About Us

Albuquerque Head Instructors

All classes in Albuquerque are taught by Certified Head Instructors, Senior Master Abram Tamez and Senior Master Leslie Phillips. Their training is ongoing and they are the only two people in New Mexico certified to teach Shao-Lin Kung-Fu by Shao-Lin Senior Elder Masters. Senior Master Tamez and Senior Master Phillips have each learned well over 108 different authentic Shao-Lin forms, are proficient in over 30 different Shao-Lin weapons, and have each studied dozens of internal areas of Classical Shao-Lin Kung-Fu, including Tai Chi Ch’uan, Pa Kua Chang, and Hsing-I Ch’uan.

Sr. Master Tamez and Sr. Master Phillips are full-time Shao-Lin instructors and all of their martial training have been at Chinese Shao-Lin Centers under the direction of Certified Head Instructors and Certified 9th Degree Black Belt Senior Elder Masters David and Sharon Soard.

Abram Tamez has received intense, uninterrupted training in the Shao-Lin art since 1997 while Leslie Phillips has received intense, uninterrupted training in the Shao-Lin art since 2001. They have both attained the rank of 7th Degree Black Belt Senior Master and continue to train advance toward 8th Degree Black Belt with new, more complex material including Huo Family Style Fist (Mizhong Ch’uan), 10,000 Lotus Blooming, Black Crane, and Meteor Fist.

Sr. Master Phillips and Sr. Master Tamez have traveled extensively to popular as well as remote locations throughout China. They have met with Head Abbots at the Shao-Lin Temple in Honan Province and on Wudan Mountain as well as engaged in friendly sparring and push hands with various Masters in the Orient. They have demonstrated classical Shao-Lin Kung-Fu for audiences at the famous Shao-Lin Temple in Honan province, the southern Fukien Shao-Lin Temple, Wudan Mountain, Inner Mongolia, Chengde, and Shandong province. They have visited important historical sites and cities including The original Shao-Lin Temple in Honan, the famous Wudan Mountain Temple, the Southern Shao-Lin Temple in Qanzhou, the Southern Shao-Lin Temple in Putian, the historic Water Margin stronghold in Shandong, the home of Confucius, Taishan Mountain, Huangshan Mountain, Huashan Mountain, the ancient capital of Xian (Terra Cotta Soldiers), the Leishan Giant Buddha, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Tibet, and have walked upon multiple parts of the Great Wall of China! Master Tamez is also among the first non-family persons to receive special permission from the Chinese government to visit the private tomb of the great Pa Kua Master, Tung Hai Chuan in 2004!

Founders & Directors

The Chinese Shao-Lin Center was founded in 1979. Classes began in the Spring of 1980. The founders and directors of the original Denver Center are 9th Degree Senior Elder Masters David and Sharon Soard. The Senior Elder Masters have studied the art of Shao-Lin Kung-Fu under a Grandmaster for over 38 years. They have taught the Shao-Lin Art as a full-time profession for over 30 years. David and Sharon Soard were the first westerners to be hosted in China by the Hunan Martial Arts Association. In 1987, they traveled throughout China to plan the first Shao-Lin organization student trip to the Orient. Every four years the Shao-Lin students visit China together with the Senior Elder Masters. The Senior Elder Masters continue to visit and study historic sites of martial arts interest throughout the world. In 1989, the CSC Student Training Manual was created and published by Senior Elder Masters David and Sharon Soard and contains history and legends, essential concepts of martial arts, curriculum, and more. For more about Senior Elder Masters Sharon and David Soard, please visit their website: www.shao-lin.com