Good morning.
On Saturday was my personal class for training teachers. As you may or may not be aware, it is a requirement of the schools that every teacher constantly improves and builds on their skills. This applies not only on their physical techniques and development as a Wing Tsun practitioner, but also on their ability to impart knowledge and develop the students. Ever since I founded the schools aged 18 it has always been a fundamental principle of the schools that the tuition given is of the highest possible quality.
There are many ways that this continual improvement happens, but not least through private lessons (each teacher has a minimum of two lessons a month with me), regular meetings of all the teachers together, dedicated seminars and professional teacher training days. Indeed, I will be running a one-off 3 day teacher training seminar for both trainees and current teachers at the beginning of August. More will be said about this at a later date…
The principle of constantly improving also fits in very nicely with the Wing Tsun philosophy; there is no end in the understanding and mastery of the system. One of the most beautiful things about the Wing Tsun system is that even when you have learnt the whole system, it does not mean that your ‘life’ as a Wing Tsun master has reached the end. (This, it should be noted, is in marked contrast to many systems – which when you reach about 2nd/3rd Dan that is simply the end – the future grades are essentially honorary). I remember very vividly my Sifu telling about the time he officially learned the whole Wing Tsun system (in particular the final part of the Baat Chum Dao). It was quite a prestigious event, with the media invited for an interview of both masters after the event. One reporter asked my Sifu’s master whether he was worried that my Sifu would now leave him. He simply replied with an analogy – at the beginning my Sifu could only see that Wing Tsun is a temple, but now can he see that it is a golden temple… I will leave you to ponder on the significance of that statement, but it is clear that it is only with in-depth study over many years can you truly appreciate what you actually have.
Back to Saturday; as I expect my teachers to be of such a high quality I do, unashamedly, push them hard. This day was certainly no exception, after making sure that each of them corrected any errors in the forms, I made them do 12,100 punches (which, of course, I also did with them). None of them were expecting this, nor did they know how many punches they would be throwing, but I’m pleased to say that they all continued to the very end. It took about 60 minutes of continuous punching for each person to complete this and there was no break at all. I should also point out this these punches were to the chestguards – NOT simply in the air. Punching to air has its place, but is completely different concept and level than this. This kind of training not only builds the body stronger, but gives you a better understanding of how to generate power through the punches. I only had one request at the end, from the instructor that was counting the punches for me – ‘Please can someone else count next time Sifu!’
Wing Tsun shows that if you are determined to keep going what you can achieve is almost limitless.
Sifu