I am new to the W/C forum. I am also very amazed at the various documentaries and movies that show W/C techniques. My question is this, how does one learn Wing Chun, of the Ip Man variety if such does exist, in an area such the Lexington Ky area? I would also like to understand why there are no teachers that appear on any of the web searches that I have done as well, but I suspect this is due to an abundance of factors. Anyhow, I am tired of playing around with some the techniques that I have seen through these sources and have a real desire to learn wing chun, but no one to learn from!:mad: Can anyone suggest or know of someone, regardless of whether or not they have a brick and mortar school, that comes from an identifiable lineage and would take on me and my children as students? Thank you for your replies and I am in the Somerset, Kentucky area.
You can also try ewingchun.com And the wing chun forum over at Martial Talk. I know there is a guy over there who teaches in the area you mentioned. Good luck.
Looks like they may not be any schools listed in your area. However, I strongly suggest you e-mail/call the nearest schools as they may know of someone who is teaching privately (i.e. they are not interested in dealing with the random person just poking around martial arts schools) or may have a senior student who may live relatively close to you and may be interested in teaching.
Good luck in your search.
Depending how badly you want to learn, you may have to travel some. After a few quick google searches, I see some clubs/schools in both Knoxville and Bowling Green by searching each of those cities and ‘wing chun’. I know this isn’t ideal, but I’ve known people to travel over 100 miles each way to learn MA’s when there is nothing near by.
Good luck and let us know what you end up doing!
thank you
[QUOTE=HybridWarrior;1271308]You can also try ewingchun.com And the wing chun forum over at Martial Talk. I know there is a guy over there who teaches in the area you mentioned. Good luck.[/QUOTE]
Thank you for the website. A prelimenary look shows a couple of options in tennessee. I will look into this further, thank you so much.
thank you
[QUOTE=Almost A Ghost;1271315]Looks like they may not be any schools listed in your area. However, I strongly suggest you e-mail/call the nearest schools as they may know of someone who is teaching privately (i.e. they are not interested in dealing with the random person just poking around martial arts schools) or may have a senior student who may live relatively close to you and may be interested in teaching.
Good luck in your search.[/QUOTE]
Thank you for your insight. I had not considered this idea. To be quite honest looking on the web is real discouraging. Especially for my area, and to make matters worse my family is really busy. I dont have the luxury of playing around with or poking around with schools. I will make a few calls etc and see what i can work out. Thank you
thank you
[QUOTE=JPinAZ;1271320]Depending how badly you want to learn, you may have to travel some. After a few quick google searches, I see some clubs/schools in both Knoxville and Bowling Green by searching each of those cities and ‘wing chun’. I know this isn’t ideal, but I’ve known people to travel over 100 miles each way to learn MA’s when there is nothing near by.
Good luck and let us know what you end up doing![/QUOTE]
I may end up having to travel. I dont know how i can do it though. Was hoping someone on here might know someone around me. Would a good teacher from a respected lineage be very tolerant of me driving for class one day a week if that was all i could do? Work, kids, wife, like everyone else i understand, but a lot on my shoulders to add driving two to three hours one way and a lot of hardship on the family too. I think i will try the other suggestions and if no alternative exists probably will have to drive. I refuse to just give up, too interested in learning, using, and hopefully teaching way down the road sometime. We have too much need here for real martial art instructors. I know that i am sick and tired of reading about WC, watching movies about WC, and youtube videos of WC and just cant shake the thirst for WC, gonna have to do something about it soon. Thank you
[QUOTE=nautavac;1271354]Thank you for the website. A prelimenary look shows a couple of options in tennessee. I will look into this further, thank you so much.[/QUOTE]
You’re welcome. Good luck in your search. You could also try the wing chun section over on Reddit.
[QUOTE=Almost A Ghost;1271315]Looks like they may not be any schools listed in your area. However, I strongly suggest you e-mail/call the nearest schools as they may know of someone who is teaching privately (i.e. they are not interested in dealing with the random person just poking around martial arts schools) or may have a senior student who may live relatively close to you and may be interested in teaching.
