What drew you to take up Wing chun?

[Wingchunheaven]

The movie, Dragon the Bruce Lee Story when I was in high school. That was back in the early 90's. I have been studying wing chin in Hong Kong. I study the Leung Sheung lineage where I am at currently, but travel to Hong along to learn Yuen Kay San and Tang Yick Weng Chun. I have a group on FaceBook that show these two systems, plus whatever else related to Wing Chun. You can check out my group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/127959260747910/

 

[Transk53]

Love this question!

The basics of my story was I used to play football (soccer) at a semi-professional level looking to get into the pros but was cursed with a series of hamstring injuries so I took up yoga to stretch it out but wanted to do something more and came across my instructor randomly by us working in the same DIY store and he showed me some moves and I was like damn I gotta learn that S***! The also taught me a lot about body mechanics and fixed the issue I had with my hamstrings so I could continue my football career... BUT I fell in love with WC and that was it, stuck to it and now I'm and instructor myself!

That is probably the best act of karma I know. That is like the very best in #### happens

 

[Three]

I never heard of wing chun prior to 1998. Though unknowingly doing siu lim tao before that.

I couldn't find a WC school during that time so eventually I steered toward judo, which I did for 6 years.

In 2009, I saw Donnie yen's IP Man and got back into it. I have yet to have enrolled in a WC schools as of now but will when I have money

 

[wingchun100]

I think the style is a better fit for the kind of person I am. I'm very quiet...keep to myself...not a show-off kind of person. Wing chun is subtle and not at all flashy. Perfect fit for me!

 

[TinTin_57]

I hadn't trained previously but a friend who trained in Lau Gar wanted to try an Ip Man lineage school so we went down for a few months, he didn't carry on training and I'm still there to this day.

Actually, the true story of that guy is that he had trained in TKD for 7 years, Lau Gar privately for 4 years until his Sifu moved away. He then took up Wing Chun for 2 years until being on the road for work got in the way of training. He is now back after a 4 year break following a stabilisation of the work pattern.

Oh, that guy is me by the way ;-)

 

[Vajramusti]

The inner logic and beauty of the system and the fortunate coonecting up with a great sifu- Augustine Fong
when I lived in Tucson. I am now up the road in the Phoenix metro but sray in touch wirh my sifu
and many of my "siblings".

 

[TinTin_57]

I should also add that after the 4 years I was made very welcome when I returned to training. A very friendly style and club.

 

[futsaowingchun]

At the time,I was talking a Shaolin martial art and was very frustrated at not making any progress after 1 years of hard training. And my friend new a little wing chun and taught me I think Pak Da and I practiced it for a few days and used one day in class when we where sparring and my si hing could not counter my pak da after many tries. At that point, I knew wing chun was a very practical martial art and looked for a school the next day..Which led me to first a Jun Fan Gong Fu school as I could not find any wing chun where I lived but ,a year later I joined Sifu Moy Yat school in NYC and never looked back..since that time I have had 7 wing chun sifus over a 32 yrs. Now I'm looking for number 8 lol

 

[KPM]

I was in high school and very interested in martial arts. But I lived in a small town where there was no one teaching anything of the sort. I was an avid reader of "Inside Kung Fu" magazine and had seen articles on Wing Chun. To my uneducated eyes it looked like the most efficient and direct of the martial arts I saw described there, and of course it gave Bruce Lee his start! I was a regular at our local public library and the librarian had some money to spend on non-fiction videos. So I suggest Wong Shun Leung's video "Science of In-fighting." It was fairly new at that point and she ordered a copy for the library on VHS. I checked it out and watched it many times! I also bought James Yimm Lee's book on Wing Chun. Between those two things I taught myself the Siu Lim Tao form, though not very well I must admit. Then I went off to college and was lucky enough to find a good Wing Chun teacher there. It wasn't easy. He wasn't teaching publically. I heard rumors of one of the university professors teaching Wing Chun. I kept asking and someone said they thought it was the head of the History department. So I tracked that person down....nope, not her! She suggested it might be the head of the Government department. So I tracked him down and success! It was our very own Vajramusti....Dr. Joy Chaudhuri! He was my first instructor and an excellent teacher. I also had the opportunity to work with Augustine Fong in person on multiple occassions. Since then over the years I have done other martial arts, but always seem to come back to Wing Chun. I have studied another branch of the Ho Kam Ming line with Sifu Randy Li in Kansas City. I have studied William Cheung's "Traditional Wing Chun" with John Clayton in Baltimore. And I have studied Pin Sun Wing Chun with Jim Roselando and now Sifu Henry Miu in Boston. I have found that, though they are all excellent versions of Wing Chun, Pin Sun suits me the best and is what I have chosen to concentrate on. Anyway. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it! ;-)

 

[zuti car]

I actually wanted to learn Bai Mei or white crane , unfortunately these styles are still rare in Europe and no one practice it in m country so I stuck with wing chun . I have started with Leung Ting's WT and later switched to TWC , now I am doing some other stuff

 

[Danny T]

Was in the USAF and was going through the pararescue development training. Had been boxing since the age of 11 and a couple of years of wrestling. Several of the candidates had training in the martial arts so we shared a lot of the training along with practicing the military combatives experimenting on what really worked under pressure and what could be incorporated in what we had learned. One of the guys had some wing chun experience and several of the things he was doing piqued my interest. What drew my attention the most was the directness, parry-attack, and limb control vs a lot of the block then striking actions we were doing. After stints in South America, Vietnam, and the Philippines upon returning to the U.S. I began my search for wing chun training. After several years of training with a couple of instructors in 1987 attended a seminar with Sifu Francis Fong in Arkansas. Was completely blown away with his ability, his ability to completely control his opponent and his approach to what really works and why vs. keep training and in a couple of years you will be able to do also. There were aspect that of course would take a long time to develop but he also had things that one could do that was workable in a very short period of training. Have been training under him every since.

