Delroi Flood was captivated by film star Bruce Lee as a teenager.

He wanted to be just like the world-renowned martial artist and set out to learn Traditional Wing Chun Kung Fu. Mr Flood is now celebrating three decades of honing his craft and passing on his knowledge to the next generations of students.

“It feels great and it helps me to keep going,” Mr Flood, a provisional master instructor in the art, said of the milestone. “If I can achieve this in life, I can achieve more.”

Mr Flood was about 16 when he started dabbling in the art with a group of friends, taking inspiration from video tapes and books.

“The story has been heard before but it’s true all over the world; I was inspired by watching Bruce Lee movies and I wanted to emulate Bruce Lee and be Bruce Lee.”

Mr Flood also read martial arts magazines and tried to copy the movements of Mr Lee and other Wing Chun practitioners.

“That’s where I found out about my teacher,” the 52-year-old said. “I saw an article about grandmaster William Cheung, my present teacher, and I reached out to him.

“My teacher trained directly under grandmaster Yip Man. Yip Man is the one who made Wing Chung popular all over the world because he taught Bruce Lee.”

Mr Flood attended a seminar with Mr Cheung, who was also a childhood friend of the film star, in Connecticut and became his student in 1986.

“I have to thank my teacher for teaching me all these years, it’s been more than an honour being his student,” he told The Royal Gazette.

“Words can’t express my thanks to grandmaster William Cheung for showing me the way of Wing Chun.”

Wing Chun is a concept-based martial art that originated in China about 400 years ago.

“Due to the structure of the system you don’t have to be a super athlete to learn Wing Chun,” Mr Flood said.

“Its design makes it especially attractive to small-framed people and women.”

“It’s not brute force against brute force. It’s using your opponent’s energy against them. Efficiency is the key to our art; being efficient and not wasting movement.”

He added that because of its simplicity and practicality it is also appealing to anyone looking to learn an effective form of self-defence while also improving their health and fitness.

In 1987, Mr Flood opened the Bermuda Wing Chun Kung Fu Academy — the first school of its kind on the island — and he has trained many students since.

“I wanted to share my experiences with others,” he said. “When you teach, you get better because you have to go over all the information again, in theory and in practice.

“You have to refine yourself because you’re explaining it to someone else, so you automatically improve your skills by teaching.”

Mr Flood organised two seminars with Mr Cheung in Bermuda. The first in 1993 and another in 1999. Other classes he organised locally were conducted by master Dana Wong of Melbourne, Australia, and master Eric Oram, who taught Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes actor Robert Downey Jr.

Mr Flood credits these seminars with helping to introduce and promote Traditional Wing Chun Kung Fu in Bermuda.

In 1992, Mr Flood travelled to the Global Traditional Wing Chun Kung Fu headquarters in Australia, where he received his full instructorship as a gold sash in the art. He is now a provisional master, wearing a red sash, and emphasised the importance of learning the art from a certified and qualified teacher.

“You can’t learn martial arts from a book,” he said. “When you’re training and you make a mistake, the book is not going to jump up and say, ‘no, not that way, a little higher, a little lower’, like my teacher would who is standing right there, watching.”

He stressed that it was also important for teachers to become properly qualified and certified.

“You have to be qualified and certified so you don’t lead people down the wrong way. As far as certification training and getting graded and getting ranked, you can only do that at my school.” Mr Flood, who was inducted into the Universal Martial Arts Hall of Fame in Houston, Texas, in 2003, has travelled all over the world to hone his craft.

He has studied under the likes of master Blaine Collins of Las Vegas, Nevada, and has also trained with many martial arts masters of the different Wing Chun styles, as well as studying the Nei Gong arts of Yiquan, also known as Da Cheng Chuan, and the 800-year-old Zen System of Emei Qigong.

• Delroi Flood holds classes at the Prospect Primary School gym. For more information, e-mail DFlood@college.bm or call 799-0590.