Re: Re: Re: Stick Fighting
Originally posted by YongChun
I heard the story that Anciong Bacon easily defeated the best Karate guys that Japan sent over to the Philippines to introduce Karate there…
Thanx Ray!
That’s interesting stuff, I have never thought of the concept of using sticks to practice against kicks, but from what you posted it makes sense.
Originally posted by YongChun
I think that wouldn’t work against Wyatt Earp or the Clint Eastwood character though. Top people draw too fast with specially designed guns and holsters…
LOL
How many people do you see wearing quickdraw rigs these days, especially those who would be likely to pull a gun on you (or a cop, for that matter).
Originally posted by YongChun
I met this Chinese student in the late 1960’s who studied Hung style from an 87 year old Chinese master in the Philippines. He said his teacher taught Hung style and also Tai Chi which is on the opposite end of the spectrum. He said that when he joined, he came out of Karate and the teacher told him to spar with one of his 12 year old students. That student had trained since he was 4 years old. So , being used to tournament fighting, he did. First he threw a high roundhouse kick to the students head. The 12 year old student dodged and hit him with two fingers near the top of his leg. His leg immediately went numb and limp and fell to his side. Then the teacher massaged his leg until it was good again. The match continued and he charged in with a fast high punch. The student again used two fingers to hit a point on the shoulder and his arm went limp. Again the teacher massaged some other points and brought back the feeling. The teacher said the student had been studying point hitting for about three years.
An interesting story, although I always take these kinds of stories with a grain of salt, ‘I knew a guy and he said’ and all that. In a court they call it ‘hearsay’, and isn’t regarded as evidence, even if it is true.
Originally posted by YongChun
Then the master would have a handful of cork bits, throw them up into the air and then using Crane style pecking actions peck all of them (catching them) before any hit the ground.
How 'bout catching flys with chopsticks?
Seriously though, video games are a good way to develop hand-eye coordination and sight reflexes. They don’t, however, do this in the realm of using your body in conjunction; as in MA.
Originally posted by YongChun
many specailty drills and later after about ten years fighting against anyone.
How many students do you think the modern, north american, MA school would keep if the instructor told them they would not be able to fight anyone until ten years after begining training?
No doubt, time-in-trade gives you better skills, but people want something they can use within a relative amount of time.
Originally posted by YongChun
Some Tai Chi master said you can defeat strength but not speed. If you think of speed in terms of a bullet then who can stop one of those? Escrima stick hits are faster than your eye can perceive. It’s very difficult to get into a fast swing. Someone could swing and be ready for a return strike before you can blink.
A stick swing is fast, but like any circular attack, can be traced from it’s origin (shoulder, in the case of the stick), which will be moving slower. If you watch the tip of the stick, you won’t be able to follow it. If you watch the hand, you have the same chance as watching a punch. If you watch the shoulder/upper arm, even better.
Originally posted by YongChun
Then looking at many students that come and learn Wing Chun, they have maybe no martial arts training and none of them can kick or will be able to even with many years Wing Chun because they don’t train in Taekwondo which specializes in kicking. So it is difficult for students to feed each other realistic kicks to train against.
This is so true, that is why I like talking to and sharing with people of other styles of MA. I don’t try to ‘sell’ them on WC, I just share, learn, and hopefully form a friedship that we can spar and experience each other’s techniques and abilities. Other than that, I try to practice techniques outside of WC in order to do my best at throwing them on my training partners (even then, they are moderate at best).
Originally posted by YongChun
However anyone can sure learn to swing a stick quickly enough. So that’s why I thought that maybe feeding stick strikes can help to develop quick entry skills. However not all Wing Chun clubs feel they need to develop these kinds of skills as some use the idea of the Cobra snake that waits for it’s prey to come into it’s region and then strike. When I studied in the Wang Kiu lineage they developed a fast entry like an arrow technique using the toes of the back foot similar to how a sprinter would start in a 100 meter race (except upright). When I studied in the Leung Sheung lineage they used more the latter approach to wait until the attacker was within reach to strike.
Entering, empty-hand vs. stick, is definatly good practice for general entering skills. As far as striking vs. waiting, this is an issue of strategy not technique. Some WC teach to accept an attack, let it ‘coil’ your ‘spring energy’ for you to release it back on them, but a little birdy told me ‘be like a spring, already coiled and ready to explode forward’. IOW, why wait, attack, intercept. Try sparring with empty-hands vs. stick and see how good it works to wait for your opponent to come to you.
Originally posted by YongChun
But I haven’t tried the stick feeding idea as a way to help defend against fast kicking skills because most people now are beginners having a hard enough time trying to remember a few forms, learning to relax and build up some Chi sau movements all on once a week practice.
Emin says ‘It’s not how many years/months of training you have, it’s how many hours are in those years/months.’
It’s difficult to get much out of only once per week, unless you are sure your students put in the solo hours at home/on off days.
Originally posted by YongChun
The stick idea also has it’s dangers because not all students have any common sense. Some will hit with full force no control and just don’t have any idea about any dangers like two year old climbing a high slide.
Use practice sticks, we made some from PVC pipe and foam pipe insulation, wrapped with electrical tape (put caps on the ends of the pipe). You can hit with full power, and it will sting, but nothing serious though. Just make sure to target away from the face or use eye protection (or both).