Student Comments

A student learns from the teacher but a teacher also learns from the student.

Wing Chun - A Woman's View

The first image that comes across anyone's mind when talking about martial arts is that of tough, strong males. Most techniques discussed in the martial arts magazines work very well for such individuals. But what if you are a female, smaller, weaker or older ? Then what? A recent article in a martial arts magazine mentioned that a tournament participant who outweighed his opponent by 50 pounds was able to win over a smaller, weaker opponent. The article was ridiculous because even without any martial arts training he would have had a good chance of winning.

In my opinion, an ideal martial artist is someone who even though they are much weaker or smaller, is still able to deal with larger opponents without being injured.

I have been a Wing Chun practitioner for about eight years . I have had matches with mostly bigger and stronger opponents than myself. You see, I am only 5' 2" and 115 pounds. Most of my opponents are male. I find that I have a lot of trouble getting near enough to touch them, since my reach is much shorter than theirs. They only need to stretch their arm out and they get me right in my face.

From my experience, I really don't have much choice but to use speed and timing to avoid strong attacks coming at me, and jump in like a cat when there is an instant opening or when the opponent makes an error. Once I am in contact with the opponent, then that's where my fine skill in Wing Chun really pays off. I was taught Wing Chun with a heavy emphasis on sticking hands training. Knowing my sticking hands well gave me an advantage against larger opponents. Once in close range, I can hit my opponent non-stop in the right places. I just stick to their arms so whenever the opponent tries to attack, I smother that attack and hit back where there is an opening. Being good with sticking hands means I can use my hands like an antenna to detect the force of the opponent. I don't need to rely on my vision too much once in sticking hands mode. I realize that being weaker and smaller means my martial arts has to be much better than that of my stronger opponent, so that I get him with fine skill and technique. Otherwise, I can't think of any other way of winning. I would like to hear how other smaller, weaker martial artists respond to bigger opponents. I feel that Wing Chun was invented just for this purpose and it does make sense that this art was invented by a woman.

- Yvette Wong

Why we Need Principles?

When I first studied Wing Chun, I had no idea what principles meant or how they related to fighting. My fighting was very instinctive. I won mostly by out-speeding my opponent, not recognizing that I had many holes in my defense. Once I understood principles, my Wing Chun fighting improved dramatically. I now fight with principles in mind, which makes my fighting more economical in movement, and also requires less energy.

The idea of using principles first dawned on me while I was designing a woman's self defense course based on Wing Chun. These principles helped the women in the course to have a fighting chance. From my own experience, these principles also helped me in my Wing Chun fights. Before, when I fought with very stiff males, I used to struggle against that hardness. I realized how ridiculous that was. Because of my understanding of the idea of soft against hard, I now just let that hardness be hard, and I just crawl on top. I visualized the situation like a cat walking on top of a wall; me being the cat and the hardness being the wall. So instead of pounding, trying to break the wall, just walkover the wall.

When some of my students encounter stiff controlling arms, they immediately struggle to break loose. They want to break away from that force. Instead of trying to do that, I advise them to think of other ways. For example, go over the hand, go under it, sneak through it. Act like as if you were a slippery snake. These are all principles of Wing Chun.

With strong people, I have to change quickly so that the opponent can't grab me. In sticking hands, strong opponents often try to grab. To realistically stop a grab, I have no alternative but to hit my opponent hard with my elbow or anything else that I have free.

Principles can definitely improve anyone's fighting. Even just thinking about the principles can make a significant difference to your Wing Chun. Physical training alone, without the brainwork, is just not enough!

- Yvette Wong