Good experience:)

[sihing]

One of the guys who has moved back home shares some of his experience...

"Hey guys, I just came back from camp, and I sparred with an MMA guy, a karate guy, and a guy who knew nothing. I'm so glad I learnt Wing Chun in Tbay!
The MMA guy, well he goes to tournaments, so his reflexes are a lot faster than mine, he see's what I'm doing while I'm doing it and reacts accordingly, but technique wise if I had the same reflexes as him I think I could hold my own. He has a purple belt in BJJ, and 3 years in Muay Thai/Thai Kickboxing.

I then fought the guy who knew nothing, but he had heavy hits. Just one punch/kick would have stunned me for a long time, and he actually used full power when punching. At first it was scary, because no one had ever swung so hard at me, but after a while, I got it and I could see holes, during and after punches.

Finally the Karate guy, his punches I wasn't afraid of, because he chambered all the way back so his elbow was a foot behind his body so I could see punches from a mile away. His kicks though, he uses them as interrupts much the same way you or Alex demonstrated the quick knee not as a knockout but as an interrupt, and it was pretty effective. But after a while I got his timing and could get him. One thing I was surprised at was the fact he couldn't grasp my timing, and so couldn't get the upper hand. And he was a black belt btw.."

... the stuff works if understood and brought about in a natural fashion, it's never about winning and losing, but about what you learn from the experience. It's always about your skills vs the other guys skills, and experiences like this are worth 100 hrs in the training hall..Nice to hear stories like this and I'm sure every VT/WC club has people training in them with similar stories,,,

In the End its about enjoying the experience and your training journey, if that is not present, what are you training for? SD abilities only take a short time period to develop, and if you want to be a pro fighter, take boxing or MMA which is a much better approach for that arena..

James

[YouKnowWho]

SD abilities only take a short time period to develop, and if you want to be a pro fighter, take boxing or MMA which is a much better approach for that arena...

I don't think one should separate "self-defense" from "combat sport". Your fist will meet your opponent's face exactly the same way in both environments.

The "combat sport" environment is used to "test" your "self-defense" skill.

[Grumblegeezer]

I don't think one should separate "self-defense" from "combat sport". Your fist will meet your opponent's face exactly the same way in both environments.

On one hand I appreciate the sentiment expressed by your comment. On the other hand I don't think I fully agree. Interesting... and definitely worth discussing, but since I don't want to go off on a tangent on this thread, maybe I'll borrow this quote and start a new thread.

[LaRoux]

SD abilities only take a short time period to develop,

Only if you are self-defending yourself from an 8-year-old.

[sihing]

Been teaching for a long time now, and have many examples of students coming back after short periods of time of training and using successfully what they have learned to "defend" themselves...There's a difference in one defending themselves and trying to win or overcome someone, one is a fight, the other is purely trying to survive.

I agree that one that competes is more able to use their natural combat tools vs. one that is only training to learn to defend themselves, it's up to each individual to decide what they want out of their training, not all want to compete or have the ability to, but all can learn some SD and make it work in a short period of time, seen it, heard of it, done it many times:)

James