Wing chun foot work

I recently visited a wing chun school in Nebraska because my sifu said some of the hand tech. are simular to southern praying mantis. I called the school and signed up for a free lesson. during the lesson we did pak sao (sp?). I noticed every time I punched and the student I was working W/ made a block I could feel him rocking as if his foundation was very unsteady. This was the case w everyone I worked w/ except a boy around 14 I could actully punch at him w/ some power and would block just fine. He aslo had a little power for a youngster. I did this exercise w/ all the students there and the unsteady foundation was all the same. I am unsure if the sloppy foundation was due to the fact that the had been in the system about 2 yrs or the just don't do it much. Wich leads me to the question how often do you practice footwork and rooting.


"ANY WEAKNESS IN YOUR KUNG FU CAN BE TRACED TO YOUR FOUNDATION"

Every session.

I'm by no means perfect but generally when I pak I don't rock, and that goes for moving paks too. Plus I try not to overcompensate, so if my pak misses, I should be in with a palm strike with another half step or so around or straight through, without losing my balance.

They shouldn't be rocking when they pak after two years.

They're arms must have been stiff.
After 2 years (shakes head)

We work on foot work every session, too. No foundation, no building. If they are doing that after that length of time someone is leaving something out in their training IMHO.

Did you ask the instructor these questions, they do seem valid? It is hard to walk into a school during one class and figure out the complete picture of what is going on. How did the instructor feel? senior students? They could have been training this way for a reason.

I didn't ask the teach but I asked a one of the students and he said not very often. as far as senior students they weren't their that day. I didn't ask to work out w/ their teacher because I didn't wanna seem disrespectful.

That's cool. Everyone's always a little on edge when another martial artist comes in, but it's still better IMHO for an instructor to get some time with them so they can get an idea of the skill they can get from Wing Chun, which can't be felt with a lower level student. No sense in having to take anyones word for anything.

Its amazing how often you see this same lack of root in many of our own Wing Chun schools as well as other Kung Fu styles. Many schools, its seems, are so concerned with doing Chi Sao and Poon Sao that they forget to train the most important aspect of Kung Fu... your horse and footwork. Those of us that know the meaning of time spent training your horse, know how physically and mentally challenging (as well as just plain boring) it is. But those same people know how crucial it is to developing your root.

In my opinion, people don't train rooting due to two main things... lack of strong training partners with good rooting and too many people forgetting that Kung Fu actual means hard work.

Well said Redjunkrebel, "Kung Fu actual means hard work"
Im all to sick off witnessing other schools in my area using what i call 'the quick fix'.
Which ultimatly adversly affects their abilities.
Its for mugs who want to show off, not fight !

As for rocking stance/bodies during Pak Sao, this seems like begginers habbits perhaps ?