alright, I’d like a few of the more experienced WC pacticioners and instructors especially to give their shot at this, and if anyone there has any real experience with this, your insight would be especially useful.
anyway here goes:
if you were to have a student that was really excited about the martial arts and wanted to learn something and came to you (a sifu) and asked for your advice on what MA to take up and if they really could do a good job at it, what would you do? by the way, this student is missing their left arm (a leg would be even more severe!). that would really mess up the way that wc is conventionally taught, which anyone in here could agree with. do you thin kthat it would really be worth it for them to take up wc or would you advise that they picked up something that didn’t depend so much on the use of their hands, like maybe tkd? and if you were to teach them, how would you do it?
it is really hard for me to picture teaching a one armed person wing chun by traditional means and expectig them to ever perform at anywhere near the level of someone of their same skill level. there are just too many holes. how would chisau work? you could have them practice with a student that just used on hand to level the terms, but as soon as that other hand came in, asta lasagna, don’t get any onya! I think that teaching them the system taht is based on a full healthy human body, you could get them to learn a great deal of technique, definately get them good enough to take on the average shmo (especially since they’d probably be underestimated as a cripple), but that they would never really be able to hold their own against their peers(wc students of similar skill, speed, strength, etc . . .) they’d just come up one fourth short.
however . . . . I think taht the same wing chun principles that are used to make a normal person fight with incredible power could be adapted to someone that only had three limbs. people hat have lived with disabilities for a while know their bodies very well. if you’ve ever shaken the hand of a healthy gyuy in a wheelchair, you’ll notice that they have a very good grip. I believe that it is easier for them to focus their energy, will, chi, etc to s specific part of their body becuse they have less to worry about, and their muscles strengthen to make up for the loss. it’s like the deaf guy having really good sight. so I’m interested in what way instructors would try to make a new system per say based on teh same principles. I’d imagine that footwork and stance would probably have to charge, maybe even some of the ‘don’t do’s’ like ‘don’t kick above the waist’ would be done away with. let me know what you guys think, this is kind of your chance to be creative.
and maybe all of this kind of thinking will help us learn to make wing chun adapt to our bodies as well, cause we’re all a little different, so I think being overly dogmatic makes us forget ourselves, and think that we’ll really be ‘the ideal kung fu machine!’
–kevin
IXIJoe KaveyIXI