"Fight The Person, Not The Style"

There is a good article on this in this months Kung Fu Magazine. Mar/Apr 2002. Also, there are a lot of good WC interviews and stories. The story by Phillip Ng titled " Fight The Person, Not The Style" has some good points in it. Actually, they were some of the better articles I've read about WC in a long time.

Good Luck!!

P.S. This should be enough to get the next feud going over why we need to train in BJJ.

Here is the opening paragraph of the article:

" A lot has been written on how to specifically defeat particular styles or methods of the martial arts. Recently, much of this rhetoric has been aimed towards fighting against the grappling or ground-fighting arts. But for the Ving Tsun practitioner, this need not be. Ving Tsun is a structurally stable and conceptually sound method of incapacitating all opponents bearing two arms and two legs. Your opponent's limbs have a finite range of movement, and Ving Tsun has taken this into account."

Phillip Ng

I think this pretty much sums it up; although, he elaborates more in the article.

Hello Cobra,

Thank you for the kind words regarding my article. My main objective in writing it was not so much to criticize other methods of fighting, but mainly to encourage readers to utilize several simple principles to maintain their own preferred fighting strategy. I respect anyone who trains hard, regardless of their chosen method.

Though the context of these principles were drawn mainly from my experiences with Ving Tsun, I'm certain the basic guideline of "fighting the person, and not the style" can be relevant to those who study other combat methods.

Thanks again for your kind words, I'm glad to hear you enjoyed my writing.

Phil
Ng Family Chinese Martial Arts Association

It was a super article; I particularly liked the way it was worded. It gives you a new way to look at it and be able to put it in words and still make sense. I didn't mean anything negative about your article with my P.S. comment, that was aimed at the readers on this forum as this is always a hot issue. I didn't sense in any way that it was derogatory towards any style or people. I look forward to reading more.

Hello Cobra,

Thanks again for your kind words. I’m happy to hear that you found my article informative. I have developed much of my fighting philosophies from Sifu Wong Shun Leung’s teachings. So if you found my article interesting, you should definitely check out “Look Beyond the Pointing Finger: the Combat Philosophy of Wong Shun Leung,” a new book by my Sihing, David Peterson.

You can find ordering information through his website –
http://www.geocities.com/omidshayan/opening.html

Take Care,

Phil
Ng Family Chinese Martial Arts Association

" A lot has been written on how to specifically defeat particular styles or methods of the
martial arts. Recently, much of this rhetoric has been aimed towards fighting against the
grappling or ground-fighting arts. But for the Ving Tsun practitioner, this need not be. Ving
Tsun is a structurally stable and conceptually sound method of incapacitating all
opponents bearing two arms and two legs. Your opponent's limbs have a finite range of
movement, and Ving Tsun has taken this into account."

I have to say that I am in the most total agreement with your sayings. I did not see the article but this short quote says a lot to me.
You have a super site by the way!...Hey, must be fun to chi sao with that big instructor of your's!...Salut!
;) :)

Good article, it helped me to articulate how I felt about fighting. There is alot of how to fight this or that out there, lately the ground game, and I think it is the right way to go. Concentrating on techniques to counter other techniques can be a waste of energy imho.
Anyway, thanks!

Agreed. We train, not to defeat a grappler, but how not to let an opponent take you down, regardless of what "style" he may employ. We train, not how to counter an escrima attack, but how to defend a gate. Style, person, very different things :D

Hello everybody,

Wow, thanks for all the positive feed back. I remember there was some prior debate over the picture sequences presented in the article, but I'm glad you guys looked beyond the few given examples and really understood what I was trying to convey in the text. :)

Hello Old Jong,

Thanks for the kind words regarding our website. And you're right, it's fun to work with Keith, especially since he just returned from training with my kung fu brothers in Hong Kong. He’s a tough guy who has just gotten tougher!

Thank you to everybody again for your kind words.:)

Take care,
Phil
Ng Family Chinese Martial Arts Association