Austin's Own Master Joe Schaefer, Ph.D.
Austin Kung Fu Kid's Kung Fu Austin Tai Chi
 Master Schaefer practicing Fei Hu Chuan (Flying Tiger system) at Zilker park (Austin ,Texas)
Who Is Joe Schaefer? |
"You can bury yourself in comfort, only constant challenge leads to growth and transformation. My lifelong mission is to empower, inspire and connect with those around me."
Master Schaefer has personally led over 300 students to black belt. Of those 300, almost 100 are still active and 5 have reached as high as 4th degree black belt (requires at least 11 years of training), and 1 has even reached Associate Master level, 5th degree, Donald Duncan. The number of his black belts is larger than most entire schools. A tribute to his ability to live up to the words he speaks and lead others to become better people as well as martial artists.
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Has trained in Shaolin Kung Fu since 1984. His first instructor was Tony Gutman
Has taught Kung Fu/ Tai Chi since 1987.
He was awarded 5th degree Black Belt in 1999, by Shaolin Grandmaster Sin Kwang Thé.
Was promoted to 6th degree black belt by Grandmaster Sin in February 2005.
Under Master Joe's direction, the number of Shaolin-Do students in Texas went from ZERO in 1991 to currently over 1300. He has personally produced over 250 black belt students (10 of them have opened their own schools).
He taught neurophysiology for 6 years at UT.
He received his Ph.D. (doctorate) in Neurophysiology from the University of Texas in 1997.
He was awarded young researcher of the year in 1996 (in the field of steroid hormones and neuroscience) and became a published Neuroscience author.
He was on the teaching faculty of the Academy of Oriental Medicine as the Chi Kung and Tai Chi instructor.
He is one of only 13 regional Vice-Presidents of international Shaolin-Do Association (SDA).
Martial Art Training History
He trained for 3 years under Tony Gutman.
He trained directly under Grandmaster Sin Kwang Thé from 1987-1994.
While he still trains under Grandmaster Sin often, he has been a private student of Elder Master Wlliam Leonard since 1994.
He considers Senior Master Eric Smith a very important teacher as well.
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He won first place and Grand Championship trophies in several national level full contact, point sparring and forms competitions. He recently took 2nd place in the Master Sparring Division against 5th-7th degree black belts.
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Has performed twice at the Shaolin Temple in Henan province and once in Chen Tai Chi village, where he fought a challenge match with a 3 times Chinese National Push Hands Champion, and nephew of the head coach.
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He teaches over 175 traditional Kung Fu and Tai Chi forms to his students (including at least 20 different weapons) 
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Master Joe Breaking a board with a single thumb strike. (August 2004) (He was wearing a knee brace for an ACL replacement) |
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Master Schaefer's approach to teaching is energetic and motivational. He is both professional and supportive. This produces a high level of interest in his students. Men, women, and children benefit for Shaolin Do's unique ability to allow for individual differences in body style and personality.
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Kung Fu Family Portrait
Master Joe Schaefer, Sifu Sheryl Schaefer(4th degree) and Taylor Schaefer (not quite 4 years old in this picture) Photos courtesy of Kelly West
Sifu Sheryl Schaefer has been helping to teach Shaolin-Do for 6 years, and has taught Univeristy Physiology courses for 7 years. She received her masters degree from UT in 1999, after which she devoted her time to Taylor and the Central Texas Shaolin-Do schools. While her teaching influence is not always present, the character, atmoshpere, professionalism and organization of the school is the direct result of her efforts. Sheryl has studied with many of the Senior Masters in Shaolin-Do and she has trained in Shaolin-Do longer than any other female Shaolin-Do practitioner in Texas.
RECEIVE A BROCHURE IN THE MAIL WITH RATES AND SCHEDULES.
China Trip 1998
Master Schaefer is challenged to "Cross hands" with a 3-time Chinese National Push Hands Champion, and nephew of the head coach. This challenge match occurred following a demonstration and exchange between the Chen Tai Chi training center students and many of the higher ranked Shaolin-Do students under Grandmaster Sin (he can be seen in the background overseeing the match). On the same trip master Schaefer also performed in demonstrations at the Shaolin temple and Master Zhou's martial arts academy in Xian.
China Trip 2001
This year we performed again near the Shaolin Temple at a school of 6,000 Shaolin students. In X'ian we were greeted with an incredible reception. Master Zhao had his 75 year old Master attend and a younger but equally famous master join us. Master Zhao's students performed first and then we put on a 1 hour show. The two visiting Masters never stopped commenting to each other exctiedly while we performed. They kept talking about the heavy weight of our weapons and traditional style of our forms. In fact, at the end of our performance they were both so excited by the material they saw, they got up on stage to perform a set themselves. The elder Master performed the Shing Yi linked 5 elements form and the younger one performed a Mantis form. A student in the school exclaimed that this was the first he had ever seen the old master actually "perform anything" in the 13 years he had been training at the school. We exchanged presents with the Masters as they grinned ear-to-ear, all the time shaking our hands.
The national news was on hand to interview some of our tour members as well as Master Zhao. He had very nice things to say about our performance and stated that our spirit for martial arts was very strong. Especially since most of our performers were at least twice the age of the average student in their performance. He told us that the next time we visit he would round up all the older Kung Fu people from the surrounding region so that we could see the similarities between our Kung Fu forms and theirs.
It was fun to watch the interview on national TV a couple days later when we were in Tibet.
Texas members who were involved in the performance:
Master Joe - Tieh Kuai Li (iron crutch li) and Double 2-edge sword form called Suang Hu Jian (twin tiger sword)
Sifu Don Duncan and Sifu Chris Honcik performed the mantis two-man set- --Mi Men Tang Lang Chuan (secret door mantis)
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