‘Be the best you can be’ is motto of local Kung Fu teacher Willem
Kung Fu makes Michael Daly think of Bruce Lee films and a certain song. He met up with expert Willem Akkermans, who gives classes in Sligo, to find out about the real thing
IT MAY BE more to do with my age than yours, but mention the words ‘Kung Fu’ to me and I automatically think of Bruce Lee films and then a certain song – ‘Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting’, so meeting a real Kung Fu expert who teaches people in Sligo and beyond about this form of martial art, gave me – terrible pun intended – a real kick.
My first meeting with the expert Willem Akkermans, 47, originaly from Delft in the Netherlands, was very much by chance, in a football field. He had just finished one of his many now outdoor classes due to Covid-19 which he holds across the North West and was ‘warming down’ on a sticky evening last week, as he went through a routine involving swords and dance – well, that’s what it looked like to me.
There he was. This whirling dervish of a man oblivious to the passing tractors, balers and hay bobs and young lads making their way to and from hurling training (their swords). As I watched him, I was amazed, it was poetry, prose and much more in motion, every move calibrated with the precision of a Formula 1 support team.
The moves were repetitive but replicated each other exactly in height, distance and speed. They had a grace to them, the swords cutting the still air with a zinging sound. It was a free show on a balmy evening that I’m since told is a regular occurrence after his instruction class is done. I watched him from my car. I felt almost like an intruder into his world, afraid I might spook him or that he would stop, vanish into thin air.
Five minutes went by. When he stopped I felt like applauding. In a far corner of the same field a woman with a buggy, captivated also by what she had seen, did just that, clapping her hands once, almost as if forgetting herself.
Wearing track suit bottoms and a black T-shirt emblazoned with the words Five Fist Kung Fu, his head was glistening with sweat as he walked towards me. The best I could manage was
“that was different” and he smiled, his spoken words confirming the obvious, he wasn’t from around here.
The man wielding the swords with such grace, control and precision as he went through a routine akin to a Broadway dance show, 47-year-old Willem is from Delft in the Netherlands. It’s an interesting place in itself, enjoying a worldwide reputation due to its connection with Johannes Vermeer, Delft Blue earthenware and the Royal House.
An instructor with Five Fist Kung Fu, Willem has been living here for 14 years. He teaches Kung Fu in various towns in the North West, including Collooney and Sligo town. He has spent the last 14 years living here and seems very much at home with the North West. Others told me later they knew him through his martial arts expertise and teaching, but also through his time spent helping out with the local mountain rescue unit.
Anyone who offered a view on this most modest of men had only good things to say about him.
He has a quiet authority about him. He’s calm and measured in every word he utters.
He teaches the Choy Li Fut style of Kung Fu and he also teaches Tai Chi. He has been involved in martial arts for the last 21 years and as a boy he enjoyed Judo. He knows his stuff.
The good news for many is that age is not a barrier here and he welcomes and teaches people of all ages, but he made a telling observation when asked about age: “Age only matters for yourself. You have to work with your fitness, regardless of age, so if you are older and you are not used to this, take it easy, but you can still learn it, you will get fit as you learn.
“Don’t wait to come until you’re fit – come, train, take it sensibly and you will learn.” For younger students he puts an emphasis on the importance of discipline: “When you are small you need to learn more discipline and control. The same applies to the young people, just come along and give it a try, you will pick it up quickly. “Discipline is something people used to have more of, discipline is getting yourself active and telling yourself what to do and what not to do.
“Good manners, good training, push yourself, be the best that you can be, that’s what I want people to take from this. “We train any age group, what we do is Kung Fu our style is called Chi Li Fa – it comes from the Shao Lin temple.” If you want to find out more or perhaps join a class in Collooney, Boyle, Sligo town or Ballyshannon, check out Willem’s Five Fist Kung Fu online.