A Legend

In a sleepy little town , hidden in a valley between three mountains , where everyone know everyone else and there are no secretes among people lives very special man . On the first glance he is no different than anyone else , he goes to work , sometimes plays guitar , he likes to go out for a drink with friends , enjoys good movie , domestic food and Sunday sleep . But he has a secret , every day to a small group of carefully selected students he teaches kung fu.

This looks like a plot from Hong Kong kung fu movie bit it is a true story . In small town in western Serbia , Kosjeric , lives and works one of the best Wing Tsun masters in Europe. Although he learned his art from one of the first kung fu practitioners and later masters of WT in Europe, Slavko Truntic he never used his name to hide behind it. His art is his own and he always put his own name and his own “face’” behind his Wing Tsun . He is one of the few people I’ve met who truly understood the art and made it his own . He doesn’t like term “master” but he is one , a true master of the art . He does not follow the system blindly, he is no slave to the form, he is not afraid to experiment ,to test , to try different ways and approaches and eventually to adapt the art to him self . He is practicing Wing Tsun for almost three decades . For all these time he had a handful of carefully selected students. At one point he had a public school and that school was the most successful Wing Chun school in Serbia with 120 studens. Other Wing Chun “masters” couldn’t stand this and gave their best to sabotage his school. Finally , using political connections with ministry of sports they manage to close his school. He retreat from public scene and continued his work quietly with couple of relatives and close friends . He chooses his students carefully and for a good reason. His students are treated like his own family , literary. To them. He is not only a teacher , he is a father, an older brother , protector , advisor , anything that is required at particular moment . His students found not only a Wing Tsun teacher but someone who is there for them in moments of deepest crisis , when everyone else gave up on them. When students are unhappy ,depressed , have love problems , family issues , couldn’t find a job , needed advice about something , they all turned to their teacher .He does not teach only wing tsun , he teaches his students how to become good, honest , hardworking people , how to be respected members of the community and how to set an example for others . Moral and ethics comes before everything. And before that comes deepest respect to humanity and care about nature and all living things .

He also teaches survival and military tactical training . His training sessions are extremely hard ,sometimes ruthless , but there is no other way to teach real thing . And all this time , almost 30 years , he stayed quiet , keeping low profile . Modest , humble, quiet , but fierce fighter , a true warrior ,wise , caring person , it might look like a fictional character ,but he is true , one few true masters of the art , my friend and kung fu brother, Ivan Stefanovic