RDU Wing Chun School

**chainpunch** · Posted On: 1/08/2010 11:27am

I am the owner of the school *buyer beware*!

Aliveness:

We have many stages before students can practice full contact nhb. Each individual is different so there is no set time on when the student will achieve full all out sparing, but students are not stuck in robotic drills while waiting to spar with limited rules in two or three years. Your mileage will vary; some will rate us lower for the longer wait time while other might even rate us higher because of the variety of sparing drills we use to prepare people for anything goes. Wing Chun (our version) is very complicated and we cannot expect to throw some one into free sparing as fast as style with more limited rule sets.

Equipment:

We have just about anything you would need and worn equipment is replaced in a timely manner. Grappling mats would be the exception. We do use thin mats and often no mat grappling which makes it more difficult to train extended grappling or violent body slamming. For a traditional Wing Chun school we are very well equipped.

Gym Size:

We are in a warehouse building on a gravel lot. This is a deterrent to those that would waste our time. If it bothers you that you will sweat hard most of the year and freeze if you are not training hard in the winter then I have lost you as the next Bruce Lee. I have 4k sq ft of space. I have shrunk it down to 2k because I decided it was better to concentrate on a manageable amount of students rather than fill the place with daydreamers. We are open six days a week so because of the numerous classes available we often have plenty of room.

Instructor/Student Ratio:

I put the most advanced students with the most in need of personal assistance. There are quite a few students with more than 5 years experience plus I over see all classes unless I am traveling.

Atmosphere/ Attitude:

Most visitors comment that everyone is very helpful. Through the grapevine I have herd comments from “straight forward” to “jerk”. My aim is to identify your short comings and improve them, its nothing personal. I am very supportive but will call you out. Most people are self conscious and or have an ego to some degree. Nobody wants to be singled out unjustly but we have to break down you guard. You have to admit there is an area you want to improve in and once you do the learning can begin. I encourage an atmosphere of respect. It’s in everyone’s interest to help each other improve so that you have a better training partner.

Striking Instruction:

Traditional Wing Chun often fails outside of class because students train to fight themselves. We try to break this pitfall by encouraging practice against non Wing Chun attacks. The few students that have gone out for MMA fighting have done very well this is why I ranked ourselves an 8.

Grappling Instruction:

Ground fighting is not a specialty of Wing Chun. We prefer standup grappling over ground fighting but acknowledge your opponent might have different plans. Take downs are encouraged when training striking. Depending on the students ability we can incorporate take down motions all the way to full on take downs to prepare the student for this reality. We do spend periods ground fighting but honestly its for familiarization. You cannot expect to learn serious ground fighting in our school but you will have a concept. I have had a student place third in the “ultimate grappling competition” in Nevada (name and place of event maybe wrong) in 2007 and he had no formal training in grappling outside of Wing Chun. You will not be a grappling master by taking Wing Chun but it should not be completely alien to you.

Weapons Instruction:

We can teach a variety of weapons though as of today we have never really all out spared with weapons. I think there is a safety issue along with a lack of realism I have yet to be able to balance out.

Thanks for reading.

**default** · Posted On: 1/08/2010 12:04pm

chainpunch-What kind of competitions do you/your student regularly compete in? What kind of grappling experience do you have?

**chainpunch** · Posted On: 1/08/2010 4:13pm

Originally Posted by default

chainpunch-What kind of competitions do you/your student regularly compete in? What kind of grappling experience do you have?

We don’t regularly compete. I don’t encourage students to compete but I do support anyone of them that want to do so. It could be a drawback for those that are not self driven. Most often my students tend to try one, win and then move on probably because I don’t encourage them to continue. One of my students moved to New Mexico and ended up at Greg Jacksons. I imagine the atmosphere got to him and he did anything available to him from Kung Fu to Grappling tourneys and one cage match. If he did not move to Italy I think he would still be at it. Another student did very well. Aside from him not too many others want to dedicate their free time towards these events. Southpaw moved to the other side of town and I think he is doing bjj matches and I have another student that trains at a different cross fit/ sub grappling in order to get more matches. There are not many opportunities in North Carolina for MMA or full contact, I am sure it will change though. So I can say with me you may not be motivated to do competitions based on our trend.

As far as my grappling experience goes I would say its limited at best. I did try wrestling in high school. Before finding my current teacher I tried Judo and JJJ. Most of the grappling taught at my school is based on what my Sifu taught us in class. We had on average 300 new faces coming through a year. Being in an army town (Fayetteville/ ft Bragg) lots of people had previous MA back grounds and it helped refine what we did. We are really not going to amaze anyone with what we do but most grapplers will find it’s slightly harder to take us for granted than a typical upright system. I think the difference with us is that your learning ability improves so you can pick up other methods more easily.

**Goju - Joe** · Posted On: 1/08/2010 4:17pm

He gave himself a 4 in grappling, that seems fair.

Aliveness is such an amorphous term I think it's pointless to argue.

8 in striking is pretty high though, needs video

**chainpunch** · Posted On: 1/08/2010 4:36pm

Originally Posted by Goju - Joe

He gave himself a 4 in grappling, that seems fair.

Aliveness is such an amorphous term I think it's pointless to argue.

8 in striking is pretty high though, needs video

I posted my ratings based strickly on the rules.

Striking Instruction:

1-3: No striking.
4-5: Striking for punching/kicking only and/or limited purposes (demonstration, highly restrictive sport).
6-7: Comprehensive striking (all ranges) or superior single range striking with success in local/regional competition or practical application.
8-9: Pressure-tested, full range striking and proven success in limited restriction, top level competitions or high level self defense situations.
10: Superior excellence including A-level competitors/instructors

After looking at 8-9 it’s possible I don’t meet the definition. I have no professional fighters so I am changing it to 7. I have no video of the high level self defense situations but met 7 without a doubt.

These ratings are difficult. I think I have a solid decent school. I don’t think I am near the top level (whatever that may be).

If the ratings were based on perfection 10 being perfect I think I would rank a 6-7 at best.

**Goju - Joe** · Posted On: 1/08/2010 4:41pm

The rating system is a bit awkward.

And people should read them in context

**Kintanon** · Posted On: 1/08/2010 4:47pm

I felt like this review was pretty even handed. The one place I thought was iffy was the striking rating which I thought was more likely to be a 7 than an 8, after some thought it looks like the OP agreed and adjusted the rating.
Full marks for what appears to be a good realistic review of your school.