Originally Posted by
Paddington
Interesting thread guy_b, I have been thinking about this a lot too of late.
It seems to me that the question and critical responses pretty much depend upon where you train and the particular regime of training the sifu(s) there insist upon. Consequently, to my mind what you propose is not a question for wing chun as a system but perhaps more a question to be put to certain winch chun schools and their lead sifus
For my part where I have previously trained, there was little by way of practice against 'non- wing chun' attacks and movements. Even when training has included defending against elbow up/out type strikes, often many involved in the training exercise do not know how to throw such strikes. In this context, then, I would answer yes; there is an assumption and over training of defence against elbow down strikes at that school.
This is not a universal trend (thank god) and even little old me has booked one-to-one time with fighters at the local mma gym for a 6mth project. Indeed, the questions you ask, guy_b, are some that I will be exploring for myself over the next 6 months. I guess this is a characteristic of a more 'modern' approach to training that stands in contrast to the more 'traditional' ways?
Again it becomes less and less a question to be asked of the wing chun system and more to do with different ways to train. Even this traditional/modern distinction is a little problematic. Still, there is a huge difference between the local martial arts club utilizing the local primary school's hall and, say, what you would find at Gleason's Gym.
Personally I think a better distinction would center on the extent to which one is training for real life violent encounters, where your circumstances mean you are more likely than others to encounter violence (police, security, pro-fighter, bad neighborhood etc.); on one side you have those who have a need to be able to fight and on the other those who are very unlikely to encounter violence and train wing chun as a hobby, with social aspects, as a part of a way to improve health and do a bit of self development.
Anyway, perhaps in a few months time I'll have a better and more thought out answer on these questions.