 

[Eric_H]

A pack of ninjas killed my family and I swore revenge. But the only way to win was to montage my way through Wing Chun first.

 

[Punchy]

A pack of ninjas killed my family and I swore revenge. But the only way to win was to montage my way through Wing Chun first.

Your story is eerily similar to my own except it wasn't a pack of ninjas or my entire family.....my sister was killed by the henchmen of this one handed rogue Shaolin monk, turned crime boss. I swore that one day I would get revenge..........wait a minute....that's the plot to Enter the Dragon, never mind.

 

[Punchy]

And BTW, I believe the proper term is herd of ninjas.

 

[Vajramusti]

And BTW, I believe the proper term is herd of ninjas.

---------------------------


Yeah- I have heard of dem ninjas.

 

[antaeus]

Back in 1979 (I was stydying TKD in HS) I read an article in KF Illustrated or Karate Illus or one of those mags an article about the traditional martial art style that were considered street worthy.

They listed Greek Pankration, Kajukenbo, Escrima, Ninjutsu, and WIng Chun. And they had a panel interview with practitioners of each.

This was in NH and pre-internet, so it sat in the back of my mind for 20 years, during which I studied boxing, karate, and escrima.

Then I found a school in Boston on the internet in 1999. I drove an hour and a half each way to check it out. it was intriguing but I didn't understand.

Then I moved to the Bay Area and immediately started at another school. After a year and a half there, it wasn't working out, but I still was seeking. I tried another school and stuck around there for about 4 years, with a gap for grad school.

But I never felt confident with the skills I was learning. The principles made sense but I didn't feel dangerous.

Then I found my fourth (and last) school. And I've been there for six years and am nearly finished with the system and it works very well and now I do feel kinda dangerous!

 

[geezer]

Back in 1979 (I was stydying TKD in HS) I read an article in KF Illustrated or Karate Illus or one of those mags an article about the traditional martial art style that were considered street worthy.

They listed Greek Pankration, Kajukenbo, Escrima, Ninjutsu, and WIng Chun. And they had a panel interview with practitioners of each.

This was in NH and pre-internet, so it sat in the back of my mind for 20 years, during which I studied boxing, karate, and escrima.

Then I found a school in Boston on the internet in 1999. I drove an hour and a half each way to check it out. it was intriguing but I didn't understand.

Then I moved to the Bay Area and immediately started at another school. After a year and a half there, it wasn't working out, but I still was seeking. I tried another school and stuck around there for about 4 years, with a gap for grad school.

But I never felt confident with the skills I was learning. The principles made sense but I didn't feel dangerous.

Then I found my fourth (and last) school. And I've been there for six years and am nearly finished with the system and it works very well and now I do feel kinda dangerous!

Hey, Antaeus, welcome to the forum. Tell us more about your WC, what was it about your last school that made you want to stay?


BTW, your name, Antaeus is deeply troubling. When I was a kid, my family went to Palazzo Vecchio in Forence where I encountered the following sculpture of Hercules fighting Antaeus. Gave me nightmares it did! I guess the relative effectiveness of groin attacks was an issue even back then. Since Hercules was the victor, I guess we know where the sculptor, d' Rossi weighed in on this debate.

http://wtfarthistory.com/post/4600177621/cop-a-feel-of-hercules-family-jewels

 

[Vajramusti]

Hey, Antaeus, welcome to the forum. Tell us more about your WC, what was it about your last school that made you want to stay?


BTW, your name, Antaeus is deeply troubling. When I was a kid, my family went to Palazzo Vecchio in Forence where I encountered the following sculpture of Hercules fighting Antaeus. Gave me nightmares it did! I guess the relative effectiveness of groin attacks was an issue even back then. Since Hercules was the victor, I guess we know where the sculptor, d' Rossi weighed in on this debate.

WTF Art History: Cop a Feel of Hercules' Family Jewels

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hercules appears to have Antaeus sufficiently un balanced for the latter to have a base for any leverage or for having strength with his gab.
Years ago in India my milkman was also a wrestler and got into an argument with a Gurkha in front of my house.While the wrestler was going to grab him-the Gurkha reached in and got the wrestler's jewels. The wrestler started "singing" and lost the fight. The milkman Hercules lost that one.
No water buffalo milk for me that day!
Oh- the things these eyes have seen!!
Thanks for the pic of that sculpture.

 

[KPM]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hercules appears to have Antaeus sufficiently un balanced for the latter to have a base for any leverage or for having strength with his gab.
Years ago in India my milkman was also a wrestler and got into an argument with a Gurkha in front of my house.While the wrestler was going to grab him-the Gurkha reached in and got the wrestler's jewels. The wrestler started "singing" and lost the fight. The milkman Hercules lost that one.
No water buffalo milk for me that day!
Oh- the things these eyes have seen!!
Thanks for the pic of that sculpture.

Back when men weren't afraid to touch other naked men! BTW....Hercules could have "one-upped" Antaeus if he'd wanted to! Teeth would do more damage than a yank!

 

[geezer]

Back when men weren't afraid to touch other naked men! BTW....Hercules could have "one-upped" Antaeus if he'd wanted to! Teeth would do more damage than a yank!

Teeth? Now that conjures up a really disturbing picture. Sorry, my fault for posting the image. Time to move on. Please!