LEIF OLANDER

As the first IWCO-certified teacher in the United States, Leif upholds traditional martial art values while embracing a modern, structured method of teaching. Students benefit from clear curriculum pathways, progressive skill development, and a strong emphasis on practical application, making the art accessible to today’s dedicated martial artists.

My martial arts journey began when I was eight years old, when my parents enrolled me in a children's Judo class. At the time, I was simply another child trying something new. None of us could have imagined that those first steps onto the mat would begin a lifelong journey that continues to this day.

Over the next four decades, martial arts became far more than a hobby. It became a lifelong pursuit of learning, personal development, and eventually teaching.

At seventeen, I began training in Karate. Like many martial artists, I enjoyed sparring and appreciated the athletic challenge of competition-style training. Those experiences taught me a great deal about timing, distance, and pressure.

But over time, I realized I was searching for something different.

I wanted a martial art built around practical self-defense rather than competition.

That search eventually led me to Wing Chun.

Discovering Wing Chun

I began training Wing Chun in 2007 in Sweden under my Sifu, Robert Kenneryd.

From my very first lessons, I found something I had been missing.

Wing Chun wasn't built around winning points or adapting techniques to competition rules. It emphasized efficiency, structure, timing, power development, and practical application for real-world situations.

Those principles immediately resonated with me.

Over the years, I have had the privilege of traveling to Hong Kong on multiple occasions together with my Sifu to continue our training under the guidance of my SiGung, Grandmaster Donald Mak. Those experiences deepened not only my technical understanding of Wing Chun but also my appreciation for the traditions, principles, and teaching methods that have been passed down through our lineage.

Bringing the International Wing Chun Organization to the United States

After relocating to Florida, I established the International Wing Chun Organization USA as the first official branch of the International Wing Chun Organization in the United States.

Founded by my SiGung, Grandmaster Donald Mak, the International Wing Chun Organization is headquartered in Hong Kong and has affiliated schools throughout the world. While each branch is independently operated, all remain committed to preserving the standards, curriculum, and principles of our lineage.

As Chief Instructor of the International Wing Chun Organization USA, I remain committed to teaching authentic Wing Chun while maintaining those same standards for students here in the United States and through our Remote Academy.

My Teaching Philosophy

After more than four decades in martial arts, I've come to believe that good instruction is not about showing students how much the instructor knows.

It's about helping students become independent martial artists who understand not only what to do, but why they are doing it.

Rather than teaching students to rely on predetermined responses for specific attacks, I focus on helping them understand the underlying principles that allow techniques to work across a wide variety of situations.

Structure.

Balance.

Timing.

Power development.

Relaxation.

Efficiency of movement.

These principles allow students to adapt naturally rather than searching for a specific answer to every possible attack. Techniques remain essential, but understanding the principles behind them allows those techniques to be applied with greater confidence, efficiency, and flexibility.

Over the years, I've also come to believe that progress in martial arts is measured less by how many techniques a student knows and more by how well they understand and apply the principles behind them.

Techniques are the vocabulary of Wing Chun.
Principles are the grammar. When students understand both, they develop the ability to respond naturally rather than mechanically.

If you're in the St. Petersburg area and would like to experience Wing Chun in person, you can learn more about our Adult Wing Chun Classes.

Continuing to Study Wing Chun

One lesson I've learned over the years is that learning Wing Chun doesn't stop once you've memorized the forms or techniques. In many ways, that's where the deeper journey begins. I encourage my students, and continually challenge myself to study Wing Chun, not simply practice it. There is an important difference.

Practice develops skill through repetition. Study develops understanding.

As your experience grows, you begin seeing familiar movements in new ways. You discover different applications, new possibilities, and deeper principles within techniques you've practiced for years. Often, I'll return to one of the forms to explore a question or better understand a particular situation. More often than not, the answer is already there.

I simply wasn't ready to see it before. That doesn't mean the art has changed. It means my understanding of it has. I believe this is how every martial artist gradually develops their own understanding and expression of Wing Chun. Not by changing the system.

But by continually discovering more of what the system has always contained.

Teaching Beyond the Training Hall

In addition to teaching locally in St. Petersburg, Florida, I created the International Wing Chun Organization USA Remote Academy to make authentic Wing Chun instruction available to students regardless of where they live. Unlike traditional online courses built around prerecorded videos, the Remote Academy is centered on live weekly instruction, partner-based training, and a structured curriculum that mirrors what students experience in person. Students also have the opportunity to attend our Wing Chun Immersion Seminars twice each year, allowing remote and local students to train together as one school. To me, the goal has never been to replace traditional martial arts instruction. It has been to make quality instruction accessible to committed students wherever they are.

Continuing the Journey

After more than four decades of martial arts training, one lesson has become clearer with each passing year. You never stop learning.

As the years passed, and as I experienced different martial arts, different instructors, and eventually became a teacher myself, I began to realize that martial arts is not something you ever truly finish. Every stage of the journey teaches you something different.

Sometimes it's a new technique.

Sometimes it's a small adjustment that changes everything.

Sometimes it's a question from a beginner that makes you see something you've overlooked for years.

Sometimes it's returning to a familiar movement and discovering a level of understanding that simply wasn't there before. That is one of the reasons I continue to love teaching Wing Chun today. Every student brings a different perspective.

Every class presents an opportunity to learn. And every year of training reveals something that was always there, but that I wasn't yet ready to understand.

The journey never really ends. It simply continues, one lesson, one student, and one training session at a time.

If you'd like to learn more about my approach to Wing Chun, self-defense, and martial arts training, I invite you to explore the Knowledge Center, where I regularly share articles based on my experience as both a student and instructor.

My Credentials

• More than four decades of martial arts experience. 
• Began training Judo at 8 years old. 
• Began training Karate at 17 years old. 
• Wing Chun practitioner since 2007.      
• Student of Sifu Robert Kenneryd. 
• Trained on multiple occasions in Hong Kong with my Sifu under the guidance of SiGung Grandmaster Donald Mak. 
• Founder and Chief Instructor of  the International Wing Chun Organization USA. 
• Founder of the International Wing Chun Organization USA Remote Academy. 
• Established the first official branch of the International Wing Chun Organization in the United States.

Whether you're attending your very first class or have decades of martial arts experience, my goal is the same: to help you build genuine skill, deepen your understanding, and discover just how much there is to learn.