why do wing chun practitioners think wing chun is the end all be all!!!
ok im hoping to not start a flame war or anything here, if that happens i will erase this thread. ok for the past five years i've studied xing yi chuan, and i freaking love it, its one of the most effective forms of fighting i've trained in. it has its drawbacks which alot of my previous training has compensated for but its a good system for me and it works for me. ok now that thats out of the way.
i recently been training in wing chun just to see what is it all about, why so many people swear by it like it was jesus christ or something. and you know what i just dont see it. while it is a practical and effective art. it has tons of weakness's. and im not talking about ground fighting or any of that. cause in reality the floor is not someplace you want to be at in new york city;). anyway without getting to specific, i just dont see it. yes its a good art but no it is not the grand ultimate martial art. now there are guys on here who are gonna come at me with all sorts of crap, like oh you havent learned enough yet yadda yadda yadda yackity shmackity, just know also i have two friends who are really good sifus in wing chun. and lets just say what i said before, while i see its efectiveness especially in close range combat, there are alot of places where it needs to be compensated where things need to be added to make it more of an effective fighting form. just my opinion.
"why do WC practitioners think wing chun is the be all end all"
Because WC practitioners have been sold a story that it is like some sort of magic pill, you take it and it will do wonders for you (without the effort and understanding). I was sold the story that the whole idea behind it's creation was to be more superior and effective than the other arts out there, I was also told that the art does not need me to be strong nor fast and that it will work better for me when I am older due to the superior "skills" that it teaches.
The fact of the matter is, like anything worth learning, it takes plenty of time, effort and understanding to learn and apply the Wing Chun system. IMO, the art is very hard to learn, but easy to apply once one has had some practice under their belt (by apply I mean the ability to demonstrate and feel what the art is teaching us, not necessarily the ability to use it against someone else). I've learned now that although WC teaches unique abilities and skills, it still doesn't make one invulnerable to attack, nor a super fighter. Fighters IMO are born, not made, but one can always learn how to defend themselves. How skillful you want to become at the ability to defend yourself is solely up to the individual, as is the application of what one has learned thru the system. IMO, WC is all about training specific attributes and physical structures, because we operate in a specific way and range. Of course thru my experience in the system, I have seen and felt the weaknesses of it. Only those that think in a static way believe that a movement or strategy is invulnerable, combat is about changing, adapting, being proactive and reactive at the same time.
For me, I continue to practice and explore this system simply for the fact that I enjoy it a great deal. My training began in TWC (William Cheung's system), and now I practice the Wong Shun Leung method, both are called Wing Chun, but both are very different in learning and application.
Oh, as a WC practitioner I don't think it is the be all end all, as the art itself does not fight. Only people fight. Just like the idea that guns are dangerous, the gun by itself cannot do anything, it is just a tool, it is the people shooting the guns that are the danger.
James