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Beautiful Springtime - Wing Chun Kung Fu
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Mon, 12 May 2008
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| Caution: New Student Training! |
Not in all cases, but often enough to mention here,
there will be a new student who must first be
taught how to properly learn a martial art before
being shown their first actual technique.
You can discover these students before someone gets
hurt in a beginning class by personally going one
on one with them on something such as a basic
technique or block. A student prepared to learn
will follow your every instruction and imitate your
every move as precisely as their present skills
allow them, they are ready to learn their chosen art.
On the other hand, if the student resists your
teaching and physically resists your technique,
you've got trouble. This one wants you to prove
your art is effective for them before they begin
learning from you and they believe they already
have skills or techniques sufficient to equal those
which you are teaching.
Watch with these students because they may try to
pull some sort of counter or attack on you to
"test" your skill and they won't be kidding. I
recently had a guy who was a "former wrestler" try
to twist my wrist into oblivion while practicing
CHI SAO with him! He succeeded only in scratching
my forearm deeply with his sharp nails. These are
the things you have to watch out for when trying
out a new student.
Then there are the relatively harmless ones which
simply need to be given extra training on how to
control the speed, force and timing of their blocks
and attacks. They are easy to spot because once
they throw a technique at you, be it a block or
strike, they will keep getting more and more
forceful with their movement until you either stop
them or they knock their training partners head off.
Great energy for in a self-defense situation, but
dangerous and lacking discipline in the kwoon.
So remember, sometimes a new student needs a bit of
"training" before they start their training.
P.S. If you are a new student of Wing Chun Kung Fu
or any other art for that matter, or are thinking
of joining a school, keep these thoughts in mind as
you begin your journey with the martial arts.
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Posted 17:53
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Thu, 01 May 2008
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| Starting Children Training In Wing Chun |
When a child is bullied at school, some might
suggest first going through channels with the
school in trying to resolve the situation before
teaching them to fight. Certainly that is good
advice although I think this hints to their view of
a child learning a martial art only as "learning to
fight". This is simply not the case. Wing Chun,
for instance, is an excellent martial art for
children to begin learning as young as 4 or 5 years
old. One mother once asked me to "interview" her 5
year old son before she attempted to put him in a
class. The boy was very hyper-active and had a
short attention span. Because of this she worried
he would not be able to learn anything in the Wing
Chun class if she enrolled him.
I taught him a basic "ready" or guard
position(holding his hands out in front of
him)while standing in the neutral stance, which for
a beginner simply involves feet shoulder width
apart and knees slightly bent. I told him I wanted
him to stand still and concentrate on holding that
position for as long as he could while I walked
circles around him.
He thought it was a fun game but he stood still and
did not move for a solid 30 seconds. Not a long
time for some, but for a hyper-active 5 year old,
lets just say the mother was stunned.
Wing Chun is an excellent art to start young
children in, especially if there is a bully problem
with them at school. A traditional martial art
such as Wing Chun teaches children the confidence,
skills and knowledge they need to stand up to a
bully and prevent or protect themselves from both
verbal and physical harm.
Go to the Activities page and watch the
video at the top of the page. It will open your
eyes to what children are capable of with proper
Wing Chun training.
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Posted 23:29
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Fri, 18 Apr 2008
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| How to find your own techniques. |
When training as a student beginning in Wing
Chun, you will start out training each technique
and perfecting the proper form. Also, you will
learn the forms beginning with the Shil Lim Tao,
which will train your body to move and react with
techniques in combination. With proper and
persistent training, your techniques will
eventually emerge among the rest as you become
more proficient with the art and you will
eventually find those which work best for you.
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Posted 23:15
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Fri, 22 Feb 2008
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 Keeping A Notebook |
Every martial arts practitioner should keep a
detailed notebook of their daily training.
Immediately after completing a class, I suggest
sitting down for a moment and writing down
everything that you worked on that day and any
thoughts. This way you can go back and review
lessons while you are practicing/training at home.
Also,keep good track of your notebooks. I still
have mine from over fifteen years ago and I refer
to them to this day.
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Posted 23:22
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Tue, 02 May 2006
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| Wing Chun Newsletter |
Please leave comments and suggestions you would
like to see on this web site or in the
newsletter's future issues.
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Posted 04:58
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