From the initial attack to the finishing blow a fight should be as brief as possible. The best scenario is when one is able to subdue the attacker within three moves. First and foremost when one becomes distinctly aware that he is about to be attacked, strong eye contact ( mok lik in Chinese ) with intent should be established. That is, my attitude changes from passive awareness to calm yet intense vigilance. At the moment of his initial attack, I then attack the centerline (usually the throat) and establishing a dominant and proper position through the interception of the attacker's limbs. I maintain and observe all elements of good form; that is I am sure my positioning is correct, as I read the opponents energy through sensitivity. When he moves, and he will, I move first. From here I maintain what I have achieved. There is no moving away, bouncing around or large movement. No giving up space or position.
Although the fight is brief, there are a multitude of intricacies and dynamics occurring. My action is forward and aggressive yet relaxed and able to change instantly. If my attacker is strong I feel it at the moment of interception and shift slightly, sucking him in to a well-placed strike that not only hurts him, but also disrupts his posture as I maintain dominance. Again, every characteristic of a good fighter must be regarded and maintained. I don't allow anything to get past the point of interception. I am able to keep a "dynamic sphere mentality" about me not allowing his attack to penetrate my defenses. As the attacker tries to counter he is met with seemingly ghostlike techniques as I close in. This is possible only by correct positioning never losing sight of my position and control of the opponent.
To finish him I will pursue his posture in an aggressive yet most economical, ever-changing manner. Since I am at a very a close range and I have achieved proper control of my opponent, I'm able to feel the slightest energy or inclination from him. I am able to unleash a disciplined barrage of unseen attacks because of I am able to perceive the smallest move. As I capture him completely I take him down. Immobilization and destruction are in order here as my opponent's defenses are nullified. The fight concludes in a matter of seconds.
This scenario is how true self defense should and does go. If a fight is prolonged by useless movement it increases the chances of getting hurt or EVEN DEATH. The most important thing is to get it done as fast as possible and have full control over the situation. Once the situation goes from verbal to physical it has to be 100% full throttle until the attacker is stopped. Everything done has to be decisive and well thought out in advance. There is no time to think while the fight is happening. It takes time and effort to get this high skill ability but it is achievable and worth it if you know your life depends on it.
There are several reputable schools out there that have the complete package. Great martial arts and a great business for the owner. I believe the McDojo's are the extreme and we should not throw out the baby with the bath water. Perhaps we should take a good look at how martial arts are taught today and the different mentalities involved. Maybe we should question not our methods of Wing Chun, but our motivations for teaching this great fighting system. There are several questions that come to mind when I think about how excellent Wing Chun is as a fighting system and yet here in the United States, we are few in number. If we were to compare to Tae Kwon Do schools we are last place. They have really nice schools that are not only beautiful to look at, but also safe to train in.
What if Wing Chun were to become as popular as Tae Kwon Do in the U.S. without "selling out". Is it possible to run a very successful Wing Chun school that not only makes the owner really good money; but also produces above average, highly skilled fighters? Hasn't our mentality been... ?you can't teach wing chun in a beautiful school with 50, 75, 100 or 200 students without somehow sacrificing quality.'? We all know famous masters who still teach out of a garage with only 6 or 8 students with this way of thinking. Of course they have to keep a day job to survive and there's nothing wrong with that. I believe many of us suffer from a mentality that has either been passed on to us, or we just assumed that this is the way it's done because after all, Master Dun Ol Way does it that way.
I used to think that if my Wing Chun was really good, I mean if I practiced so that no one in my city could come close to my skill, that people would just be busting my door down to learn from me. I wanted to at least achieve what my Sifu did in his school. In fact I secretly wanted to surpass him in the number of students he had. He didn't hold back. He taught me with utmost care. Surely many people would just show up. I could not have been more mistaken. I could belive that I didn't have students knocking down my door even though I saw other Wing Chun masters teaching in the back yard or a dangerous looking building. No they didn't come. In fact if it were not for the few "hard core fighter types" that darkened my door I would not have any students at all. I found out I was really good at running people off. Of course I would justify it by saying that they were not worthy any way. Not worthy to learn from a master like me who possessed this level of skill. Why this skill was only for the few who I could pass it on to. I could pass on my Wing Chun to my worthy students and the rest could go take a hike. Yea!!! Now I'm poor!
My friends, I discovered that I had the Wing Chun Poverty Mentality. I don't quite know where it came from. Maybe it came from our Chinese fathers who operated out of the backs of restaurants and in homes. I don't know and I don't care any more. I made a decision that totally changed my school and made it not only an awesome place to learn hard core Wing Chun, but also a growing business with a high number of students.
I decided that I would have a new attitude and a new mentality about teaching. The first thing was to get rid of that old "poverty mentality" I didn't teach some mish mosh kung fu. I taught the best martial art in the world. A martial art worthy of kings and anyone in need of self-defense. I began to develop the "luxury mentality". After all Wing Chun is the Cadillac of martial arts. It has all the buttons and gadgets anyone needs in a martial art. But wait a minute, I bet you're thinking that I have some kind of big head or something. No. The opposite is true. I decided that I would become a servant of sorts. That's right. I would serve my students and help them achieve their martial arts goals. How did they hear about me? Well, an ingenious idea I found. I advertise on the internet with a very nice, well thought out website. No, advertising is not selling out! It's getting the word out that you have something good you want to show others. It's how we let people know about us and of course word of mouth is always good.
So now my mentality is this... I provide a beautiful, very Feng Shui kind of school for my students. I mean we have a real store-bought, CUSTOM-built Muk Jong. The walls and doors are painted Asian style and the floor is finished and flat. The dressing room and bathroom actually work and they are clean and sanitary. I have a desk, beautiful Asian decor on the walls and lovely furniture. We have a systematic approach to getting people in the door, interviewing them to find out their goals and sign them up in a very professional way. Most importantly we use a billing company that keeps track of membership for me.
The way I teach is this. I look for someone to help reach the goals they set. I am not looking for the so called "worthy student". I have found that this way I have their utmost respect and loyalty. Not only that, they want to stick around and learn more. And the highly sought-after, worthy student? I have them too and they get special training because of their commitment to high level quality. I even have inner-core students who I thought would never make it but stuck it out and now have become very proficient, excellent fighters. What if I would have run them off early on?
Imagine large Wing Chun schools in the United States that are the most beautiful places to train and contain the best martial artists in the world. I suggest we do away with the old poverty mentality ways if they bring us down. That old poverty mentality that would keep us in garages, poor and unknown. That old way of thinking that says Wing Chun and good business are not compatible. I say it can be done because we do it every day. If I'm not mistaken, our school is one of the nicest and largest Wing Chun schools in the South East and the Wing Chun is high level, intact and undiluted. My Sifu and Si-Gung are pleased with our success and they quietly keep an eye on our success with familial pride. Now we have students who are happy to do it the "New Improved old way" if you will. And their skill level is excellent.
I would like to see teachers who want to train people for a living to believe that it is a possibility to have the best of both worlds and no longer think they are wrong for wanting a nice school with nice things in it. If Wing Chun is the Cadillac of martial arts, lets begin to put on that mentality. Let's begin to recognize who we are in the world. We are the best. If there was something better we'd do it, right? Well there it is. It's the more balanced approach to running a Wing Chun school. Let's believe we can get out of the garage and act like we have something really good and well-balanced to offer people interested in self-defense.
Armando Sainz has sinced written about articles on various topics from Boxing, Web Development and Boxing. Armando Sainz has been involved in martial arts since 1979. His school is highly recognized in the industry as being one of the top Wing Chun schools in the country.