Quote Originally Posted by k gledhill View Post
WSl wasnt the only one...
If you dont know the pole and how it carries over you wont be working at your max potential, thats not that you cant either...you just need to see it and then say..hmmm how come I never had that expalined like that before....you answered your own question...many didnt get that far to understand the connection at all....just a redundant stick ?? i dont think so. And it doubles over to a pool cue nicely ouch
I agree with all this. WSL was good, but he wasn't the only one. The danger starts with acknowledging him for his attainment, which latter seems to turn into the most likely only one to learn this or that. Yip Man has been reported to say he didn't teach the entire system to more than 5 people (not sure if he even actually said that, but it is reported), but that doesn't mean the knowledge wasn't around in more than those 5 people. Meaning he taught the pole to some one and the knives to someone else. They then taught each other the other weapons under the knowledge of Yip Man. That is how all schools are ran. Who ONLY learns from their teacher? Heck, the Dummy wasn't even around in the beginning. So I suppose the early students don't know the dummy either? LOL. But I digress....


I like your last statement. THis I think is vital to a lot of wing chun. What you do with it and your understanding of it may not be the depth of what that something is. The pole, knives, and dummies all offer more than just their simple apparent use as weapons or a "partner". As I learn more of wing chun I find there is nothing redundant or useless. Wing Chun is very elegant and deep. The knees in stance and elbows in are very specific to their reason. Some one included the Pole and knives for a specific reason. If it was purely for self defense, I suspect other knives, and stick forms would have been included over a 8 foot single headed pole. But regardless what its intent is, what can you get out of it? As was mentioned, the pole offers a lot.