Beginning Wing Chun (Online or in class)
Either at wingchun.online or in a class,
this is always exciting.
Last week I was so happy to announce a new venue for my school in Leeds (UK) and was also VERY excited to be able to send out invitations for our new beginner course, the reduced version of this invitation being:
Wing Chun Beginner Course!
Thank you for your interest in joining our Wing Chun training sessions.
I do understand that your first interest was a VERY long time ago, but I am now, very happy to announce that, for the first time in nearly three years I can finally offer that start date!
This new course will begin on Tuesday 8th November.
Classes are usually 7.00pm – 9.00pm however, for this first lesson please try to arrive at 6.30pm in order to give us a head start.
Lessons will run on Tuesday evenings (7.00pm – 9.00pm) and Saturday mornings (11.00am – 12.30pm) for three weeks, making a six lesson course in total.
The whole course is just £40, payable on arrival and all you then need is some comfortable clothing and footwear.
The message then continued with the addresses, directions etcetera, but the point here is that I am SO happy to be running this once again, not because we will be getting more students, but because it allows me the chance to go over the basics again, FOR ME!
Great days!
It is the most dangerous thing when an experienced practitioner stops wanting to revisit basics, even if only from time to time, pretty much stopping these from any longer being part of their development, and worst of all thinking that they are better than this, or beyond such training.
As soon as you start to do this you have reached your ceiling level,
A level which you will never go beyond.
I have witnessed this so many times, usually when a student says that they only want to learn from me and not my Instructors, thinking that nobody can teach them anything but me.
Flattering, but…
RUBBISH!
Even as a teacher, you learn from your students, in my opinion:
‘If you are not learning through teaching then you are not teaching properly.’
Intermediates and even beginners have so much to offer, not by way of you asking them questions, but by your stealing knowledge and experience from them, by seeing their little tricks and working out how to deal with them.
If two people are very good at Wing Chun then very little should happen, because neither one is prepared, or willing to, sacrifice their position, and, it is most likely that they will try to keep everything precise and tidy, THAT IS NOT YOUR THREAT!
Your threat is when someone does not do ‘what they’re supposed to do‘, and just launches one one the top or around the side!
Ah the joy of beginners eh?
Not only do you get to share your knowledge and experiences with others who truly wish to learn, but you also get to show some balls and let someone have a bit of a go, showing them how Wing Chun is supposed to defend you.
Sifu and me 2019
For me though, the most exciting thing is that I get to remember what it was like when I had my first Wing Chun lesson forty years ago, what I thought it was going to be like and wishing I could be like the guys I watched in all those old Kung Fu movies.
Little did I know then that the very man I was watching in those movies would one day actually be my teacher!
Happy training, Happy teaching, and above all…
Happy learning, whoever you are.