Hold to the basics

[Ultimatewingchun]

CSK,

and I'll tell you, that my experience teaching and observing has been that if I show someone the pure mechanic of an action (position their body, line 'em up so they have things right out to the hand and down to the floor), create a drill that brings out that mechanic (walk in and crash, for instance), create a limited sparring environment where they have to use that mechanic (cut in on a straight punch, aka jab sparring), *then* show the chi sao (jum), students run down far fewer blind alleys and develop proficiency in chi sao at a much greater rate and frequency.

BCB,

while I wholeheartedly agree with you about the importance of the basics, that importance is what leads to the delusion that standing around for 30 minutes a day will lead to martial achievement or skill- something proven patently false by many Wing Chun and taiji players.

Most teachers don't have the basics, of those that do, few realize how they got them or how to efficiently transmit them, of their students few realize the importance of those basics, unless the teacher is someone able to convey that importance. The system. . . much as the system annoys me on occasion, the system is clear as day about the work you need to do and what matters.

Andrew

***GOT TO AGREE COMPLETELY with AndrewS about this...spending months and months standing still in a "perfect" neutral stance while doing SLT for half an hour....or spending months and months doing dan chi sao and what not (including double armed chi sao)...and other basic drills (like pak sao)...bong sao/larp sao, etc....

BEFORE ever engaging in the kinds of "sparring-like" (but not actual sparring) drills as Andrew described...is a waste of a lot of valuable time, imo.

Show them some basics - and then create some sort of semi-realistic drill to test those basics - that's the way to go.