Wing Chun schools in the Uk - Sheffield / area

[Martialphoto]

Hi I was maybe looking to try some Wing Chun schools in Sheffield / area. If I was going to try anywhere it would need to be on a Saturday or even a Sunday although I’d be using the trains for transport so a Saturday would probably be best.

I realise this forum is worldwide but the links are below if anyone can be bothered. I know you can’t tell too much from a website saying that and that I’d have to check the places out in person. Still any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Anyway I’ve found several schools that operate on a Saturday;

http://www.sheffield-wing-chun-centre.co.uk/

http://www.wing-chun-kungfu.com/

http://www.wingchun.me.uk/

I realise I would have to try the schools to see and that this is the only real way to see and I intend to do that hopefully. I was just wondering if anyone had any opinions of these three places or if there are any other Wing Chun schools that operate on a Saturday in the area?

Again I realise a lot of what makes a school good is mostly based on opinion and your reasoning as well as your views and reasons for doing Martial Arts / Chinese Martial Arts etc. Of course I would be applying mine when hopefully choosing somewhere.

This may sound pretty stupid from a Martial Arts point of view but one of my primary focuses in MA used to be for self defence but I no longer really want that kind of mentality as it is very negative, almost too negative. I realise for many people MA is self defence and they wouldn’t be wrong but this is all just my view. Obviously if I found myself in a more unfortunate situation whatever I had practiced would come out at some point. I have a fair few years of Kung Fu / MA experience and at one time I took MA very seriously and trained too hard, at least for me. I want to do a MA I enjoy, rather than focusing too much on self defence or other negatives. Like I said above that’s part of it I know but not a mentallity I really want. This is partly because in my view there’s too much against you; If you’re great at stand up, you have the grappling arts and vice versa. If you’re MMA you have street fighters or at least ****ed up ones outside the ring, if you have great stand up, great grappling skills you could be against multiple opponents and or weapons. If you beat all these, the Police will be waiting. Even if you beat them as well at least in legal terms you have any court cases, interviews etc. I guess the list of opponents could go on and could even include yourself…

All this **** just my view and the way I feel I should now take things. My **** basically! I’m not as dedicated or committed as much as I used to be. I Guess I’m also after some enjoyment but with balance as well. I’ve made bad mistakes with this in the past and don’t want to repeat them.

Thanks for reading if you bothered with it all and anything would be greatly appreciated.

[nasmedicine]

Not familiar with that part of the UK to much however I would recommend finding James Sinclair's people.

[Martialphoto]

Cool thanks. I saw a demo of him once, his punch was fast.

[Straight Left]

Hi

I've tried all three over the years.

The first club run by Richard Baines is focused on fighting with Wing Chun. A real "spit and sawdust type place". Expect hard training and bruises if you train there. Richard knows his stuff and if you persevere you've got a good chance of making your Wing Chun work in a fight.

Alan Mynett is a student if Ip Ching. He may look mild but he's as solid as a rock. He is very particular in the exact performance of the forms, but he teaches those forms with a great deal of power. You'll be on the first form for a while but you will appreciate how much force you can generate in your techniques. Alan is a nice guy and a good instructor. He will take you forward slowly but steadily. Highly recommended.

William Lai....if standing there doing the first part of the first form for 6 months is your cup of tea then he's the man for you. If you keep your attendance going you will eventually develop a good wing chun structure. But it is a very long term commitment of time and money. I found him to be a really nice and pleasant guy but his style and method did not suit me.


I believe there is someone teaching more in the Chesterfield area, and also Shabir Akhtar teaches in Rotherham.

Hope that helps!

[wingchunIan]

If you really want to study Wing Chun then you could also check out South Yorkshire Wing Chun , but if you aren't interested in street application I would question why you want to do Wing Chun. I love it and it's a major part of my life but there are plenty of other martial arts out there if practicality isn't important to you.

[LoneTiger108]

Thanks for reading if you bothered with it all and anything would be greatly appreciated.

I just think it's nice to see so much choice on offer for you in that area of England. Good luck on your journey

[WC1277]

In the derby-Nottingham(30 miles from Sheffield) but none the less probably worth checking out. From the HKM-Fong lineage

http://www.naturalwingchun.com/

[Martialphoto]

Thankyou all for all the great info and your time especially Straight Left. It was greatly appreciated.

I think though Shabir Akhtar moved to Leeds although quite a few years ago I did visit his school in Rotherham and spoke to him a bit. He seemed ok and also trained under Jeremy Lau as part of Lau Gar I think so not bad that he had 2 systems I guess. I heard he's a bit of a business man but his school in Rotherham may still be there? There may have been some controversy with Jeremy Lau and Lau Gar but I know little of even the outlines of this. I heard he's ok though as a person and ability as well no doubt.

wingchunIan I see what you're saying and I guess just about every Martial Art has self defense at its core and the main thing, or at least some of them started that way and evolved partly along different lines perhaps in some cases. Either that or a change in environment. A good master could probably make a lot of systems work for them due to their core system that they've got and mastered so they could apply a lot of different things. If I'm wrong which I can be I don't mind being proved wrong and I think that's good if someone learns be it positive or negative I guess. As you've read I guess a lot!

Basically I'm looking for a school and mentality or at least my mentality so I can at least last a good bit somewhere. For me there needs to be some enjoyment. I've tried and been exposed to other training and mentalities in the past that haven't always suited me but I've gone with them anyway and long term as well but just caused too many problems. I like some of the self defence applications of several arts, but I think your mentality of what you're doing is the most important thing. If that means I'm not as good at self defense etc so be it. I will need balance and I think that applies to a lot of things in life.

Philosophy lesson over and I'm sorry to exposing everyone to that who bothered to read it. People being people if they know you do a Martial Art etc or you have a certain attitude etc they can sometimes try to play you a bit with all this or their attitudes in relation to fighting, self defense can be very immature and even naive I think from both a human and MA view point. Philosophy lesson cont!

I thankyou all again.

[Sethmerlin]

My SiSuk Willaim Lai is in Sheffield, I have not trained with him personally but have met his student's when I've been in Hong Kong and the standard is very good.
Definitely check him out.
http://www.wingchun.me.uk/