L
leehoicheun
Guest
Kung Fu is CRAP?
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I fancy myself to be a pretty humble person. I like to maintain this state of mind because it keeps me hungry and never allows me to become arrogant. But.... I am confident in my skills and train constantly to maintain and further them.
Today a new student of mine (Frank) told me he had a funny story for me after class. We had a great session and while everyone was gearing up to go home he proceeded to tell me his story. It's goes a little something like this.
A friend of his has a son who is around 19 years old. This young adult has been going to a Karate school here in Syracuse called Tearny's. The father asked Frank about our Wing Chun school. Frank told him what he thought of our training open and honestly. The father told Frank that the reason the young man wants to leave Tearny's is because he keeps beating up his instructors and that he feels he hasn't learned a thing other then the fact that the school he is in now works in patterns and can't deal with unpredictable situations. He heard about the effectiveness of Wing Chun and wants to check us out. Frank told him that he was welcome.... and he is..... to come here and watch our class. Well...... the young man, obviously excited, told his instructor at Tearny's that he was looking into joining our school. The Tearny's instructor replied with this, "You don't want to do that Kung Fu..... it's CRAP!"
When I was told this story I didn't get mad..... not even slightly. It actually amused me..... and reconfirmed something that I have known for over twenty years. That the MacDonald's (fast food) like martial art studios truly live up to their reputation. This so called "master" showed his complete and total ignorance with that statement. As stated before, I myself stay humble....and never bad mouth ANY style of martial art. I honestly feel that anyone who does is compensating for something.
on another note. A few months ago a student of mine (Scott) told me something that tickled me inside. Scott has been training at another martial art school.... for about 2 1/2 years. Scott at the time had only taken 3 lessons with me. He was taught some very basic Wing Chun principles like guard the center, using two hands at the same time to deflect and strike simultaneously, not fighting force with force and fighting on the blind side. He was also taught a very VERY simple technique called Lop Da (grabbing hand punch) using a half front step. All of the White sashes (1st level) know these things and apply them in constant drills. Well to make a long story short.... Scott went to his other school on "sparring day" and proceeded to beat EVERYONE in his class.... even some of the brown and black belts using what he learned with us. Everyone in his school was shocked... and curious. They wanted to know where he learned these skills. He openly said "The Wing Chun Academy". Now you might think that his master got mad.... but he didn't. He put his hand on Scott's shoulder, gave a wink and a smile and said "Well done, very good." and continued class.
This shows two complete extremes. on one hand we have an arrogant school that teaches people to be superior and unchanging.... and the other, a school that is open and honest and accepting to new points of view.
thanks for reading,
Ami To Fo
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I fancy myself to be a pretty humble person. I like to maintain this state of mind because it keeps me hungry and never allows me to become arrogant. But.... I am confident in my skills and train constantly to maintain and further them.
Today a new student of mine (Frank) told me he had a funny story for me after class. We had a great session and while everyone was gearing up to go home he proceeded to tell me his story. It's goes a little something like this.
A friend of his has a son who is around 19 years old. This young adult has been going to a Karate school here in Syracuse called Tearny's. The father asked Frank about our Wing Chun school. Frank told him what he thought of our training open and honestly. The father told Frank that the reason the young man wants to leave Tearny's is because he keeps beating up his instructors and that he feels he hasn't learned a thing other then the fact that the school he is in now works in patterns and can't deal with unpredictable situations. He heard about the effectiveness of Wing Chun and wants to check us out. Frank told him that he was welcome.... and he is..... to come here and watch our class. Well...... the young man, obviously excited, told his instructor at Tearny's that he was looking into joining our school. The Tearny's instructor replied with this, "You don't want to do that Kung Fu..... it's CRAP!"
When I was told this story I didn't get mad..... not even slightly. It actually amused me..... and reconfirmed something that I have known for over twenty years. That the MacDonald's (fast food) like martial art studios truly live up to their reputation. This so called "master" showed his complete and total ignorance with that statement. As stated before, I myself stay humble....and never bad mouth ANY style of martial art. I honestly feel that anyone who does is compensating for something.
on another note. A few months ago a student of mine (Scott) told me something that tickled me inside. Scott has been training at another martial art school.... for about 2 1/2 years. Scott at the time had only taken 3 lessons with me. He was taught some very basic Wing Chun principles like guard the center, using two hands at the same time to deflect and strike simultaneously, not fighting force with force and fighting on the blind side. He was also taught a very VERY simple technique called Lop Da (grabbing hand punch) using a half front step. All of the White sashes (1st level) know these things and apply them in constant drills. Well to make a long story short.... Scott went to his other school on "sparring day" and proceeded to beat EVERYONE in his class.... even some of the brown and black belts using what he learned with us. Everyone in his school was shocked... and curious. They wanted to know where he learned these skills. He openly said "The Wing Chun Academy". Now you might think that his master got mad.... but he didn't. He put his hand on Scott's shoulder, gave a wink and a smile and said "Well done, very good." and continued class.
This shows two complete extremes. on one hand we have an arrogant school that teaches people to be superior and unchanging.... and the other, a school that is open and honest and accepting to new points of view.
thanks for reading,
Ami To Fo