My journey in martial arts - Sifu Ben Norbury
1999 - 2007
I first started practising martial arts around 1999 whilst I was studying at college, aged about 17. I attended some Jiu Jitsu classes in Bredbury, Stockport, with the aim of improving my fitness initially rather than any focus on the martial aspects and I gained a couple belts. The gradings were quite old school and very rigorous, after completing our own bits we sat and watched the higher grading belts continue their assessment, finishing with everyone in the room queuing up to throw a punch at the guy doing his black belt. He must’ve been pretty tired as he missed blocking mine and I clocked him in the face! Cue me worrying what the retribution might involve but he was gent and laughed it off.
I never competed but did come away from that training with a bent nose from a nunchaku accident, that by the time I went to the doctor years later the septum was beyond help, there’s a lesson to be learned there I’m sure! As football (soccer…) was my main passion back then I didn’t maintain my Jiu Jitsu when I went to university. This was around the time that the film Fight Club came out and my mate Nick and I thought it would be fun to try his boxing versus my jiu jitsu - dumb idea! If I’m being generous I might’ve bruised his legs with some kicks but I didn’t land a punch, his boxing movement was too good and I went to my uni classes the next day with two black eyes and a bit more wisdom.
As a keen footballer I unfortunately sustained several injuries that interrupted any kind of other sports including martial arts training and it wasn’t until I finished university in 2006 that an old school friend (the same one who did my nose with a nunchaku) took me to a martial arts school in Burnage, south Manchester where Sifu Chris Lomas was teaching something called 'Splashing Hands Kung Fu'.
The training in class was spirited and physically demanding - I was in my early twenties at the time and quickly fell in love with the style and the training, I’d never been in such good shape. The more I trained, the fewer injuries I got too and it was positive feedback for my physical and mental health. A new career (requiring lots of travel) did start to get in the way of my class training though and it was around that time Sifu Chris changed location so I was left to practice at home.
2008 - 2015
Around 2008 I moved back closer to Romiley, Stockport, where by chance I realised that my local physio, Andrew Jackson, who I had known for many years through treatment of my football injuries, was also the Head of Little Nine Heaven UK and a teacher of the Splashing Hands System (Jian Shou Chuan) - and was a kung fu brother of my previous teacher! I’m not really one for believing in fate but whatever it was that made those two separate threads of my life come together I am forever grateful! I reignited my regular Splashing Hands education in Romiley, with the expert tutelage of Andrew Platt – now that I had found the style for me, I wasn’t going to give it up!
It was at Sifu Jackson's school where I was introduced to the Little Nine Heaven syllabus for the Splashing Hands system that enabled me to follow a formal progression through the ‘belts’, and I found this structure really motivating. It was here that I was also fortunate enough to meet and train with the head of the system Master James McNeil. Thanks to the arrangements made by Sifu Jackson in 2013, I graded under the watchful eye of Master McNeil at a seminar during one of his visits to the UK and was awarded the rank of black belt. I had trained hard for it and while it wasn’t quite the baptism of fire that Master McNeil experienced to get his black belt back in the day, the high bar of technique and performance under pressure is something I maintain through the gradings I now lead over ten year’s later.
It was at this time I also began learning the Splashing Hands Five Animal forms, with my preference being the dragon form for it’s spirited nature. I also started to learn Tzu Men Chuan, or ‘Poison Fingers’, as it compliments well with the street fighting / self-defence applicability of Splashing Hands.
In 2015 I attended the Little Nine Heaven Philadelphia world student gathering with my kung fu brothers and sisters from the UK, where I met and trained again with Master McNeil and many of his students from around the world. It was fascinating to meet strangers from the other side of the planet who performed the same forms exactly as I had been taught, which is a reminder of the importance of diligent and disciplined teachin if martial styles are to keep their essence through the generations. During this trip I was introduced to the basic Iron Hand training method which I loved and joined in with the Chi Kung exercises, done in a beautiful woodland setting. After a long hard day of training it was great to relax and hear more of Master McNeil’s stories of his former teachers. Within days of returning to the UK I had a personal tragedy that forever changed me, so when I look back on this trip it is like the last moments of a previous ‘rose-tinted’ version of me.
2016 - 2024
In the last few years I have supported Sifu Jackson in coaching new recruits in the Splashing Hands System (Jian Shou Chuan) through the intensive weekend programmes that happened quarterly, aimed at creating instructor level students based around the UK. We’ve had great success in this endeavour leading to the formation of the Little Nine Heaven schools in Inverness and Essex. During this time I have also received my Instructor certification in Splashing Hands Kung Fu (Jian Shou Chuan) and trained in the Advanced Iron Hand method and the Staff form.
In 2021, with Sifu Jackson’s support and guidance, I began teaching the regular Splashing Hands System class based at the Little Nine Heaven UK Kung Fu School, Romiley for students based in NW England. I have learnt so much more myself about this wonderful martial art through the coaching of it, such as the adaptation of techniques for different sizes and types of opponent and how to tailor training to the needs and motivations of the students.
To continue my coaching development, in 2021 I completed a number of courses aimed at improving my general teaching capabilities which were run by the British Council for Chinese Martial Arts: Level 3 Physical Conditioning; Level 3 Sports Psychology and Level 2 Coaching. In 2024 I completed the Hatton Academy (of RIcky fame) padwork for boxing fitness instructor course, which gave me an itch for some further boxing training as the overlap with Splashing Hands is very strong.
As I get older it might seem odd to keep ‘preparing for battle’ through practicing a physically demanding street fighting system - I’m no longer in those rough nightclubs or playing football against angry idiots, and it’s a question I’ve asked myself in the past but not anymore. I boil it down to three main reasons:
When I’m training hard I feel strong and healthy all over - inside and out, and I’m mentally so much better, a good session blows away the dust and any BS from work or the wider world. No doubt this could be said for many exercise classes but for me there needs to be a point to what I’m doing and that’s why I love the functional fitness of splashing hands training.
My lifestyle may no longer put me that close to obvious risky situations but let’s face it, sometimes those situations find you, so I’m not about to let all that muscle memory start to fade especially now I have a young family. Also, not every situation involves punches being thrown, it may simply be a pointed finger or a grabbed arm that needs handling and de-escalating which is best achieved by keeping the mind and muscles honed.
Confidence. I’m 5’4 and I should’ve never stood a chance playing amateur football, I would’ve been safer doing boxing where at least there are weight categories and half-decent referees! I strongly believe the physical confidence, and no small amount of spirit, that kung fu gave me saved me from being an obvious target on the pitch, and I even think this confidence goes into everyday situations where you emanate an aura of comfort and strength which deters any wannabe bullies.
Coupled with my personal reasons above, myself and other teachers are custodians of these rare styles and we take on a responsibility to share that knowledge and ensure it sustains through generations. This responsibility is what drives me on to raise the profile of this wonderful school and grow awareness and participation in all the styles we teach…especially Splashing Hands! :-)