From Wing Chun to WingTsun

I started my martial arts training in Brisbane in the early 1980's. Kung Fu was always the only option for me. Dynamic and fluid; the antithesis of the seemingly rigid moves of the Japanese and Korean styles. There was no Wing Chun, Wing Tsun, or Wing anything in Brisbane in those days, so Tong Long was it. A Southern Chinese style, not dissimilar to Wing Chun / Tsun. Wing Tsun without the brains. I eventually worked as part of one of Malcom Sue's 'security teams' patrolling China Town in Fortitude Valley. The Valley was a colourful area and to Tong Long's credit, the skills it taught me, although unpolished, blunt, and unthinking, allowed me to handle myself reasonably well. After a serious injury I stopped and started the long wait to resume my training again.

When I could start again the Tong Long school was gone but, fortuitously, Wing Chung (but not Wing Tsun) had started in Brisbane. The art I had read so much about when practising Tong Long. I started with a Chinese 'Grand Master' who taught a mixture of Wing Chun and Chow Gar. Two opposing styles compressed into one system. Loved the Wing, ignored the Gar. I soon left. The week after, I started at another school. My new Sifu, full time martial artist, writer of books and articles, student of William Cheung and producer of videos became my instructor for the next 11 years.

Although confident in my Classical Wing Chun system (it kept changing names), I had over the years read Keith Kernspecht's and Leung Ting's books and watched their videos. I started to wonder if the Wing Chung I practised and the Wing Tsun the rest of the world practised were really that similar. Wing Tsun seemed that little bit more direct, a little bit more exact. WT players seemed to be more Wing Chun than my Wing Chun. Technique is everything. Less is more. You know how it goes. In my eyes, to be serious about Wing Chun, I had no choice but to change to Wing Tsun.

I thought the change would be hard, but not too hard. I was wrong. Days have turned to weeks (now to months) and my brain still, sometimes, feels like spaghetti. The forms are similar but not the same. The drills are different. I had never done Lat Sao and the footwork is totally different. Even hand positions are slightly different. Under Si-Hing Jürgen Baha, I quickly learnt that close is nowhere near close enough. If it's not right, it is just that. I appreciated, and at the same time, dreaded his eye for detail. I enjoyed the new goals he was setting in front of me. Goals in training that I hadn't had from an instructor for a long time.

At the beginning of December, came my first WingTsun seminar. I had naturally heard of Si-Fu Stefan Fischer and read his articles in magazines. (Chain-kicking? Anti-grappling? What are those? I read the articles and thought: “I should know that stuff, but I don't”.) I thought the seminar would be fun and it was. In a way. More a sense of satisfaction in having learnt and trained hard. Si-Hing has an eye for detail; Si-Fu even more so. Every move I made, I was corrected. And every correction was valid. Si-Fu on first impression is charismatic, knowledgeable, imposing, but friendly. His explanations are clear and concise, with no ambiguity. He was absolutely confident in his Wing Tsun ability and knew exactly why techniques are executed the way they are. As a student that is all you want. An instructor, in this case, two instructors who explain the technique and exactly why you do it in a particular fashion.

On day one, my Siu Nim Tao was striped down and rebuilt. The nuances of the hand positions explained. This was followed by drills which, for me, were about getting my feet in the right position. (Why is it so hard; I don't have trouble walking?) After two X two hour sessions, time to go home. Tired but happy.

Day two. Blitz defence. Practical application in an abusive scenario. My fellow 'soon to be' level ones and I soon became adept at steely-eyed abuse. The initial smiles of uncomfortableness at having to call each other names (not nice ones, either) were soon doused by Si-Fu. Si-Hing kept a close eye on us as double insurance whenever Si-Fu wandered to the other end of the hall. For an hour or more, the cry of: “I don't want any trouble”, followed by the sound of palm and fist slapping against flesh echoed across our end of the room. Lat Sao drills followed. The drills I were finding so uncomfortable finally starting to bed down in the synapses of my brain. The seminar offered the opportunity to train continuously and clock up the reps, which helped enormously. Once again Si-Fu scrutinized every move. His voice correcting my imperfect moves once again filled my ears. Towards the end Si-Fu had us doing the Lat Sao drill all together in a small square of mats. A crazy Wing Tsun version of the party game Twister.

At the end of day two, the session I had not been looking forward too started. Like a circuit class from hell, Si-Fu put us through a rigorous warm down session. I had always trained on the assumption that any altercation that I'd be involved in would last seconds and that had always been the case so far. My fitness regime was tailored accordingly. I didn't have one. The half hour or so lasted, or so it seemed to me, for hours. By the end, I was hot, wet and exhausted. (Actually, I started that way.) Si-Fu later explained the importance of mental toughness. I didn't feel that tough, but I knew what he meant.

Soon Si-Fu was presenting us with our certificates. The first step in a long journey.

The seminar was two days of training, scrutiny and information and was well worth the investment of time. Si-Hing Jürgen and Si-Fu Stefan corrected mistakes and shared their knowledge which earned them my respect. Training without correction means wasted training time in the future. I valued Si-Fu's and Si-Hing's comments enormously and took them as a sign of their interest in my training. During the lunch breaks I took notes for my training dairy. After two days I had five pages worth. I thank them both for helping me make the switch to WingTsun. I know that other instructors maybe wouldn't have been so gracious.

Kudos to Si-Fu. Kudos to Si-Hing.

Paul Hillmann