Sifu - Gary O'Sullivan
Sifu Gary O'Sullivan was born in 1963 in London the son of immigrants from Ireland. Sifu O'Sullivan's father came from the docks in Cork City a place where life was very hard. Sifu O'Sullivan's father was a champion boxer and prize fighter.
As a school boy, Sifu O'Sullivan had trouble with discipline, so much so that his mother took him to a martial arts class at the age of seven. There was a significant improvement and so began a lifelong passionate study of martial arts.
Unfortunately many of the martial arts instructors Sifu O'Sullivan encountered were transient which led to a mistrust of martial arts organisations and gradings in particular. As a result, training occurred in styles such as Wu Shu Kwan, Tai Kwan Do, Judo, Karate and Wing Chun.
This changed in the 1980's when an unfulfilled Sifu O'Sullivan went looking for a more traditional master, someone he could rebuild lost trust with. Eventually he attended a class of the Shaolin System Nam Pai Chuan in Golders Green North West London.
He sat on the stage of this old hall with snow falling outside to watch this little Chinese man teach a children's class. At this point Sifu O'Sullivan was a high school teacher and new a good teacher when he saw one. He quizzed the parents on the stage about the Chinese man and to his surprise found out that this was the senior instructor of the school and he was a lawyer.
Gow Lian Andrew, who teaches
in Australia.
Sifu O'Sullivan couldn't believe that the senior instructor of the system would be taking a children's class on a cold winters Saturday morning and giving up the opportunity of earning more money in his law practice. Sifu O'Sullivan had found his Sifu... teacher. Sifu O'Sullivan started as a white belt and for a while refused opportunities to grade, until a discussion with Si Gung Lai where he was instructed to empty his cup and grade.
An enduring friendship and mutual respect had developed.
Gow Lian Tomohiro.
Sifu O'Sullivan decided to immigrate with his family to New Zealand in 1996 and at the bequest of Sigung Lai teach Nam Pai Chuan there. During that first year Sigung Lai gave Sifu O'Sullivan a wonderful gift the opportunity to train with his teacher Tai Sigung Quek in Malaysia. This training has continued bi annually and now Sifu O'Sullivan takes his students to train in Malaysia and the UK.
Sifu O'Sullivan has been teaching Nam Pai Chuan in New Zealand continuously since 1996 and currently is a fourth degree Blackbelt. He has also fostered clubs in Japan and Australia where some of his students are now instructing.
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