Good evening.
Continuing the theme of my last post, I would like to give more details about the forthcoming seminar on defence against weapons that will take place between the 2nd and 5th April. I do not wish to repeat completely what I have already written so I would advise those who have not done so to read my earlier post written on the 18th February 2008.
Although all the seminars are intense, over the past years this has perhaps been one of the hardest: there is a very small margin for error; the odds are against you; and even more than normal, the techniques must be ingrained into your nervous system.
To give a very brief overview of the history of this seminar, this programme was initially developed from traditional teachings by Grandmaster Leung Ting, who then taught it to my Sifu. My Sifu then spent a number of years developing this further, particularly for use by the Special Forces throughout Eastern Europe. I was very fortunate, as his private student, to be taught this by him, having his own personal guidance and correction. There is no-one else teaching this information in Western Europe, let alone the UK, so students will have to opportunity to learn some extremely exclusive, and specialist, information. It is also the information that I teach to bodyguards.
I should point out that the material to be taught at the seminar is not part of the actual Chinese Wing Tsun teaching programme (and, as such, it will not be taught in the normal weekly classes). While defence against weapons only uses Wing Tsun principles and techniques, it has very special adaptations... As I have mentioned before, learning Chinese Wing Tsun techniques is not enough in itself, you need to be able to know which principle to apply (there are numerous ones in Chinese Wing Tsun) and how to do so effectively. I will, therefore, not only be teaching the extremely important theories, but helping to develop an understanding of why this is correct, and the dangers of not adhering to them. To put this in perspective, there will also be comparisons with other methods of defence against weapons. As always, my aim is to ensure that the students leave the seminar better educated. Learning techniques is never enough, you must be able to think for yourself…
The format of the seminar will essentially be the same as the one that I taught last year: the first two days will concentrate on defence against knives; the third day will consist of defence against other weapons such as baseball bats and bottles; and the fourth day will recap and teach how to use objects around you to assist in your defence. Students that have attended earlier seminars will not only have a chance to improve the skills that they have already learnt, but also develop the necessary proficiency to defend themselves against (new) more dangerous attacks.
The brochures for the seminar have been published slightly later than normal, but should be with students by this coming Wednesday at the latest. The details, however, have already been announced in class in class over the past few weeks (and I believe that there is a discount for students who pay over a week in advance). The teachers and assistants will be speaking to every student individually about the seminar and grading so please let them know at the earliest possible opportunity whether you are intending to attend either/both. Over the past couple of years it has been an extremely popular seminar, and due to constraints on space (for obvious safety reasons) there will only be limited places.
Sifu