This is an incredibly good class. I have been a member for about 11 months as I was looking for a dedicated self defence class and not a sports-fitness class nor a sports fighting-techniques class such as how boxing, judo or BJJ can be presented. Wing chun is not a sport and it’s purely self defence and self awareness with a brutal sting in its tail, and it has an interesting backstory in Chinese Buddhist lore. The venue of the class being the Chinese Cultural Centre adds to this. I’m not sure what made me drift through its doors. but I’m glad I did. And self defence is damn useful in any case. Anyway, a few things which a reader of this reviews might appreciate - firstly Wing Chun is clearly effective. The whole thing is to encode a certain behavioural response to an oncoming aggressive act. Secondly, wing chun is for everyone, it is not a testosterone activity and you don’t have to be a fit 20 year old to join, the origin lore is that is was created by a women against the rapey advances of aggressive men in a historical rustic time when there was nobody else to help. It is very close quarters, has a somewhat deflecting-energy blocking defensive style rapidly followed up by very direct, efficient, fast but relaxed offensive response. This means it’s great for women and youngsters to learn. The instructor (Sifu) David Ridgway presses that each person ultimately becomes the master of their own Wing Chun- after the journey learning the system- based on their own physical abilities and attributes. Third point; This class is very inclusive, as mentioned above, but because Wing Chun has a rather esoteric element to it, there’s a cool weirdness to it, it is kind of self-selective in the temperament of members. This is a polite way of saying of egotistic aggressive types won’t find much here. And if you are put off martial arts because you might have to come across this type of person, you will be OK here. And the environment is conducive to learning. Everyone is respectful; the higher abilities and those further along the journey tutor the lower abilities and still learn because it often seems there is the active principle of the best way to learn is to teach others, and David Ridgeway has an incredible passion for passing on the spirit of increasing knowledge aided by technicians, who are advanced along the path, to help newbies. David is the hub as main demonstrative instructor and the technicians help spread and practice the teaching . It has a family feel to it in many regards, and a good humoured spirit within the class . Class structure is typically a gentle stretchy warmup, then footwork techniques incorporating defensive/offensive methods (because moving around is one of the most important things), then specific wing chun forms forms and hand form drills and punching drills which I love more than anything, then a segue into good old street self defence (One thing about this which many other martial arts teachers don’t have, is that David was a police officer for many years and has extensive experience of how real thuggish violence, from the pub monkey dance kickoffs to drug fuelled fights and predatory attacks occur). After this there is usually a deep dive into a specific Wing Chun discipline technique in greater more detail and learning how these are applied in self defence and often another form practice. All this is learned in 8 week rotations and full curriculum in about 18 months, 2 years or so. Then at the end a relaxing stretch down. A thread through it all is integrity and self discipline, good humour and respect. All in all, a pleasant evening. You might even make a few friends. If there is a tiny element in interest, I really would highly recommend giving it a go for a night (Mondays and Thursdays) It may lead you to become a better version of yourself or at the very least, harder to kill. It can be a evening hobby or it can become part of a very positive lifestyle practice to help focus for other things if you choose or allow it to. Highly recommended. Good times.
Posted 2 years ago
