Hi! My name is Dave Schupbach. Most of you do not know me, but I have been a part (small part) of the Shaolin Lohan Kung Fu Family in Springfield Mo for about 3 ½ years. I am kind of a "Shadow Student" as I am always here, but seen very seldom! My interest with Kung Fu dates back to Bruce Lee on TV in ´69-´72 era before I had any idea that Asian Culture even had distinct fighting arts. I had no idea what he was doing, let alone HOW he was doing it. Several years after his death, I saw a re-rerun of "Enter the Dragon" and it moved me like nothing ever had before! Whatever it was, I WANTED IT!!! I was hooked to say the least! To my misfortune, there were no Kung Fu schools in our area at that time. The best I could do was the occasional book, and most of them really didn´t help that much. Then, while I was making other plans, LIFE happened! Things like marriage, career, bills, all that real-life stuff that always seems to get in the way of really living! My career especially, was ill suited to the kind of stability I needed, as I was never home.
     Finally, I made a career choice that enabled me to be home full-time and was just settling into a routine when the road of life took another turn. My mother had a heart attack and double by-pass operation with a valve replacement surgery included. I realized at the time that her health was in large part due to the lifestyle choices and wrong eating habits she had learned in the last six decades, and that I had learned, and was living, almost all of these choices myself. I understood that if I didn´t make a serious ninety-degree course change, I would be on the same operating table sometime in the next twenty years! At the rate I had been going, probably sooner!
     I decided to go through the Yellow Pages one more time to see if I could locate a Martial Art School in the area I could get interested in. The only school of thought I was truly interested in was Chinese Kung Fu, but every time I had checked over the last twenty years, we had everything BUT Kung Fu. With me it had always been about a philosophy rather than simple physical exercise. Exercise I could get, I grew up on a farm, for Pete´s sake! I knew a lot about sheer physical exercise!!
     The unbelievable happened this time! Halfway down the page was a small line of type--"Shaolin Lohan School of Kung Fu" followed by the phone number. I cannot describe to you how grateful I am that Sigung Cabais chose to bring this ancient knowledge to the Heartland. I know it has had a life-altering impact on my life that continues to this day, even though I haven´t been in active training for some time. After three months, I had lost thirty-five pounds of body fat while gaining muscle growth and definition. My blood pressure had reverted to that of a normal eighteen year old male. My resting pulse rate was between sixty-eight and seventy-two, a big change from the high nineties! In a little over a year I had reached the rank of red sash, something I really had no idea I could accomplish at Forty-Two. And here all this time I had considered myself an "old man". Ha! I discovered that having more experience than someone in their teenage years is no excuse for being "old". "Old" is not only a state of mind, it can be a state we experience because we neglect routine maintenance of the body. Wushu gave my body that maintenance.
     Then more "life happened" while I wasn´t looking. In the space of eighteen months, my mother died, my Grandfather died, my Grandmother died, my wife left me for someone else, my father became an invalid and sold the family farm, Bankruptcy, and Divorce. These events led, predictably, to a downward spiral of depression, during which time I fathered a child during a one night stand, which gained me a hefty child support bill! Through it all, the two things which helped me to survive were the mental toughness I had gained in training, and the totally unfailing support of my brothers and sisters in the Kwoon. Never, ever, did they fail to provide support both emotionally, physically, or in any other capacity. No matter what my problem was, there was always someone there to help. There were times when I was too messed up to function, and ALWAYS, either Sifu, Mark, Courtney, Andy Walls, Andy B, Kendall, Nathan, Madalyn, Ernie, or one of the other students was there for me, no matter how inconvenient it was for them.
     I will always be part of this family in my heart and in spirit, even if I am not always in class. I consider anyone who is a part of this system to be a part of my extended family, even those of you I haven´t met.
All things considered.....I believe joining The Shaolin Lohan School of Kung Fu is one of the greatest things a person can do for themselves. And remember, no matter what your problem is, there is always someone in the school who can help you with it.
Your Shaolin Brother,

     -David C Schupbach-