Martial Experience Before Wing Chun

[taltos]

And by "martial" I mean any extended fighting experience.

What would you say was the thing that "sold" you on Wing Chun? What made you want to spend the time and energy on learning it?

For me, I REALLY liked how it played to natural human strengths, and my Sifu was able to get me to understand that as you learn WC you form it to fit you. He was adamant that it was not viewed as a set of "katas" and that it was simply a roadmap to developing your strengths and identifying your weaknesses.

I think that more than anything sold me.

-Levi

[Jeff Bussey]

Hi Levi,
It took me a little while before I was sold on ving tsun.
At first, it was a place to train something different that wasn't too far from my house.
But as I kept going, things just made sense. I think a lot of that had to do with the instruction I was getting. I really enjoyed reading about principles and theories and while doing that, it felt like it was more than just a fighting system.
Once I started staying up at night after class thinking about how I could have done things better or if I got something right at the end of class and I kept running it through my head so I wouldn't forget it, I was sold.

J

[reneritchie]

I think I've mentioned my reasons before. It was the teacher. He could explain everything and his actions matched his words. Simple as that. If he'd taught a different system, I'd have done that.

[mossman]

The other students. Class was from 7:00-8:30pm, but there were people practicing from 6:30-11pm. :)

[PaulH]

I begin to think that WC is a python. The more you feed it the more it gets bigger till it can swallow you alive. Still debate on whether I should stop feeding it and pay more attention instead on the graceful crane. =)

[anerlich]

Same as Rene, basically.

I started MA with a great coach who taught an eclectic mix of WC, CLF and Northern Sil Lum. He thought Wing Chun had weaknesses and needed to be supplemented. He was a Nidan in Goju Ryu karate and a Shodan in JJJ, so he had some idea.

I trained with a several crap teachers after that of various styles, including WC, Xingyi and Bagua, because I had moved cities and nothing else in TCMA was available. I did a few full contact tournaments with the Xingyi guys, FWIW.

I found a good instructor again years later, who happened to do Wing Chun, and had a long and successful ring career.

I still haven't been "sold" on any style, except maybe BJJ. I've been sold by coaches who could fight and who could teach what they knew about fighting to students.

My instructor's spent more time on WC than 99.999999% of the populace, and he isn't sold on it either. Hence the boxing, knife and stick combatives, and BJJ.

[Ultimatewingchun]

"My instructor's spent more time on WC than 99.999999% of the populace, and he isn't sold on it either. Hence the boxing, knife and stick combatives, and BJJ." (Andrew Nerlich)

Putting aside the knife and stick comments for a moment (don't know how much Butterfly Sword and Dragon Pole Rick Spain learned from William Cheung)...

I believe, along with Andrew and Rick, that boxing technique and footwork is an excellent supplement to Wing Chun in general, and Traditional Wing Chun (TWC) in particular.

An excellent supplement. Furthermore...I wonder how many people have put two-and-two together in this regard?

When it comes to watching who are arguably Wing Chun's 3 most famous fighters of the 20th century:

William Cheung, Wong Shun Leung, and Bruce Lee. (I don't include Yip Man not because I don't believe he should be on the list...I CLEARLY DO...but because there is very little first hand witnessing to any of Yip Man's fights - which is not the case with the first three I mentioned).

Do you recall the boxing-type pose Wong Shun Leung strikes on the front cover of his book? (the name of which I don't recall right now)...and of course there's Bruce in a similar pose all over the place - as well as his actions...and as for William Cheung...I will eventually post a few moments of an impromptu little sparring that broke out between William and a student on a video I have...wherein he's coming in with a boxing type jab...

Amazingly similar - the three of them.

But not so amazing...really.

Western boxing is undoubtedly an advanced state-of-the-art martial art.

[RedJunkRebel]

What sold me was it's practical, simple and effective application.

Some very interesting responses so far, especially the one(s) that mention not totally being "sold" on Wing Chun implying that studying other arts are necessary to be more complete.

[Ernie]

everything is just an expression of me :D
wing chun is just one canvas ,
no emotional connection , it made sense it was easy still is , still does

boxing is much harder
:D

and way more fun :p

but no one thing can define an indivuduals expression we are so much more ;)

just have to be humble enough to walk your own walk
not follow in someone elses footsteps :cool:

[Ultimatewingchun]

"Ah...but grasshopper...If you follow my finger you will miss all that heavenly glory."

[Ernie]

Originally posted by Ultimatewingchun
"Ah...but grasshopper...If you follow my finger you will miss all that heavenly glory."

why follow when you can lead ;)

[AndrewS]

Before I came to WT, I knew I'd do a martial art for the rest of my life.

I knew I loved to fight.

