Class instruction or private lessons

Wing Chun AZ

Wing Chun AZ

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I live about 100 miles from a Wing chun school. I could only attend 2-4 classes a month. Would it be better to do private lessons or class instructions for a beginner in Wing chun?
 
IMO - do privates, ask for stuff you can practice without supervision. If the instructor can give/sell you videos, etc. that would help as well.
 
Is that the only martial arts school around? 100 miles.. That's not a small drive.. 100 out 100 back
 
Wing Chun AZ said:
I live about 100 miles from a Wing chun school. I could only attend 2-4 classes a month. Would it be better to do private lessons or class instructions for a beginner in Wing chun?
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I'd do a mix, at that frequency. You'll get to cover more area with the private lessons, probably. You need the class to have a variety of training partners, which is an important part of developing your skills.
 
JowGaWolf said:
Is that the only martial arts school around? 100 miles.. That's not a small drive.. 100 out 100 back
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Good point. Are there other options, even though not wing chun? Does it HAVE TO be wing chun?

If you are convinced that a particular school offers training that is superior to anything else around, then it might be worth the trek. It if other good options exist, they might be worth consideration. I've been in a position a couple of times in my life, to make a long commute for training, tho not 100 miles each way. For me, it was worth it. It may not always be the case.
 
If it's got to be Wing Chun and if you feel the school and the sifu are worth training with then I would make the drive regularly. My advice would be to take a combination of private lessons and classes, as GPSeymour said. You have to touch hands with people at some point, but a beginner can do allot on their own at home and private lessons with the right teacher can give your WC a big push forward. Just 2 more cents. Good luck!
 
Also, if you choose to make the 100 mile trek in each direction, be aware that the travel itself may give you burnout.

All that extra committment of time that isn't directly training, is a cost. The initial enthusiasm of a beginner can wane, and travel time can exacerbate it.

Suddenly "I've got to get the lawn mowed" becomes a reason why you miss Saturday's training session all summer long.

Life has other obligations in it, and can be absolutely real and legitimate reasons why you can't train. Perhaps it takes you two hours drive, each way. Add to that a two hour training session, suddenly that's a six hour committment. Add to that grabbing dinner on the way home, gassing up the car, and the general transitional time in between, chatting with classmates on the way out the door, all that stuff. Now it's a seven hour committment, each time you go for a class.

And somewhere along the way you still need to get the lawn mowed...

If it's an evening session during the week, can you spend seven hours after work? Pretty late getting home, then up for work the next day.

Just evaluate the complete picture and take these issues into consideration when you make a decision.
 
I'd say go for public and private lessons for the reasons stated by gpseymour above. Out of curiosity, where in AZ do you live? There's Wing Chun in Phoenix, Tempe, Mesa, Avondale, Flag, Tucson... probably Sedona... Maybe there's somebody closer than you think.
 
Find someone to make the trip with you who is interested in training as well. Then you have someone to train with in between class time... not to mention someone to share travel expenses with and someone to talk to there and back.

Also a second set of eyes can really come in handy when you're learning something new.
 
Flying Crane said:
Also, if you choose to make the 100 mile trek in each direction, be aware that the travel itself may give you burnout.

All that extra committment of time that isn't directly training, is a cost. The initial enthusiasm of a beginner can wane, and travel time can exacerbate it.

Suddenly "I've got to get the lawn mowed" becomes a reason why you miss Saturday's training session all summer long.

Life has other obligations in it, and can be absolutely real and legitimate reasons why you can't train. Perhaps it takes you two hours drive, each way. Add to that a two hour training session, suddenly that's a six hour committment. Add to that grabbing dinner on the way home, gassing up the car, and the general transitional time in between, chatting with classmates on the way out the door, all that stuff. Now it's a seven hour committment, each time you go for a class.

And somewhere along the way you still need to get the lawn mowed...

If it's an evening session during the week, can you spend seven hours after work? Pretty late getting home, then up for work the next day.

Just evaluate the complete picture and take these issues into consideration when you make a decision.
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In the context of a 100 mile radius I would think there would be other martial art systems around.

The OP can try this site: Martial Arts Schools in Dojo Directory - Dojo Finder
 
Wing Chun AZ said:
Would it be better to do private lessons or class instructions for a beginner in Wing chun?
Click to expand...
The group class is much better than "teacher - you" private lesson for the following reasons.

- The teacher can not see what you are doing from your angle.
- If the teacher is too old, he may not want to drill 100 times with you on 2 men drills.
- If the teacher is too old, he may not want to spar with you. You may not get sparring partner in private lesson.
- ...
 
gpseymour said:
I'd do a mix, at that frequency. You'll get to cover more area with the private lessons, probably. You need the class to have a variety of training partners, which is an important part of developing your skills.
Click to expand...

I agree with this. While private lessons are great, there's no variety in sparring partners. People of different shapes and sizes present different challenges. People of varying abilities present different challenges.

If all you do is private lessons, you may get really good at sparring with your teacher. Let's say he's shorter that you; how good can you get at sparring someone who's significantly taller than you?

The dojo I train at isn't very big, but there's a lot of variety in sparring partners - some are fast and some aren't, some have great hands while others will kick me at will, some are smaller than me and others are bigger, and on and on.

No two people will will have the same strengths and weaknesses. The more differences you face, the better.

All IMO.
 
geezer said:
I'd say go for public and private lessons for the reasons stated by gpseymour above. Out of curiosity, where in AZ do you live? There's Wing Chun in Phoenix, Tempe, Mesa, Avondale, Flag, Tucson... probably Sedona... Maybe there's somebody closer than you think.
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Geezer I live in Cochise county. So I'm looking to go to Tucson for my training. Privates sounds like my best option.

Thanks for all of the replies.
 
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