from Gwangung to hold a seminar on the 3-sectional staff for a group of Sil Lum Kune students on July 13th 2003. Simon specializes in the 3-sectional staff and double broadswords. He trained for several years in Seattle and Florida and various parts of China and has competed in numerous competitions like the Chin Wu Championship in China winning a plethora of titles and awards.
Traditionally the 3 sectional staff is constructed from 3 pieces of wood although today many different materials are available, including waxwood, hardwood, rattan or foam and rubber. Each piece is roughly 65cm in length and connected together with 3 to 5 metal rings. At full extension the staff can have a reach of approximately 2 meters so it is quite versatile offering close to long range attacks.
15-20 people turned up to the 3 sectional-staff seminar at the Bedworth site in Exhall on a very hot Sunday afternoon. At the start of the seminar Simon demonstrated various techniques with the 3 sectional staff, which we tried to follow. Each of us took turns to repeat this sequence of moves along the length of the hall. One of these moves involved a block quickly followed by a spinning jump around finishing with a heavy strike. It was such a beautiful day and due to the hall being rather small for the large number of people swinging 3-sectional staffs around we all thought it would be a good idea to leave the building and venture out onto the field and give ourselves a little more room.
Once outside we covered a few basic moves and then moved quickly onto the first form. Simon broke the form down into about 12 sections; each section could consist of 2 or 3 motions covering a wide variety of offensive and defensive maneuvers.
The seminar was due to go on for about 3 hours but the form was fairly complex and everyone was having such a good time that this easily padded out to over 5 hours of training. We all had a highly deserved break for 15 minutes once we had completed half of the form. During this break it was interesting to watch people continue to practice on the field and see how they had progressed, showing a good level of competence with the weapon.
We finished the day by learning the bow which was easily the hardest part of the form. All 3 pieces of the staff rested just below the biceps with the palm of one hand pressed against the other. We would then flick all pieces of the staff into the air then step forward into ‘cat’ stance and catch the first and third section of the staff leaving the second hanging loose in the middle. A few people achieved this and it looked very impressive when performed correctly.
By then end of the day virtually everyone had a good understanding of the form and had integrated the complex movements into a smooth sequence. It was certainly an impressive sight when we were all moving in time, so much so that we attracted a number of onlookers. I hope they enjoyed watching as much as we enjoyed performing.
A great day was had by all and I look forward to our next meeting with Simon.
Written by Aaron McElligott
Student of Sil Lum Kune