WING CHUN (KUNG FU)
What is Wing Chun?
Wing Chun is the most popular kung fu style to originate
out of China. Its high profile was in large part due its most
famous student Bruce Lee. Wing Chun is noted for its extreme
close quarter range fighting techniques particularly its skill
set known as "sticking hands".
Wing Chun lies somewhere between what is typically referred
to as a 'hard' style and a 'soft' style. In a hard style,
the source of power is generally muscular and is readily felt
and observed. The power of a soft style is much more nebulous
and difficult to discern, yet is very definitely there. This
soft power in Wing Chun is developed via the sticking hands
exercise.
Wing Chun relies heavily on the hands for defending, trapping
and striking movements, while the feet are used for mobility
as well as kicking when the opportunity arises. The style
does not rely on brute force or strength oriented techniques
but more on efficiency of motion and is there for very suitable
for persons regardless of size or strength.
SDT's Connection to Wing Chun
Yip Man was the master who effectively popularized Wing Chun.
His first three students were Leung Tseung, Lok Yiu and Choi
Tseung Ting. Only Grandmaster Choi continues to teach. One
of his most senior students is Sifu Jim Fung who has a number
of schools in Australia. Graham Kuerschner commenced Wing
Chun in 1974 under Sifu Jim Fung's and is his most highly
ranked student (5th Level with 6th Level being the highest
rank). Matthew Beecroft and Paul Summerton are 2nd Level ranked
instructors in Wing Chun.
Why Do We Train in Wing Chun?
Wing Chun is our base style and many SDT students have a
Wing Chun background.
Close Range Proficiency
The sticking hands skills we have attained we find have
been valuable to us in dealing with close range hand attack
situations and even in weapons sparring at close range. Being
a very tactile intensive exercise it frees the practitioner
from having to see every action of the opponent in order to
deal with it.
Force at Close Range
Wing Chun has a somewhat unique method of generating force
at close range for both attacking and defending. This allows
us to attack from close proximity if that is where we find
ourselves and conversely make it difficult for our opponent
to penetrate our defences.
Trapping
Wing Chun is know for its trapping hands techniques and these
are the gateway to destroy an opponent's hand defence or allowing
us to proceed to a position of restraint and control if that
is part of tactical plan.
Integration with Standup Restraint and Control
Although Wing Chun does not extend to grappling we have found
that the control generated by the sticking hands actions allow
us to readily move into a restraint and control position (neck
control or arm lock) that extends our range of threat response
options when in a close range striking situation.
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