My Wing Chun is better than your Wing Chun...

The never ending debate of who's Wing Chun is "real" or "better" will never go away, nor will it help you in your journey for making yourself the best martial artist you can be.

In the Wing Chun community, we are all victims, and sometimes contributors (myself included at one point) of the mud slinging game of saying, "oh his/her Wing Chun is wrong...its garbage!"

I have been exposed to some fantastic Wing Chun and some sub par Wing Chun. What makes it fantastic or sub par? My opinion and my opinion only. And this is something that we should all keep in mind when we continue our training.

I have had great training experiences in Wing Chun. Who is to say that person A's Wing Chun is better than person B's? And if one person's is better than the other, is it Wing Chun or is it the practitioner?

Keep in mind, that styles and systems do not make fighters...fighters make fighters.

Just like art, the artist uses paint to create the image of his or her expression. In doing so, how can we accuse him or her of using the paint wrong?

Yes, in Wing Chun we have certain guidelines to follow...obviously throwing a hook punch cannot be called a centerline punch, and if someone shifts with their weight placed on their front foot, we cannot consider this correct... But how can we say that someone's Wing Chun is bad or wrong simply because our perception of it is wrong?

Master Michael Wong of youtube fame has a great philosophy...he has no opinion.

Some would consider that his Wing Chun, in point, is wrong... And in some frequent cases I agree. He mis-translates what some terms mean, uses drills that do not make sense for Wing Chun and has forms that aren't exactly traditional. But, his goal is to make people fighters.

He uses the core concepts of Wing Chun to promote fighting and self defense...and his fighting ability is impressive. So, is his Wing Chun wrong or is it HIS Wing Chun?

Or Leung Ting and how people criticize him openly for saturating and demeaning the art... Has he not directly or in part produced some of the most deadly Wing Chun fighters?

Ip Man taught several students... Why do each of them have different abilities? Wong Shun Leung did the same and so on. Why are each of us open to the interpretation of Wing Chun, yet people still will say, "Oh, his Wing Chun is bad?"

Personally, I do not care who a person trains under, I care their ability and understanding. One of my former Sifu's had an impressive Wing Chun resume...however a man who is 6'3" can never understand the needs of Wing Chun for shorter person, therefor his understanding was muddied. My current Sifu does not train directly under Ip Chun or Ip Ching as others do plaster their resume with...yet my Sifu's ability is second to none in direct combat applicability, his reflexes are surgical and deadly and his Chi Sao is devastating.

Wing Chun is for Self Defense and Combat. I enjoy Chi Sao greatly, however Chi Sao is the tool and not the goal of Wing Chun and many of us forget that.

In David Peterson's book about Wong Shun Leung, he commented how his Sifu evolved his Wing Chun through constant thinking, training, and expression. That is your responsibility as well.

We must criticize ourselves so that we never end the journey of our training.

All of your opinions help me to become a better Wing Chun fighter and I hope to do the same in return.

Dominick Izzo
Chief Instructor
Izzo Training Systems
www.izzo-training.com

Wing Chun Self Defense Chicago and the Northwest Suburbs