Wing Chun Sashes

[DanT]

Does your school employ a sash system for your Wing Chun? If so what do the colours indicate? For example, my sifu learned from 3 different Wing Chun sifus but adopted his last sifu's ranking system:

No Sash (noob): SLT
Red Sash (intermediate): CK
Green Sash (advanced): BJ, MYJ
Blue Sash (instructor): LDBK
Black Sash (instructor): BJD

Quick fact: he's been teaching for 40 years but has only given out 5 black sashes I think.

 

[KPM]

Nope. No sashes.

 

[Juany118]

While our Kali only has a black sash at "level 10" and then an instructor sash our Wing Chun has...

White Sash
Light Blue Sash
Medium Blue sash
Dark Blue
Light Brown
Dark Brown
Black
Grey
Light Green
Gold

I keep forgetting to ask one of my Sifu's a question though. He is was personally granted the rank of "provisional master" by Sigung Cheung and he wears a Red belt now. I assume that this is the sign of his status but for a quick answer (it will be a week or so before I see him again) @anerlich could likely enlighten us as I believe he is a Gold sash.

 

[wckf92]

Does your school employ a sash system for your Wing Chun? If so what do the colours indicate? For example, my sifu learned from 3 different Wing Chun sifus but adopted his last sifu's ranking system:

No Sash (noob): SLT
Red Sash (intermediate): CK
Green Sash (advanced): BJ, MYJ
Blue Sash (instructor): LDBK
Black Sash (instructor): BJD

Quick fact: he's been teaching for 40 years but has only given out 5 black sashes I think.

No sashes. Skill increase is our way of 'sashes'

 

[KPM]

While our Kali only has a black sash at "level 10" and then an instructor sash our Wing Chun has...

White Sash
Light Blue Sash
Medium Blue sash
Dark Blue
Light Brown
Dark Brown
Black
Grey
Light Green
Gold

I keep forgetting to ask one of my Sifu's a question though. He is was personally granted the rank of "provisional master" by Sigung Cheung and he wears a Red belt now. I assume that this is the sign of his status but for a quick answer (it will be a week or so before I see him again) @anerlich could likely enlighten us as I believe he is a Gold sash.

Yes. From what I know, a red sash in TWC is Master level. My friend Phil Redmond wears one.

 

[bully]

Back in the day....

None
Yellow (6 months or so in)
Red (2 years +)
Grey (considered like a brown at Karate, in our club in the early 90's it was a big deal to get your grey)
4 black tips on Grey (separate grading for each, I think I got 2 tips and 2nd tip I was doing BJ for the grading and hadn't reached Mook yet)
Black

I only remember one guy getting a black sash.

 

[Juany118]

Yes. From what I know, a red sash in TWC is Master level. My friend Phil Redmond wears one.

Thanks. The Sifu I am speaking of is a Student of Master Mazza but I have also seen a few videos of him training with Sifu Redmond. Sadly, atm, he lives in a neighboring State so I only get to study with him maybe twice a month. That is hopefully going to change later this year though.

 

[geezer]

... I was doing BJ for the grading...

...er, sounds like your instructor has some stiff requirements for rank.

 

[geezer]

We used to have colored patches worn on the shirts back when I was with the WT assn. here. Now in the assn. I belong to we have no insignia for individual grades (there are 12) but novices wear the assn. T-shirt in white, intermediates wear grey, and advanced wear black. Instructors have red stripes on their pants.

Oh, and about them baggy pants -- I prefer to have everybody to just wear black gym shorts. Seems more down to earth and practical. As for myself, I found some black ones with red stripes that exactly match my instructor stripes on the baggy pants. These days, I only wear the baggy things when my instructor comes to town. Gotta keep the boss happy!

 

[anerlich]

While our Kali only has a black sash at "level 10" and then an instructor sash our Wing Chun has...

White Sash
Light Blue Sash
Medium Blue sash
Dark Blue
Light Brown
Dark Brown
Black
Grey
Light Green
Gold

I keep forgetting to ask one of my Sifu's a question though. He is was personally granted the rank of "provisional master" by Sigung Cheung and he wears a Red belt now. I assume that this is the sign of his status but for a quick answer (it will be a week or so before I see him again) @anerlich could likely enlighten us as I believe he is a Gold sash.

My instructor parted company with William Cheung over 20 years ago.

The way it was, there was a gold sash, which was instructor level. After that, there were seven "Master" levels, the last of which was noted with a red sash. You're looking at around 20 years in the art at least to get to that level.

Our academy switched to uniforms with belts in an effort to become more compatible with grappling when we introduced Jiu Jitsu to the curriculum.

I received my gold sash, with certificate signed and stamped by William Cheung, in 1995. I was awarded my red sash/belt by Rick Spain in 2011.

 

[KPM]

...er, sounds like your instructor has some stiff requirements for rank.

Yeah, I kind of figure if I'm not producing students that aren't at least as good as me, then I must be doing something wrong! ;-)

 

[bully]

...er, sounds like your instructor has some stiff requirements for rank.

Anything for a new sash

 

[wingerjim]

Does your school employ a sash system for your Wing Chun? If so what do the colours indicate? For example, my sifu learned from 3 different Wing Chun sifus but adopted his last sifu's ranking system:

No Sash (noob): SLT
Red Sash (intermediate): CK
Green Sash (advanced): BJ, MYJ
Blue Sash (instructor): LDBK
Black Sash (instructor): BJD

Quick fact: he's been teaching for 40 years but has only given out 5 black sashes I think.

No sashes for us like others said. We try to keep our school very traditional. We have a teacher, sr students and jr students. That is all we have, though I see it's value in our American culture. Obviously not so much in the Chinese culture other than to set apart students vs teachers.

 

[Bino TWT]

We have student grades, but no sashes. The students are divided into 3 groups:
white shirts - grades 1-4
grey shirts - grades 5-8
black shirts - grades 9-12
The shirt colors are more for the instructor to be able to properly group the class when large numbers of students are present. After that, you get the red Technician/Primary stripes on your pant.

The old IWTA method had a colored plum blossom patch for each grade to go with the shirts, but we don't really keep up with that. But I assume if you had 50+ students in a class, that might come in kinda handy.

In order to actually be an instructor or Sifu, there are separate requirements and certifications other than just rank. It's kind of like a quality control thing.

 

[Martial D]

Does your school employ a sash system for your Wing Chun? If so what do the colours indicate? For example, my sifu learned from 3 different Wing Chun sifus but adopted his last sifu's ranking system:

No Sash (noob): SLT
Red Sash (intermediate): CK
Green Sash (advanced): BJ, MYJ
Blue Sash (instructor): LDBK
Black Sash (instructor): BJD

Quick fact: he's been teaching for 40 years but has only given out 5 black sashes I think.

No sashes or belts in my WC.

 

[Phobius]

Tshirts for us.

White....
Grey....
[optional] Black (white logo)...
Black (red stripes)...
and more but really not interesting beyond this point.

Basically the grading and color means nothing but giving people a goal to aim for. At some point either on grey or black tshirt will a student realize that it is not about grading but about improving skills.

Aiming for grades are an illusion. You are a martial artist and noone can take your knowledge away from you, therefore increase your knowledge and you will be your own master. No color can do that for you. But grades help pay the bills, at least in a western society.