Sifu Tom Braithwaite

-  Founder and Instructor of the Dragon Martial Arts Association UK

-  First Foreign President of the Dragon Sign Athletic Association (Hong Kong)

-  UK Ambassador for the Cheung Kwok Tai Wushu Association (Hong Kong)

-  Only Foreign Judge at the 1st World Dragon Style Championships (Futsan, China 2010)

-  Certified at instructor level by the Dragon Sign Athletic Association (Hong Kong)

-  Certified at instructor level by Cheung Kwok Tai Wushu Association (Hong Kong)

-  Certified at advanced level (with distinction) at Yang tai chi and Dragon kung fu by the University of Hong Kong

-  Gold Medalist in European Kung Fu Championships 1997 (free sparring)

-  Silver Medalist in European Kung Fu Championships 1997 (performing Shaolin leopard)

-  Gold Medalist in Hong Kong Kung Fu Championships 2002 (performing Dragon)

-  Gold Medalist in Hong Kong Internal Kung Fu Championships 2003 (performing Water Boxing)

-  Bronze Medalist in Hong Kong Internal Kung Fu Championships 2003 (performing Tai Chi sword)

Sifu Tom Braithwaite is the founder and principal instructor of the Dragon Martial Arts Association, UK. 

He is a senior student of Master Cheung Kwok Tai, from whom he has been learning since 1998. Master Cheung was a student of Lam Woon Gong, the son of Grandmaster Lam Yiu Gwai (the founder of Dragon style kung fu).

Tom has been authorised to teach Dragon style kung fu by the Dragon Sign Athletic Association in Hong Kong, the governing body for the style. He is the first ever foreign president of the Dragon Sign Athletic Association and is also the first Westerner to have been awarded a teaching certificate by the Cheung Kwok Tai Wushu Association, qualifying him to teach Dragon, Yang style tai chi and Liu He Ba Fa. 

Tom has been certified at advanced level with distinction at Yang style tai chi and Dragon style kung fu by the University of Hong Kong.  He also holds certifications in Wadoryu Karate, Viet Va Dao and has a black belt Hung Kuen kung fu.

Tom has been invited to China and Hong Kong as a judge for local kung fu competitions.  He has also judged a variety of nationwide competitions in the UK.

In this photo on the left, Tom was greatly honoured to be the first and only non-Chinese person to be invited as a judge for the World Dragon Championships, held in Foshan, Guangdong province, in 2010. 

Three DMAA students won 5 medals at this event, competing against 200 of the best Dragon style kung fu practitioners from across China, Hong Kong and the US.

Background

Following his passion for martial arts since childhood, Tom trained first in Karate, becoming the captain of his school team, then in Viet Va Dao, the traditional style of Vietnam whilst living in Paris, France, and then in Hung Kuen kung fu for several years in the UK. 

During this time, Tom won various national tournaments and in 1997 he entered into the European Kung Fu Championships where he won a Gold Medal for free sparring and a Silver Medal for forms. 

 Tom then emigrated to Hong Kong where, for seven years, he studied Southern Dragon style kung fu, Yang style tai chi (including Dong’s fast form) and Liu He Ba Fa directly from one of the China's most highly regarded masters - Cheung Kwok Tai.

After showing his dedication to his training over the first four years in Hong Kong, Tom was accepted by Master Cheung as a 'closed door student' where, for the final three years of his time there, he trained privately with Master Cheung for at least 8 hours every day. This intensive, personal training gave Tom a unique insight into Chinese kung fu that set him on the path to develop a depth of ability and a level of understanding that is very rare.

In 2002, Tom was the first Westerner ever to enter the Hong Kong Kung Fu Championships where he won a Gold medal in the Traditional Styles section against 60 entrants, performing Dragon style.

Later in 2003, he entered the Hong Kong Internal Kung Fu Championships, again the first and only Westerner ever to try, and won another Gold medal in the Non-Weapons section, performing Liu He Ba Fa against 30 entrants.  Tom also won a Bronze medal in the Weapons category, performing a traditional Tai Chi sword form against 70 entrants.

To have won these Hong Kong competitions, especially against several renowned local Chinese teachers, and his accolades since then, have helped gain Tom international recognition as one of the West's leading exponents of Chinese kung fu.

The Dragon Martial Arts Association UK

Returning to the UK in 2005, Tom founded the Dragon Martial Arts Association (DMAA) through which he now teaches these unique arts to students of all ages and abilities.

The DMAA holds classes in Haslemere, West Sussex, and Brighton & Hove, East Sussex, as well as in surrounding areas and also in London. Class sizes are limited so students always receive a high degree of personal attention and Sifu Braithwaite is always present at each class.

The DMAA also provides tailored courses for corporations as team-building exercises, practical self defence courses for teenagers (or adults) and demonstrations where students regularly perform at events across the UK and abroad.

Each year, the DMAA organises training seminars in the south of France.  Here students receive intensive, personal training with Sifu Braithwaite, get the chance to focus on their own practice and enjoy a short break in the beautiful setting of a medieval chateau in a remote, unspoilt village in Provence.  In 2010, we were also joined by Master Cheung Kwok Tai and his family, who intend to be with us at these seminars on a regular basis.

The DMAA also organises annual trips to Hong Kong and China, where students can immerse themselves in Chinese culture and receive personal, 1-on-1 tuition from some of the world’s most highly respected masters of kung fu alive today. These are not 'coach tours' with a few superficial training sessions thrown in - instead DMAA students get to live and breathe the kung fu 'lifestyle' in its most traditional and authentic form.

In Hong Kong, the DMAA and its members are always warmly welcomed into the Dragon family and by the local kung fu community. Alongside a rigourous training routine, students regularly perform at prestigious events, such as the Dragon family annual party, kung fu masters’ birthday celebrations, new kung fu school openings, religious festivals, temple ceremonies and for Chinese government officials. Many of these performances are filmed for Chinese TV.

These trips to Hong Kong and China are truly unique experiences that not only give students an incomparable boost to their knowledge and ability in kung fu, but they are also an incredible opportunity to learn about Chinese culture, get to know and be known in the local kung fu community and experiment with its (sometimes curious) cuisine.

Please take a look at the gallery section for more photos of the DMAA in action in France, China and Hong Kong.

We have also been featured in The Metro newspaper and on BBC TV.

Master Cheung Kwok Tai

Tom's sifu, Master Cheung Kwok Tai, is well known throughout the martial arts community as a leading authority on Chinese kung fu and Chinese medicine.  Amongst his long list of accolades, he is a judge for Chinese national Wushu tournaments and he is a Chinese national tai chi Gold Medalist.

As the head of the Dragon Sign Athletic Association, Master Cheung is widely acknowledged as one of the world's leading practitioners of Dragon style kung fu, having been the senior student of Lam Woon Gong, the son of Grandmaster Lam Yiu Kwai (the founder of the style).

Master Cheung is also one of the world's few genuine experts in the rare art of Liu He Ba Fa, or Water Boxing, having learned from Tsan Tzan Yi and Choi Ho Ching do djeung.

For Tom and his students to have such a close relationship with a master of this calibre is a rare attribute indeed and one for which he is eternally grateful.