Biography of Ted Wong

"Put 100% of yourself in every punch or kick when training . It is the only way to improve in the art". Ted Wong

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Ted Wong was Bruce Lee's last private student, his personal sparring partner and direct witness of the last stage of the evolution of Jeet Kune Do. Ted met Bruce in 1967 and, despite having no previous martial experience, he was admitted in the "Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute" at the Chinatown of Los Angeles. The other students admitted were black belts or experts in other martial arts, so it can be said that Ted had “his cup completely empty so that it could be filled". Bruce had to see something special in him because short after the opening of the school he invited Ted to his home and took him as a private student. Based on Lee's personal diary, Ted took more private classes from him than anybody else during Los Angeles period, that is when Jeet Kune Do was created.

The training of both of them was focused on the process of martial evolution that Bruce was researching that time, while the material of the "Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute" was based on a more educational method to be taught in a school, having still a clear influence from Wing Chun. Although a bit less than in the previous schools of Seattle and Oakland, in Los Angeles the study of trapping or chi-sao was still emphasized.

But the private trainings of Bruce and Ted were focused on Bruce's studies of different combat aspects, such as to acquire a higher mobility, refining footwork and the study of body alignment that offers you the maximum power when carrying out the execution of the techniques. The study of tactics from fencing and biomechanics closer to boxing, as well as the subsequent application through sparring to evaluate its functioning was the main aspect of those private sessions. The influence of boxing and fencing was progressively gaining more relevance.

Ted Wong was one of the few individuals certified in Jeet Kune Do directly by Bruce Lee and he was witness of the private lessons Lee imparted to some of the greatest champions of that time, like Joe Lewis. Sifu Ted was considered as one of the top authorities in Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do, as well as the most qualified instructor to show the latter stage of the said art.


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For more information: Página oficial de Ted Wong Jeet Kune Do