Joijitsu27:
Hi there! I'm the guy Highlander is refering to, and yes, we do groundfighting in our WC. That means: we train to foil grappling attacks, takedown attempts, we do mat work from disadvantaged positions (headlocks, guard, mount, etc...), reversals of these positions, reversals of those reversals....and all that sort of stuff. I also have trained on many occasions with some BJJ friends of mine (blue belts at the Carlos Machado school in Dallas). And I can tell you this, Wing Chun DOES have groundfighting, and it's not BJJ. There are definate similarites in many of the basic positions, but what we do in these positions is pretty different, and it's definatly Wing Chun. In our school, I'd say we spend about 20% of our time dealing with grappeling style attacks. Hell, the very first thing we teach when you start are basic counters to single and double arm grabs, front/rear chokes, bearhugs, etc....if fact, you learn 11 of these before you've even seen both Tan and gaun sau. To be honest with you, I can't really imagine others out there aren't learning this stuff, it seems both too important and too integral to being a well rounded fighter. Anyway, I'm kinda pressed for time at the moment, but if you want to, post your email address, and we can discuss this at length. Our school has a very open door policy about exchanging techniques with others, so I'm pretty sure some sort of visit could be arranged. Highlander posted the link to my kwoon, so check that out. BTW, just to let people know, the antigrappler tapes on our site just cover basic WC stratagies for dealing with grappling, and doesn't show alot of mat work, as it focuses most of it's time on standing counters to grappling techniques, the clinch, takedown attempts, throws, etc...but we do much more in class, and that's where most of the "on the ground" groundwork takes place. Still, the tapes have some great basic strategies and techniques on them. Hehe, ok, I'll stop pimping my sifu's tapes now..... [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
Seriously though, if you are willing to travel and learn, he's more than willing to teach. Post your email, and we'll talk!


Thanks!
Sandman[Wing Chun]