Good luck in your search.[/QUOTE]
This is very true. I know of three wing chun people in my area who live / train / teach quietly and privately.
nautavac, dig deep with your research. Post on craigslist, local newspaper, etc. I"m betting you’ll find someone close to your town.
[QUOTE=nautavac;1271360]I may end up having to travel. I dont know how i can do it though. Was hoping someone on here might know someone around me. Would a good teacher from a respected lineage be very tolerant of me driving for class one day a week if that was all i could do? Work, kids, wife, like everyone else i understand, but a lot on my shoulders to add driving two to three hours one way and a lot of hardship on the family too. I think i will try the other suggestions and if no alternative exists probably will have to drive. I refuse to just give up, too interested in learning, using, and hopefully teaching way down the road sometime. We have too much need here for real martial art instructors. I know that i am sick and tired of reading about WC, watching movies about WC, and youtube videos of WC and just cant shake the thirst for WC, gonna have to do something about it soon. Thank you[/QUOTE]
A good teacher/SiFu shouldn’t care about whether or not you travel to learn something you really want. I drive 9 hrs one way. Obviously I would prefer to drive across town and not across several states but as with most things in life…I’ve made my wing chun a priority goal/objective, etc and so don’t mind.
Another option: get a small group together (say 6-12 folks) and then find a SiFu to ‘come to your location’…i.e. intensive training weekends once a month, or perhaps quarterly seminars etc.
Wing Chun Directory
[QUOTE=nautavac;1271288]I am new to the W/C forum. I am also very amazed at the various documentaries and movies that show W/C techniques. My question is this, how does one learn Wing Chun, of the Ip Man variety if such does exist, in an area such the Lexington Ky area? I would also like to understand why there are no teachers that appear on any of the web searches that I have done as well, but I suspect this is due to an abundance of factors. Anyhow, I am tired of playing around with some the techniques that I have seen through these sources and have a real desire to learn wing chun, but no one to learn from!:mad: Can anyone suggest or know of someone, regardless of whether or not they have a brick and mortar school, that comes from an identifiable lineage and would take on me and my children as students? Thank you for your replies and I am in the Somerset, Kentucky area.[/QUOTE]
you can also try wingchun-selfdefense.com which is a global directory!
[QUOTE=Graham H;1271370]If you want to learn Ip Man Wing Chun you will need one of these…:D:D:D
[/QUOTE]
hahahahaha…nice one! 
thank you
[QUOTE=Graham H;1271370]If you want to learn Ip Man Wing Chun you will need one of these…:D:D:D
[/QUOTE]
I would love to have one. Got one i could borrow? Or are you saying that Ip man WC only exists in the past? Sure would be nice to have a delorean with a working flux capacitor and a wild haired scientist to keep it working. Good suggestion
[QUOTE=chousos;1271371]you can also try wingchun-selfdefense.com which is a global directory![/QUOTE]
stop spamming
[QUOTE=chunner;1271421]stop spamming[/QUOTE]
How is it spamming to give a global directory to someone looking for a school near them?
[QUOTE=nautavac;1271399]Or are you saying that Ip man WC only exists in the past?[/QUOTE]
Yes YMWC only exists in the past. Nobody these days is teaching it or practicing it they way it was up until 1972 although many claim to be.
Wing Chun has evolved sometimes for better sometimes for worse. IMO mostly for worse.
Let’s pick two Yip Man students both at opposite ends of the spectrum in the context of fighting ability and thinking. Yip Chun and Wong Shun Leung. Both system are completely different and in many cases contradict each other. Surely if both were practicing Yip Man Wing Chun there would at least be some similarities. Outside of the names of the forms there are few. Unfortunately these days people use the “interpretation” excuse in order to justify this but any logical thinking person will know that’s BS.
