2011 has been a pretty busy, hectic but fun year at the "Next Level Wing Chun Academy"....my original intention this year was to present all students, regardless of level, an opportunity to learn certain aspects of all the forms, drills and weapons of the Wing Chun system..not to cram all the information in and complete all areas fully...but to give everyone a "taster" of what is to come in their future training and see how the Wing Chun system ties together with attributes from all areas begin to fuse and connect to create a Wing Chun thinking and acting unity in our practice, while at the same time showing there really is no secret or advanced Wing Chun, merely different layers that compliment the core fundamentals found in Siu Nim Tau.
We have had seminar visits this year from representatives of Gary Lam in the form of Sifu Micheal Choi, the only UK representative of Wan Kam Leung, Sifu Jon Abdey and yet another great seminar by Alan Gibson of the "Wing Chun Federation"..who has without doubt helped us improve our understanding and skill base and given us many areas to take away and work on.
In 2012 as the previous blog post explains we are set to have more visiting seminar events in the form of Alan Gibson in March, Jason Gowan from "WSL Ving Tsun London Combat Science" and Ged Kennerk/Adam Cope, who are all highly regarded in the WSL VT community and have links with key direct WSLVT teachers as i've mentioned previously...so i'm sure we are all relishing the input that these will provide also.
Without doubt the WSLVT (Wong Shun Leung Ving Tsun) input that we have received has largely influenced the way I currently teach, see and understand my Wing Chun...with the emphasis of MY Wing Chun.
Although I intend to learn what I can from people within this line of the Wing Chun tree, I have no immediate intention to join forces with or fully associate myself with any one line at this time...in the future I may very well do so again but at this stage of my martial journey I am happy experimenting and working on aspects that I personally feel help me pass on effective Wing Chun and street survival skills to my students based on my past and current training.
The important part is that I do understand what and why I am teaching as I do and this, to me, is more important at this time than being a student of a student or a master 50 years ago..or linked to Ip Mans sons or whatever...this enables me to stay truly open minded to what all lineages of Wing Chun and other systems even have to offer without feeling I'm being disloyal to my teacher or lineage.
But I must emphasise again that if it wasn't for my curiosity into the WSLVT system, I would still be very much lost in the void of constant questions... chasing hands and soft Chi Sau and complicated nonsense that only trains to confuse and befuddle and mislead us into falsely thinking what we have learnt would stand a high chance of success in a real confrontation...I cannot recommend highly enough the people above I have mentioned who can and will change your perspective of Wing Chun forever if you are from outside their lineage, they are not monsters out to prove a point and fight everyone, but passionate about passing on the real treasure of simplicity and concept within the Wing Chun community to anyone who is humble enough to open their mind and listen.
I wish all my students, friends and followers in the Wing Chun world a very merry Christmas and prosperous new year.
Lastly our club celebration of 2012 "Chinese New Year" is currently set for Wednesday 25th January 2012 in Bury St Edmunds...and to show we are not traditionalists are planning to go for a CURRY this year not Chinese :-) Hope to see you there for some spicy fun and games (snow drifts permitting)..Gary Lisseman has been tasked in arranging and collecting monies in the new year for this.
Paul
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