Today we’d like to introduce you to Anton Peterson.
Anton, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I grew up in Washington state. My teen years were spent in the suburbs of Seattle. One of my friends was involved in Karate and I went with him to class one day and that’s where my martial arts journey started. When I was Twenty I moved to Tucson, Arizona because I had family there, during that time I started working in clubs doing security, and the club manager was a serious martial artist and connected me with his instructor who was a Shorin-Ryu Master, so I started training in that system. In 1993, I moved to Los Angeles California to attend Music School, which is another one of my lifelong passions. I had moved to North Hollywood and was looking for another place to continue my martial arts training and there happen to be a Kung Fu San Soo school right near my house, and and I had been told that the system was a great well-rounded type of training. I trained from 1993 until 2002 in Kung Fu San Soo, during that time I started teaching as trade for some training. I was also working in night clubs around Los Angeles as club security, and doing private client security as well. During that period, I got the opportunity to do a campus invasion tour with MTV on behalf of an organization out of DC (R.A.I.N.N), I was teaching self-defense seminars during the interactive campus during the day, the tour was across the us and lasted about 5 weeks. I was also participating in assault prevention seminars throughout Los Angeles, and teaching privately small groups of adults. Around 2001, I started to get the urge to expand my training to other Kung Fu styles and was looking for a more internal kung Fu system. I was fortunate to find one. Bak Fu Pai Kung Fu (White Tiger Clan) is a southern Chinese system that traces back 7 generations to the founder Fung Do Duk and was passed on to Grandmaster Doo Wai. In 2002, I started Closed Door Training with Shi Gung Thomas Rizzo and have been training Bak Fu Pai ever since, and I am an active certified System Instructor. I mainly teach in South Bay and I am currently setting up a new program in Downtown Los Angeles
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Martial arts, and I would say Kung Fu especially, is a reflective path the forces one to look deeply inside. That is a journey that is not always pleasant, but is very rewarding if you let the process unfold pain and all. So I can honestly say the road has not been smooth, but I look back with no regrets knowing that who I am now, is because I was able to pick myself up after I stumbled. I can tell you now life is starting to get really interesting and exciting, and I look forward to what’s going to show up.
White Tiger Kung Fu Schools – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
White Tiger Schools is a Martial arts Business that Teaches an Authentic Southern Chinese Kung Fu System called Bak Fu Pai as Passed Down from 6th Generation Grandmaster Doo Wai. I am The Head Instructor in the South Bay and Downtown LA areas. Bak Fu Pai is comprised Of External Movements for defense, Internal training for Health and Martial Skills called Qigong,and Dit Da (Herbal) Knowledge that supports health and good energy. Bak Fu Pai comes from a Taoist tradition so we continue to pass on and instill our students with those principles and knowledge as well. We want people to find their path, grow, and become empowered people. We are lucky to have inherited a fully complete system of Kung Fu from Grandmaster Doo Wai, as passed to him by his ancestors from the original Taoist monk Fung Do Duk in 1644 A.D.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I really just enjoy teaching other people, and watching them change. That is what gives me pride, that I can be of service to others.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.whitetigersb.com
- Phone: 424-757-4326
- Email: [email protected]
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