Wing Chin in London

[kieofwoo]

Hi!

I am looking to start WC and would like recommendations of where to train in London UK, if there are any londoners on this board...

Thanks all :)

[popsider]

Yes, if search for some of the previous threads on where to train in London you'll find lots of suggestions.

[kieofwoo]

thanks popsider for the tip

have done a search and read up a bit, but would appreciate some more first hand knowledge

to summarise, it seems from my reading that:

Kamon's kwoons emphasise the basics and don't spar

Simon Lau is for the loaded

Austin Goh is very physical and quite sparring-orientated

Victor Kan is closest to Yip Man (and most political) but I have no real feel for what his classes are like



Perhaps people could share their experiences (once again!)

Thanks


EDIT: i meant "NO real feel..."

[Frank Exchange]

Hate to pop up like a bad penny, but you are forgetting the WSL UK Association school, 20 minutes from Kings Cross.

Instructor taught directly by Wong, with over 30 years WC experience. See the thread:

http://forum.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=13363

or see:

http://www.wongvingtsun.co.uk/

Wong was a contemporary and classmate of Victor Kan, and actually taught many of Yip Mans classes.

Hope this helps.

[kieofwoo]

aha! i missed that thread in my search, thanks frank!

this is exactly why i started this thread - to find out what I had missed!

so my options grow wider...

frank - how close is the school from st albans station?

[black and blue]

At Kamon we don't spar... well, not in the conventional sense.

We have what we call 'feeding techniques'. No pads. You throw a punch, kick, random combination of punches etc, at your opponent and they 'feed' off them (ie, defend and counter attack). These can be as slow or as fast as your standard permits, and there is contact if you wish it.

We don't damage each other, but we've all taken a few hits ;)

This adds a little more realism than training with hand pads and can be quite stressful if you go at it hard.

We train contact hitting on pads with a partner, and at a higher grade you can pad-up (body armour) and thrash things out. This is only done when your WC is deemed of a high enough level. This prevents students from reverting to wild, unwingchunlike sloppy attacks.

I guess there's nothing wrong with sparring with pads early on - but it's hard for students not to resort to wild defending. And besides, you probably won't be wearing (and your attacker certainly won't) pads in the street.

:)

Anyways... www.kamonwingchun.com

Have a look - improve our page hits!!! :D :p

[kieofwoo]

to be honest, i never thought that there was even the possibility of sparring from the start. only after a little browsing did i find out that some people spar from the beginning.

I did a few taster classes of mantis and wing chun, and was told in both that sparring was something you did when you got real good and could protect yourself from full speed attacks...

however, sparring is fun :D


decisions.......




PS don't worry i've already been upping you hit count :)

[Frank Exchange]

Hmm. I think the St.Albans school is about 10 minutes walk from the station. Some of the fitter guys like to run it. I usually drive, so Im not exactly sure of the distance.

There is a bus that goes directly from the station and stops pretty much outside the door, or a taxi if you are flush. Lessons are 6 quid.

[NPMantis]

Try:

http://www.wingchun.org/text/schools/eng/london.html

or

http://www15.brinkster.com/sjowett/bccma/search.asp (BCCMA club search page)

--

Hope these help, I'm also looking for a new club in London, I am going to try a Southern Mantis club next week and maybe a WC class as well. It's hard to find with so many people giving different opinions, guess the only way is to see for yourself. You should try any of the classes that appeal to you and decide from there, everyone is looking for different things and has different attitudes, only you know whether a class feels right for you or not.

Have you been to any WC schools by the way?

Take care,

NPM

[kieofwoo]

Thanks for the feedback guys, I think it's time for me to attend a few classes and see which I like the feel of. Usually though, I tend to like just about all of them for one reason or another!

NPMantis, I have only been to one kwoon so far, one in Gospel Oak NW5, which was good.. (website) (http://www.everyonekungfufighting.com)
That was about 6months ago and when I started that I didn't know that there was such a choice around and so now that I do, I am trying to find one that I really like.

I'll try and put my opinions in this thread as I get them.


;)

[NPMantis]

Well, good luck with whatever you do, make sure you visi a few schools before you make up your mind.

Take care mate,

NPM