Mak Miah
Founder and Chief Instructor

Si-Hing Mak Started his training in Steelwire mantis in 1990 with Sifu Mike Olrod. He went onto train under Sifu Mike Olrod for the next 6 years. Among the other styles Mak has studied are Shotokan Karate, Taekwondo, Muay Tai, Kickboxing and Pak Mei KungFu. Although he still regards himself a student in the vast Praying Mantis System, he has over 9 years teaching experience, over 15 years experience in Martial Arts and is first generation student of Sifu Mike Olrod. Mak's style of teaching is friendly but firm. He believes in a friendly relaxed atmosphere in class while keeping it formal and disciplined. His teaching does include traditional methods and philosophies but he favours the practical and external physical aspects of training of the Praying Mantis System.

Sid Datta
President

Sid first started training in martial arts in 1990 when he started Tae Kwon Do. He continued with this for a year and a half, until he found himself progressing very slowly. In 1994 Sid discovered Steelwire Mantis and studied with Si-Hing Mak under Sifu Mike Olrod. When Mike's class disbanded, Mak carried on teaching the style and Sid was able to continue his training. When Sid started at university and moved away from the Orpington area, Sid briefly tried some different martial arts, including Wing Chun, Wu Shu Kwan, and Pak Mei. Nothing he experienced was comparable to the old Mantis class.

"The training we received at the Mantis class was physically and mentally far more intense than anything I have seen, which is why I still return to Orpington once a week for Mak's class" says Sid

Sid's philosophy regarding martial arts is to train as hard as possible. Improvement only comes with constant training, and he knows he himself has a long, long way to go. People train martial arts for different reasons. Sid trains because he enjoys the training. Sid's goal within martial arts is not to achieve anything, but to continue to learn and to train.

Rik Mcnicoll
Secretary

The world of WTF Taekwondo first enticed Rik in to the serious martial arts arena, studying under 6th Dan Master Jimmy Edwards and 3rd Dan Lup Yee Yau, Rik soon got the appetite for the vast array of kicking techniques that Taekwondo presented.  Holding a Brown belt he is determined to train again and earn his black tabs and ultimately his black belt. 

Moving from Norwich to London meant Rik needed to find another good club... after months of searching he settled at the Orpington School of Martial Arts and he hasn't looked back since.   The different style that Kung-fu offers has given him a much wider range of techniques to practice, particularly in the hand strike and blocking area which is perhaps where Taekwondo is less focused.   The hard working atmosphere and challenging techniques keep him working hard and striving to improve, gaining power and speed through practice practice and more practice!

Rebecca Harris
Treasurer

Becky started Kung Fu recently in the hope that it will improve her strength and suppleness. She have been doing athletics for about 9 years and around 2 years ago began to focus on 400m and 800m, she trains 3 times a week and goes to the gym at least once; she hopes that Kung Fu will compliment her existing training and help her run even faster this season.

"The most difficult thing about Kung Fu is learning the techniques properly, I really enjoy exercise and working out but I'm not used to having someone telling me where my legs and arms should be. I'm used to being good at sport and it's incredibly frustrating when I get something wrong or can't do something, which seems to happen often in the lessons. On the positive side I've already noticed a difference in my legs, which feel looser, I'm sure my stride length has increased and my arms feel much stronger. I'd now really like a six-pack because it freaks out other competitors at the start line, which will improve my chances of winning" said Becky

Tom Aylwin
Member

Tom started doing martial arts with Sid when he was 14 - joining a Taekwondo club. He continued to do this for about a year - developing reasonable kicks - and then it fell by the wayside. When Tom was 16, he decided to take up training again and found the Steelwire mantis class where Mak had already been training for four years. It immediately struck Tom as a world apart from Taekwondo with a well established class of real fighters, training very hard. The system also stuck him as a good one - more than just a sport, it was a proper, hard, Chinese martial art that went deep - every technique changing and refining the more you trained it - there was always more to learn. Even after 12 years, Tom has hardly scratched the surface. The health benefits are real as well. Tom is not an expert in the understanding of "Chi" but he believes that training has helped him stay healthy - in the same way as Yoga and Tai-Chi. Sid joined in training a few years later and can vouch for how hard we used to train. The class stopped after a few years due to club politics, and Mak started his own class of junior students. Tom helped with the teaching especially when he was away at university and also continued his own training. Along side this, and since, Tom has trained in other martial arts - classical as well as modern mixtures, including Wing-Chun, Pak-Mei, Muay-Tai, and more modern Kung-Fu systems. Tom has been training with the Orpington School of Martial Arts for 8 years now and continues to do so because of the valuable training Mak offers - a well rounded system with good arm work.

Tom says "My advice to any student is to train hard and absorb all the knowledge that you can - from any source - watch professional boxers, do other styles and remember what you are training the techniques for - to apply them in real life"