It is common knowledge that Yip Man was selective with his information and if the truth were to be believed only a small group of people studied under him to any great extent. The fact that there are millions of people that practice WC these days mostly taught by people that weren’t there or weren’t part of that group means that the majority of WC lineages are advocating something that will be quite different to what Yip Man was teaching and practicing over 40 years ago.
To make things even worse we have people who claim to be personal closed door students of Yip Man that are really teaching a load of old tosh but the said connection makes joe public flock to their like flies around sh!t.
Ironically that’s what it is…
So no YMWC anymore!
I think one can look at the idea of “Yip Man WCK” in a number of different ways.
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YMWCK is what Yip Man taught. But then you have to ask “taught when?” or “during which part of his career?” …because Yip Man did and taught things a bit differently through-out his teaching career. What he taught before moving to Hong Kong was different than what he taught in his early career in Hong Kong which was different from what he taught in his final years.
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YMWCK is what Yip Man himself did. No two people are exactly the same. Everyone will have a little different interpretation and a little different body type. Therefore YMWCK died with Yip Man.
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YMWCK is the term for a lineage of WCK started by Yip Man. This lineage may have taken some twists and turns and differing interpretations, but it traces back to Yip Man himself and, even though various major branches can be quite different, they still have major common characteristics that originated with Yip Man and make them indentifiable with the lineage of WCK that he started.
Personally, I prefer to use #3 when referring to something as “Yip Man Wing Chun.”
It is common knowledge that Yip Man was selective with his information and if the truth were to be believed only a small group of people studied under him to any great extent.
Agree with that.
[QUOTE=KPM;1271449]I think one can look at the idea of “Yip Man WCK” in a number of different ways.
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YMWCK is what Yip Man taught. But then you have to ask “taught when?” or “during which part of his career?” …because Yip Man did and taught things a bit differently through-out his teaching career. What he taught before moving to Hong Kong was different than what he taught in his early career in Hong Kong which was different from what he taught in his final years.
-
YMWCK is what Yip Man himself did. No two people are exactly the same. Everyone will have a little different interpretation and a little different body type. Therefore YMWCK died with Yip Man.
-
YMWCK is the term for a lineage of WCK started by Yip Man. This lineage may have taken some twists and turns and differing interpretations, but it traces back to Yip Man himself and, even though various major branches can be quite different, they still have major common characteristics that originated with Yip Man and make them indentifiable with the lineage of WCK that he started.
Personally, I prefer to use #3 when referring to something as “Yip Man Wing Chun.”[/QUOTE]
I don’t agree and this discussion subject has been done to death already.
People are always pulling the “interpretation” card. VT is a very simple scientific approach to combat. It uses concepts which are open to misinterpretation not differing interpretations. There may be variations in how people move and what actions they prefer but conceptually and fundamentally we should ALL be on the same page. The fact is we are not so somewhere along the line somebody has got it wrong and/or filled in the gaps with their own ideas. As we can be pretty sure that the “group” of Yip Mans closest followers was very small it means that many people didn’t get enough tuition but then went off and made their own ways. The reason people struggle to admit that is because it would like admitting they are doing things wrong. In many cases they are! That’s not to say they cannot fight or use what they have very well but in the context of saying you are practicing YMWC you can never be sure. In fact in most lineages the further you go through the system the more vague and different things become compared to the next school up the road. This proves my theory IMO. Many similarities in SLT but massive differences and idea in say BJ or the weapons.
Yip Man is part of a line. His name has been popularized through out the world because he is regarded as the last Great Grandmaster. Most of this has come via the media and if stories were to be believed he shunned the limelight and was reluctant to teach many people.
How many people today are Grandmasters? There seem to be many mostly self -proclaimed. Is Yip Chun a Grandmaster? Is Yip Ching? Does bloodline have anything to do with it? No it doesn’t and IMO they are not.
It’s better just to say you practice Wing Chun and are putting in the work to improve and develop yourself in your own bubble. Some people can make use of it and some people cannot. Some rely heavily on marketing and BS and some others do not.
No point in giving it any more thought than that. The problem is many people these days act like they were joined at the hip of Yip Man. I find some it very amusing…