Grandmaster Sin Kwang Thé

1943 - present

In 1943, Sin Kwang Thé (pronounced Tay) was born in Bandung, Indonesia. His parents were Chinese but fled to Indonesia after the Communist Party came into power. Young Sin was drawn to the martial arts and actually began training in a lost art known as sandburn training at a very young age. In sandburn training, practitioners treat their hands with special medicine and then place them in buckets of heated sand. Over time, the sand is made hotter and the length of time one's hands are submerged is increased. This training toughens the hands but also makes the skin dangerous for other humans to touch, hence its attractiveness to martial artists. Sin Thé stopped the training after a sandburn master accidently picked up his grandchild without special gloves and the baby was killed. This master and all of his colleauges stopped teaching and all of their students were dismissed.

Not long after, a friend of the family and a close friend of Grandmaster Ie took young Sin Thé to his school to watch a class and be introduced. He was amazed by what he saw. Grandmaster Ie's students were practicing empty hand forms, weapon forms, and sparring. It was a far cry from being a student whose sole training was burning their hands! The seven-year-old asked to join, but was dismissed with polite excuses. After some time, he was allowed to join the school, and then the real tests began.

As it was at the Shaolin Temple, Grandmaster Ie was very strict in whom he admitted as a student. Potential students were studied from every conceivable angle to judge their temper, demeanor, and attitude. One wrong action would prevent a student from ever gaining admittance to the school. One night, Grandmaster Ie "tripped" and spilled a bowl of uncooked rice on the floor near Sin Thé. In Chinese culture, one way to diet is reduce your servings of rice by one grain each day. Grandmaster Ie instructed Sin Thé to find all 855 grains of rice that had been in the bowl. Late that night, long after all the students had left, he finally finished the task. In another test, Grandmaster Ie gave him a bowl filled with three different colors of beans and asked him to arrange them in triangles in the bowl, which from basic geometry, is impossible. It was a test of persistance and perseverance. In his final test, while Sin Thé watched a class, Grandmaster Ie poured a cup of hot tea over his head and looked directly into his eyes to gauge his reaction. Luckily for young Sin Thé, he was too shocked to be angry and was admitted into the school.

Just like at the temple, young Sin Thé's training began with stances. He would stand in horse stances, bow stances, and cat stances for hours at a time, especially while doing chores such as washing the dishes. To further build his leg strength, Grandmaster Ie required him to do one hundred one-legged squats every day! Eventually, after he had proven his trust in his teacher and built up his physical abilities, Sin Thé's instruction in Shaolin-Do began. At the age of thirteen, Sin tested for his black belt. This test was extremely difficult. At various times throughout his test, while performing his kata blindfolded, boards would be held in place to show that every punch and kick were properly executed. At the conclusion of the test, he had to spar seven other students while blindfolded!

As his training continued, Sin Thé's abilities increased greatly. He spent all of his time training with Grandmaster Ie and even stayed at his house on weekends and during his vactions from school. It was at this time that Grandmaster Ie saw Sin's potential and began grooming him to become the next grandmaster of Shaolin-Do. The pace of the training became frantic. Grandmaster Ie began teaching him one form every day of the week. But forms were not the only thing Sin was being taught. He was also being taught countless training exercises and forms of meditation, including Liu Fu Tao, or Sixth Sense training.

In 1964, Master Sin was preparing to leave for Berlin, Germany to study engineering and physics. But the breakout of a political crisis in Germany (the erection of the Berlin Wall) altered his plans. A friend of the family, who was a professor from the University of Kentucky, convinced Master Sin and his parents that he could get an equal education at a much cheaper cost. Master Sin flew to Cincinnati, Ohio, and took a taxi to Lexington, Kentucky, which cost him all of the money he had. Here he began his studies at Transylvania University and not long later began teaching Shaolin-Do (without his teacher's knowledge or permission) to suplement his income, the first time non-Chinese had ever learned the art of Shaolin-Do! Grandmaster Ie would later find out about his teaching and after some heartfelt correspondences, gave his student his blessing to teach Americans.

In 1968, his training was complete and Grandmaster Ie awarded Master Sin Thé the rank of 10th Degree Black Belt and the Grandmaster's Red Belt. Sin Kwang Thé had become the youngest Grandmaster in the history of the Shaolin martial arts! Grandmaster Sin Thé continued his education at the University of Kentucky and had nearly completed his Master's Degree in Nuclear Engineering when Ie Chang Ming died in 1976 at the age of 96. Grandmaster Sin realized that the world had plenty of engineers and scientists, but only one Shaolin Grandmaster. He quit his studies and devoted all of his time to teaching the art of Shaolin-Do.

You can visit Grandmaster Sin Thé's official website by clicking below.

Elder Master Bill Leonard

9th Degree Black Belt, Head Instructor

Elder Master Bill Leonard is Grandmaster Sin Thé's most senior student, having been with him since 1967 and was the first student to attain the rank of 9th Degree Black Belt, having been promoted to that rank in September 2011.

Elder Master Leonard is the head instructor at the Sin Thé Karate School and brings his unparalleled 44+ years of teaching experience to the students there. He not only teaches all ranks of students at the gym, but as a nationally respected instructor, he is often sought out by Shaolin-Do students and masters from across the country for private lessons. He has personally trained more than 10,000 students to the rank of black belt, not to mention the countless other students who have trained under his guidance over the years.

While known for his intense dedication, loyalty, and sense of honor, he is also known as an incredible instructor. He is often the reason many students give for continuing their studies in Shaolin-Do. He is regarded as the premier fighter in Shaolin-Do, having won countless Shaolin-Do and open tournaments over the years.

Along with his wife Dale, who is a 1st Degree Black Belt, they manage the Sin Thé Karate School. Elder Master Leonard has four children and five grandchildren.