Choy Li Fut Lineage - Sifu George Giatrakis

George Giatrakis began his studies of martial arts at the age of 11, in Mesquite, Texas. He studied Karate for a few years and then took time off to pursue sports. At the age of 23, after helping resolve a domestic dispute, he decided to return to martial arts and studied Tae Kwon Do from Master Chang Pyo for several years.

Desiring a martial arts system that offered more advanced hand techniques, George Giatrakis turned to Kung Fu. He began his training in Shaolin Kung Fu at the Chinese Martial Arts Institute in 1990 under the direction of Silvio Azzolini. He received his kung fu black belt in 1992. In 1994, George Giatrakis was selected to take over the ownership of the Chinese Martial Arts Institute when Silvio Azzolini left to pursue a career in medicine.

In 1998, George Giatrakis was the first student of Silvio Azzolini to obtain a certificate of Sifu by the Taipei Chinese Kung Fu Association and by the World Martial Arts Federation. In addition, George Giatrakis received an invitation to become the Kung Fu martial arts instructor at Brookhaven Community College where he was eventually nominated for Adjunct Faculty of the Year in 2004.

During the course of the next 13 years, George Giatrakis perfected his techniques and passed them on to countless others under the system imparted by Taipei Chinese Kung Fu Association. Having mastered the full extent of this Kung Fu system, Sifu Giatrakis was able to recognize its limitations from a diminished content perspective as well as a deviation away from traditional Chinese Kung Fu techniques. In order to continue to grow his skills, Sifu Giatrakis decided to pursue another system. This system would have to hold true to authentic Shaolin roots, offer extensive levels of training and be overseen by a master renowned for his skill and dedication to martial arts.

In 2006, George Giatrakis moved on to study Choy Li Fut and Tai Chi Chuan under the famous Grandmaster Doc-Fai Wong, who has been teaching martial arts in the San Francisco bay area since 1968. He is the founder of the Plum Blossom International Federation of Choy Li Fut and Tai Chi Chuan and today his Federation has over 130 schools worldwide, making it one of the largest Kung Fu organizations in the world.

On November 5th 2007, George Giatrakis founded the White Lions of Shaolin under the Plum Blossom International Federation making this school the first branch member in the state of Texas.