Updated 7/7/04

 

About Al Bender

  In 1977, Al Bender began training in the styles of Northern Shao Lin Chuan And Yang Style Tai Chuan at Peter Kwok's Kung Fu Academy under the instruction of Sifu Gary Torres.

  In 1978, he began weapons training in traditional Chinese weaponry and became a teaching assistant under Sifu Torres.

  In 1979, he was promoted to Chief Instructor of Peter Kwok's Kung Fu Academy, and ran the school for Sifu Torres.

  In 1980, he was promoted to Black Sash and was accepted as a personal and private student of Grandmaster Peter Kwok(Grandmaster Peter Kwok's Tai Chi teacher was world famous Tai Chi master Kuo Lien Ying of San Francisco, California.) For the next three years he refined his Shao Lin and learned Kuang Ping Tai Chi as well as Hsing Yi Chuan and Pa Kua Chang.

  In 1981, he opened the Peter Kwok's Kung Fu Academy in Verona, New Jersey.

  In 1983, he opened The Kung Fu Academy of New Jersey in Bloomfield, New Jersey. He changed the name to Al Bender's Kung Fu Academy of New Jersey in 1996.

  Through the years, Sifu Bender has competed successfully placing in over 50 tournaments in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. He has been a ranked competitor by various martial arts publications including a #1 ranking in weapons in the New York and New Jersey area by Karate Illustrated Magazine in 1985.

  In 1984, he decided to seek out another teacher and chose world renowned Master Bow Sim Mark of Boston, with whom he is still associated today. His school in Bloomfield is the New Jersey branch of Bow Sim Mark's Tai Chi Arts Association. Sifu Bender has the honor of being the first person in the United States certified by Master Mark to teach Yang Style Simplified Tai Chi Chuan.

  An active Instructor since 1978, Sifu Bender has owned his own school for the past 20 years. He offers training in Northern Shao Lin Chuan, Yang Style (Kuang Ping) Tai Chi Chuan, Hsing Yi Chuan, Pa Kua Chang and contemporary Wushu. Training in weapons such as Broadsword, Double Edge Sword, Long Staff, Cane(or umbrella), Spear, and 9 Section Steel Whip is also offered.

  Sifu Bender is an active tournament official in the metropolitan area, and has trained many successful tournament competitors. He is a three time nominee for Inside Kung Fu magazine's Instructor of the Year, and is a 1998 inductee into The Garden State Games Karate Hall of Fame in New Jersey. In 1998, Bender was also inducted into The United International Kung Fu Federation's Hall of Fame in New York. The federation has honored him as "Sifu of the year."

  Sifu Bender has performed on television and at numerous private functions, lecturing on the benefits of Kung Fu training. He has also appeared at Aaron Banks Oriental World of Self Defense with Kung Fu associate Sifu Marilyn Cooper of Pennsylvania and has performed many times in Boston at the request of Master Bow Sim Mark.

  Sifu Bender's personal motto is, "Overcome your opponent with basic technique, overcome yourself with advanced technique."

 

 

 

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Al Bender's Kung Fu Academy of New Jersey ™

260-262 LIBERTY STREET, BLOOMFIELD, NJ 07003

(973) 743-7544