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Instructor Profile:Sifu Jerome DeSilva

When I was young my father trained me in unarmed combat; something he was taught by my uncle whom was serving in the army at the time. Through them I learnt the ideals of basic punching kicking and grappling. This developed my interests and was part of my inspiration and influence which lead me down the road of pursuing knowledge of martial arts and combat. Throughout the years of my training I've practiced several different varieties of combat sport/martial arts. Mostly training with friends and collegues. I’ve experienced sports such as boxing, wrestling as well as other forms of Chinese martial arts. I’ve also worked for over 15 years in the security industry which has equipped me with a fair amount of practical experience in self defence and how to handle real life violent situations.

I first came across Nam Pai Chuan in 1987 at the age of 17, and instantly took a liking to the art; there was a richness & diversity within the teaching and knowledge available. I was fortunate enough to be under the direct tutoring of Master Christopher Lai who is the chief instructor and founder of NPC. I owe him all that I have learnt for all these years not to mention a number of seniors who gave me their time, patience and knowledge which they bestowed selflessly.

Nam Pai Chuan had within it all the key elements of which I had hoped for, the applications of modern day self defence as well as the traditional aspects of Chinese Martial Arts such as empty hand forms and traditional Chinese weaponry, on top of all this the internal arts of chi gung breathing to enhance one’s inner self and internal training.

For over 20 years I’ve been training in NPC, gaining my Black Belt in 1992. I've continued to enhance my training, taking part in competitions and other events organised by the system as well as some national events. In 1999 I began teaching at the Chiswick centre. Since then I’ve taught and trained a number of black belts of my own, a few of whom have established their own centres and are now progressing onto becoming great instructors of the system. Within NPC, we value the importance of the system running as a school. We teach and impart the knowledge we acquired willingly to those we feel deserve to be taught. Ego is not something we tolerate in the system and after the years of training and teaching at Chiswick I’m proud to acknowledge that I’ve not witnessed one case of a student being arrogant or being concerned only with themselves.

The pursuit of training in NPC for me is no longer about what weapons I can learn or what form I have yet to master; we all have much to learn and to teach and the library of NPC is without boundaries, but the real important aspect is that we progress not with skill alone, we strive to improve as a person, in mind and spirit as well as physicaly. It took more than one person to establish the shaolin temple and it took many more generations to enhance and improve the techniques and forms of the art. My dream is to hand my knowledge to my students and for them to further develop the art in their own way, improve it and in turn hand it to their students who will hopefully do the same. NPC is a priceless treasure in itself and I wish for nothing more than to see it be recognised and appreciated by future generations.