Hiya Terence,
This just must be a point of disagreement between us. I simply can’t see why someone would take up a fighting method (kuen faat) if they didn’t want to train to actually fight. Why, for example, take up bjj (a grappling art) if you don’t want to grapple? Grappling on the mat is essential to developing skill at bjj. Why take up boxing if you don’t want to box? Boxing in the ring is essential to developing boxing skill. You are correct IMO that “it all depends on what we want for ourselves” – if we want to truly develop fighting skills then we need to fight; if we aren’t concerned with developing fighting skills, then I wonder why someone would take up a kuen faat in the first place. TN
I understand your point, and agree with it, but it just depends to what degree we all choose to train our methods.
Why did it work for him? Was he just lucky? Did he just happen to be better skilled, even if his skills were marginal, than the other guy (perhaps that guy was a schmuck)? Was it surprise? Would he have won the fight without his WCK training? We don’t know – and that’s the point. Such encounters don’t measure our skill or performance as there are too many variables involved. And if we can’t measure our performance, we aren’t as able to increase our performance – this is true of any endeavor. Now let’s change the scenario: suppose he lost his fight (as could happen). What would it tell him? Maybe it wasn’t that his WCK sucked, but that his opponent unknowingly happened to be Rickson Gracie! Or his opponent got lucky. Or -fill in the blank - . Again too many variables to truly measure one’s performance. TN
The point of the story is that sometimes even a little bit of knowledge can go a long way. I can tell you more stories like this about people we train with and including myself. Maybe its luck, maybe the guy wasnt skilled, it may be a lot of things but the one thing that was for sure is that the art worked when it had to. You can train your ass off and lose or maybe be lower on the skill scale and still defend yourself. I prefer to train with bigger and stronger people than me to help my development but there will always be someone out there that can kick our ass no matter how much WC we know. So, we should train as best we can and go from there.
But the point is: how do we know from our training, however “hard” it is, that we truly can use our skills? The only way IMO is by using those skills against good (i.e., skilled), resisting (i.e., trying to defeat us) opponents. I may get lucky, or my opponent may be unskilled, and be able to stop someone’s shoot on the street but that tells me nothing; but if I’ve worked against collegiate wrestlers and developed my skills to the point that I can routinely meet their attempts to shoot, then I have a good idea of my skill level. If I can’t, it also gives me a good idea of my skill level. In WCK/fighting it isn’t what you know but your ability to use your skills that matter. TN
Train hard and have better results. Terence! What you are preaching is nothing new to the MA world or any venture in life. Anyone who has achieved any great skill has mixed it up with a variety of different people. Some people may not train as hard as others and some train very hard. If the not so hard training people defend themselves in an aggressive situation then thats great. Would they have been better prepared if they had more time training against others? Sure, but Kung Fu for some does not play such an important role in their normal lives as perhaps other things do.
Who really knows how many fights “the greats” really had? We do know that Yip fought and defeated Leung Sheung, Wong Sheung Leung, and had a few others in Hong Kong (from reports by Duncan Leung, William Cheung, etc.). He obviously wasn’t reticent about being challenged by skilled, much larger men (Leung Sheung, who was teaching CLF) or scrappy fighters (like Wong, who had knocked out his boxing coach!), and was ready and willing to meet others. We do know that Yip told his students to “go out and test it for yourself, I may be tricking you” and that some of his students did just that (how WCK got its reputation in Hing Kong in the first place). We know that other “greats” like YKS, LJ, SN, FSC, etc. fought regularly. We know that YKS in training Sum sought out fights for him as part of his training. What we also know is that there are no “greats”, or IMHO even folks that can call themselves good WCK practitioners, that never fought. TN
Who did they fight in HK? How do we know if they were skilled or not? Watching some of the footage from back then it didnt look good at all. WSL told a friend of mine at a seminar in the UK that when he beat most of the people he challenged it was mainly with Western Boxing. I am sure his WC came out but I think the fighting experience we all praise so much was nothing more than a bunch of high school kids (teenagers) chain punching etc.. Do you think any of those guys could have beaten a Rickson? I am playing devils advocate here a bit. I respect what those guys (and other elders) did back then, and we should all learn from it, but lets not forget that it is just up to each individual to decide how far they want to take the art.
Can you please relay to all of us what some of your fighting experiences have been with other MA styles? Also, have you been in a street aggressive situation that allowed you to use your WCK? Details would be appreciated as it is obviously very important to you and I would like to know some of your experiences if possible!
Regards,