The necessity of real fight experience in teaching?
The necessity of real fight experience in teaching?
I really enjoy Wing Chun, I am a good 5/ 6 years off beginning to teach (relative beginner) but a some point I would think I would like to teach.
Here’s the problem. The main reason I train Wing chun is for self protection purposes. Second is that I just love doing it.
My current instructor has a history of real confrontations, grew up in a rough area, worked on the door, trains doormen etc, so he has seen and experienced that ‘real word’ and knows what works and what doesn’t. He teaches wing chun because he sees it as very useful in ‘real’ situations.
I really think this an important quality in an instructor. The last place I trained was good, but the instructor admitted he had never been a real confrontation. I admired this honesty and lack of BS. He was very good at what he did too, but I just couldn’t get this out of my mind, when he would be showing a technique that would work in the ‘street’.
I much prefer training at my current school, as I have a real trust in my instructor, which I think is really important.
The conundrum is, say I train really hard for the next 6 years, and get to a level where I could start teaching. I see my self as a good fight avoider, I have had seen many start and think pretty much every one I have seen could have been avoided if people had got over egos. I train for the love of it, and for decent ability if that time ever comes where confrontation is unavoidable.
So I want to teach, and I haven’t experience a real fight, I certainly would not go looking for one. I don’t really mean teaching friends, or as a senior student, rather taking money for it, opening a school or whatever.
So what do you guys think? I know the adage that a good fighter can’t always teach, and being a good wing chun teacher doesn’t depend on real fight experience etc.
I prefer learning from some one who has experienced real confrontation. My lineage stems from WSL who is legendary for his ‘experience’ and his wing chun reflects this experience of what works in reality.
Just after some thoughts
W
Teach and Fighting not the same thing
Hello,
While I would tend to agree that one should have some experience in order to train others to fight, I am not wholly convinced that it is the overriding consideration. There are plenty of examples of great fighters who could not teach others and many fine examples of trainers who could not equal the skill of the fighters they produced. Just take a look at boxing and you will see many examples of both sides.
I think that in order to teach one needs to have a good grasp of the underlying concepts of an art and be able to explain them in a manner others can understand. While it is certainly helpful to have some real life experience to draw on, that is not, IMHO, necessarily a prerequisite to be a good teacher. The ability to break things down into an understandable format is far more desirable in my opinion.