Ask a Sifu

[Denver Wing Chun]

Ladies and gents. We have a couple of great Sifus from different States on this blog.

Wayne Goss is a great instructor (Sifu) out of Arizona who has more that 40yrs in Wing Chun and is a life student of our SIFu, Duncan Leung.

I too have a school here in Denver and am the ceator of this page who is willing to give my insight on any questions you have.

Streetfighter is another Instructor who is hell bent on testing this on the street.

Let us know what you think is missing from your training.

What you can do to spice up the same old drill

Problems your finding in your training.

[ChiSao Boy]

Hello Sifus,

First, thank you for the opportunity to learn from your teachings in this great network.

I've been training for 2+ years in primarily the Pan Nam lineage/style. I've learned the SLT, CK, BJ, and Mook Jong and refining them all. Just starting to learn the Butterfly Knives, and have done a decent amount of pole work.

In the past 6-8 months I feel as though I've been stalled. Although I believe I have learned a great deal, I still don't feel like I'd be able to competently defend myself. In our kwoon the only sparring is chi sao, and since my fellow classmates are beginning students, the only time I get to do that is during a one-hour private session with my sifu. Am I correct in saying that it's the chi sao that will help me develop my self defense skills more than most anything else, short of putting on pads and masks and doing more free-flowing sparring. My sifu believes that chi sao is sufficient as far as sparring goes and believes that "full contact" (simply meaning putting on the pads, etc and going at it) is unnecessary. I am not experienced enough to counter this belief. When I ask how do I get better... how do I actually train myself to FIGHT using the WC I've learned, he simply says to review the basics, such as turning and angling and chasing the center. Seems to me that if you do all this on your own OUTSIDE of chi sao, it's not real helpful in translating it to using it to defend yourself! I can turn all day long until I screw myself into the ground up to my knees, but I don't see how it will help me free flow (fight/defend myself) without much more than 1x a week 2-handed chi sao. Since the classes tend to devolve to the lowest common denominator (the beginners), I think this is the problem. How do I get better by simply reviewing without getting pushed by someone better than me? Is my thinking way off, or is my judgment correct? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Wayne Goss]

Thanks, but it hasn't been exactly 40 years. Maybe 30 something from 1976. I did start TWD in 1968.

The number of years is not the best indicator of a good instructor, though. There are instructors with more than 40 years who don't know much at all. I have been very fortunate to have been a student of Sifu Duncan Leung since 1976. He had a lot of personal instruction from Grandmaster Yip Man. That makes a difference because of time spent doing it correctly.

If I had a class of 100 students to teach on a regular basis, most of them would not get good instruction. WC is a system that requires a lot of understanding. Something like TKD can be taught to several students at once because you mostly just imatate the instructor. Of course, if the instructor gives you personal instruction, you can be better than most TKD. But, in WC a teacher would have to get around to each individual to make sure they understand what they are doing. A small class is better for that.

Sifu Duncan Leung's school in VA had about 30 or so students. No more than 20 showed up for a class. We could do a lot on our own with the help of senior students, but Sifu made sure that we were each getting it right.

I haven't had that many students. I try to make sure the students I have understand the correct way to use WC. If it is not done correctly, it will not work. Then that makes me look bad.