Is Wing Chun For a Beginner?

[47MartialMan]

Here is a good question, for a beginner to ask-

 

How can one tell if the instructor is a authentic or "complete" Wing Chun one? And not some "text book worm" or "video professor"?

[Drunken Monkey]

for a beginner?

 

that is a very hard question.

 

i have about seven wing chun books.

 

i've seen about ten others and have flicked through the pages on a few occasions.

 

i have no idea how many there are out there

 

but

 

one thing i have noticed is that they don't go into much detail.

 

what they show you is very superficial.

 

but then, unless you know what wing chun is like, you won't know this.

 

another thing is that wing chun is in the hands.

 

but again, if you are a total beginner how do you tell good technique from bad technique?

 

but then again.

 

how would a complete beginner tell good karate from bad karate?

 

hmm......

 

this is a tough one.

 

i think i'm tempted to say a good wing chun guy will always prefere to show you rather than tell you.

 

a good wing chun guy would hardly ever tell you to throw a punch at him in a certain way (for a demo),

 

he'd just say 'hit me'.

 

not because of anything other than that is how we train/drill.

 

but then again, much of this can be faked......

[battousai16]

well that makes me feel good, then my strategy was to just scope it out until i found something that looked fishy, which hasn't happened yet.

[47MartialMan]

Yeah, but that is the dilemma.

 

Wing Chun is more obsecure, compared to other arts that you can check the instructor's "creditentials" via certification with lineage.

[Drunken Monkey]

well, actually, here in the uk, it isn't that obscure and most people that teach on a semi-pro to pro basis are easy to 'trace'.

[47MartialMan]

I can imagine, place such as the UK, there will be more concise lineage. Not ot mention, perhaps more stringent by laws, or different perspective on authentic or charletain.

 

The U.S. has many infactuous mongols.

[47MartialMan]

And, this still doesnt answer or help the beginner and my question.

[Drunken Monkey]

maybe.

 

it's just that are lots of very close ties between here and hk.

 

some of most respected yip man students have students here that teach.

 

most of them are based around london.

 

the fact that people like wong shun leung, yip chun and lee shing (and many more) all have students here teaching kinda means that if you're not legit, it's hard to 'lure' students from those that are.

 

you want a hard to authenticate style?

 

how about mantis?

 

in the uk i only know of ONE mantis line that i would trust and that is again because of the uk/hk ties.

 

(the recognised 'guardian' of the style was a chef here in the 70s.....)

[47MartialMan]

Yes, but this STILL does not help other beginners or people searching.

[Drunken Monkey]

but that's kinda it.

 

it shouldn't be hard to trace lines in wing chun.

 

after all, at most you're gonna be three generations away from a recognised name.

 

you should be able to name the one who taught you.

 

and they in turn should be able to name the one who taught him.

 

and so on....

 

(someone somewhere must know him/her and verify things)

 

it's a simple case of ask.

 

i guess the hard part is confirming what they claim.

 

so um, anyway, what's wing chun like in the states?

 

i mean, what are the typical 'names' you hear?