I'd trained a karate variant that purported to drop people quickly, to teach to terminate, and had been out and sparred a lot of people- karate, boxers, kickboxers.

I realized that in order to drop someone, first you had to win the fight.

I'd been in enough bad situations to know that dropping someone fast is a good goal. WT looked like a way to reach that goal.


When I saw WT, it was about fighting. Nothing else.

It looked like a way to split the beat down- coming up under to break the way a bigger guy rolls in over the top, smashing a smaller person into the ground with heavy hands.

Then I saw the old 5th lat sao program- knees and elbows live. And I knew where my home was.

Andrew

[Wayfaring]

Levi,

What initially sold me on WCK was a gut feeling after meeting our sifu.

Subsequently, after getting into WCK study, what has sold me on it is in working with sifu, Master Benny Meng, & GM Garret Gee how they have been able to help me make a transition from attribute and technique focus (when A does this B responds with this) to harmony and control of time, space, and energy. And learning and applying the wandering, awareness, focus progression.

To me playing techniques is limited. But in starting to move to the concept level, the same concepts can be applied with our WCK attributes we've learned, or other attributes I've picked up from previous study. Like grappling to me is about opening up or closing off space, and control of space/reaction time (before the submissions). I'm starting to see the TSE aspects in boxing / long range TKD/MT type sparring. To me that's different than what I used to develop in "feel" as a fighter - which many do just fine with just that. But to me TSE focus adds an element and understanding that makes me better. It brings it all full circle and in focus.

To me that's what's sold me on it. I'm not there yet by a long shot, but I like the direction.

Plus I get to roll with cool people. ;)

Rgds,
Dave

[anerlich]

Putting aside the knife and stick comments for a moment (don't know how much Butterfly Sword and Dragon Pole Rick Spain learned from William Cheung)...

Victor, Rick Spain completed the TWC grading system (7th level Master, Red Sash) under Sigung Cheung in 1994 (from memory). He also lived and trained full-time in the Melbourne school for several years in the 70s/80s.

I think it's unlikely that with this background his tuition on the WC weapons would have significantly trailed that of ANY other of Sigung's students.

I know you weren't trying to start anything, but I felt that clarification was necessary.

The knife/stick systems we practise are closely related to Hock Hochheim's combative systems. I think my instructor feels these weapons and approaches have relevance in the modern world, though we continue to practice traditional weapons. Our masters' level gradings now include traditional forms and sword/pole, pole/pole, sword/double stick, etc. sparring, as well as knife drills and single and double knife/knife sparring.

[SAAMAG]

When I first starting learning wing chun from my step brother I didn't have any hands or in fighting experience really, mostly kicking. So wing chun just happened to the be the first style (aside from Muay thai/western boxing) that took the infight to a higher level.

My reflexes and general hand speed increased with wing chun, I liked the simplicity and that everything you needed to fight with was learned in the beginning, and that development was soley based on the individual, and the fact that there was only three forms, (because quite frankly I've never thought forms did anything for fighting...just ask the shaolin folks who practice 900 forms but still couldnt fight a 3 year old effectively)

Umm....to this day, I feel as if my wing chun was the best thing to round out my fighting, although most recently I'm also thinking outside the box as well as not one style has all the answers.

Another thing I liked is that wing chun's maxims and fighting philosophy can translate to many fighting styles. I think of wing chun now moreso as an everchanging energy, and the study of it helps us learn how to deal with, and use energy. I don't take things so literally now with the system. It changes based on my current needs.

[Sihing73]

Hello,

When I first came to Wing Chun I was a black Belt in Judo. I was competing and doing fairly well. I was around 16 years old and I started working at a Air Conditioning Company doing odd jobs around the office. One of the guys there was from Hong Kong and I started dating his sister. He did not like me dating his sister and always let me konw he disaproved. Anyhow, one day I kept buggin him about whether or not he knew any martial arts and he put me in my place :p I asked what he used and he replied "Wing Chun". I asked him to teach me and he said NO! But, I kept dating his sister and he eventually broke down and taught me some. They then returned to Hong Kong and we lost touch. But, I had an experience with his sister which showed me that she was quite good at Wing Chun as well. I do not know what lineage he came from but he was impressive to a 16 year old boy who though he was pretty bad. :rolleyes:

This girl had a powerfull influence on me, I took a station of choice option when I joined the ARMY and chose three places with Wing Chun Schools. I also named one of my daughters after this girl, Meiko. Of course this took some very good evasive manuerving on part to placate the wife ;)

So, as they say behind every good man is a good woman. In my case it was not just Ng Mui but a girl named Meiko as well.

Peace,

Dave

[RedJunkRebel]

Good story. Thanks Dave.