Visiting other Schools???

geezer

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I just posted a reply to "Girlbug" and her thread, "A Funny Thing Happened..." in the General Martial Arts department. She reports how another school arranged to visit her class and watch, learn, and share. It sounded like a great idea. Take a look at the the thread and tell me, "Do we have enough confidence in ourselves to do that in WC/WT/VT?" I wonder!
 
http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=67592


Its a great idea.

It promotes relationships between styles and is great for learning too.

We were activley discouraged with the Sifu i used to train with. There were alot of politics here at that time.

Things have changed i think, people are more open minded now.
 
Many years ago, it wasn't that uncommon for a couple of schools to get together for a joint session. It's been given different names, and took different forms, ranging from a weekly or monthly regular session at one school that I've heard of, to just two schools getting together, training for a few hours, and having some lunch or dinner to seal the friendships.

I think it's a good idea... but can be hard to do today between the commercial day care martial arts schools, and just plain general time issues.
 
My class has a big glass screen at the back where ANYONE can stand and watch what we do. They are also always welcome to come in and watch

I think people fear that if they go down to a wing chun school and say that they do another style of wing chun, they are going to get attacked!!

I have people coming down all the time with backgrounds in BJJ, MT, karate, CMA, etc. They are always welcome to come and watch, as long as they don't disturb the students. Wing chun guys are no different. Everyone is of a different level. Someone might come down who is a better level than me and watch. Someone might come down who is a worse level than me and watch. All I know is that, even the lowest level instructors can come up with great ideas. I am often inspired by lower level instuctors within Kamon, and I will visit their classes and train with their students. Everyone has different experiences and points of view and it is always good to share

There are often seminars hosted by people like James Sinclair or Alan Orr or Alan Ginson around the UK. I try and get to them if I can.
 
Speaking from outside of the Wing Chun community I have to say that if you are uncomfortable having a student from a different association come into your school then you must feel that you are doing something wrong . If you are afraid of going into another school then you are afraid of your knowledge,
Claiming you are afraid you will be attacked is a silly, stupid, idea in my opinion. If you are attacked for viewing or participating in a different school then they suffer from not having the openness to accept that there are different views on Wing Chun
 
This is something I've personally done...especially when travelling. But it's not something I've done with a school of which I've been a aprt. I like the idea, especially when all aprties can stay humble and refrain from any "oneupsmanship."

Peace,
Erik
 
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