A Message from Darin Yee, IUKF President

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I sincerely hope you are well and practicing good sanitation habits suggested by our educated, seasoned health professionals. At times like this, we need temporarily set aside all the things we want to do and follow the protocol of what we should do.

As an extrovert, I find it very difficult to sit patiently at home and watch all the bad news on television. I’ve already informed my friends who come to work out with me to hold off and stay safely at home until this virus is eradicated.

I’ve continued to stay active by performing all 8 Uechi-Ryu katas followed by tiger/crane, Choy-Li-Fut, and every kung-fu form I remember. I’ve even brought home from my dojo some of the Chinese Weaponry and found enough room to go half-speed carefully.

In consideration, I’ve emailed my students and suggested we can meet online to train together. We have done it 2 times already and are learning what we can do and how we can do it. The IUKF has a GoTo Meeting program where we can entertain a total of 151 participants.

I understand some of us have very diverse processes of training, but the bottom line is, we are all family, and I encourage all to advance and grow in our path. Without sounding political, my philosophy has always been the fact that we all need to be supportive and not regulatory. Since my appointment as president of the IUKF, I’ve been a bit more liberal than some would like, but I believe no one knows what we want better than each individual, and I, for one, respect our individual beliefs.

If anyone would like to join our online workouts, please let me know, and I will include you in my notifications of time and what we will be working on in that particular workout. Please email me at darinyee@hotmail.com.

I understand these workouts would not be as vigorous as when I am standing next to you, pushing you to go 110%. The bottom line is you will get out of these workouts that you put in.

Anyways, please stay healthy and well. When this is over, I look forward to seeing everyone again. I may set up another regional workout so we can be gathered together as good families should do periodically.

Please stay vigilant, practice good sanitation habits, and I look forward to seeing you again soon.

Darin Yee