Just to update members and friends of the club that after some consideration I have made the decision to leave the Chu Sau Lei Wing Chun training under Alan Orr and Aaron Baum and return to the Wong Shun Leung training methods that I have explored since 2008.
The Online courses via Alan Orr's Wing Chun Academy website were really pivotal in my understanding and was amazed at their depth of what they have to pass on from Qigong training, iron body conditioning, aspects from the Ip Man, Yuen Kan San and Gu Lao Wing Chun systems on top of the Chinese Boxing syllabus, clinchwork, breathing focus and much much more. I cannot fault the content only the sheer amount of it was too much for myself or any of my current student's to take on board and I felt I couldn't justify what I was teaching under that system which is very different than my 25 years of past experience.
What we have gained from this time is better full body use and handling, a way to safely train gloved sparring drills with Wing Chun theories in mind
Alan was very supportive and understanding on hearing the news and told me the door is always open if needed.
I have been in talks with Ernie Barrios and Ged Kennerk from ABMVT "Applied Body Mechanics Ving Tsun" about returning to train with them again under their coaching guidance and they have both been fantastically open minded and helpful already and we plan to transition me in this direction slowly over the coming months if all works out.
ABMVT take the blueprint of what Wong Shun Leung left us as a guide and develop and modernise the approach and is a training method not a style or lineage, the full traditional core system of forms, main drills, dummy, pole and knives are taught through the ABMVT filter as well as western boxing style padwork, dynamic footwork, kicking ,clinch and conditioning protocols using geometry and science over Chinese terms -there are no myths, titles, belts, certificates or gradings - just real training for real people.
For me its all good, and its a journey of open minded discovery, learning and growth and I want to develop my coaching alongside my teams personal development - keep it fun but train hard to improve as always.
We have a great small group of beginning level students currently who are working together and this is what it should be about. As always if any past students or new ones wish to join us get in touch and make it happen.
Ged Kennerk - ABMVT Manchester
