My Journey in Wing Chun

My Journey in Wing Chun

Article by Steve Nixon, Forward by Alex Wright

Steve came to us from another style of Wing Chun and like many of my students found our system very different in both its technical application and in its style of training.  Steve has gone from being clumsy and ineffective to being tight and coordinated in his boxing.  Although a quiet chap he’s now no push over and is one of my most improved students in the last 6 months. He achieved his Level 1 grade on 18^th May under Sifu Alan Orr after 6 months of training. A. Wright.

As long as I can remember I’ve always been interested in martial arts. Like most the initial interest came from the Bruce lee movies. I first started when I was about 17 first training in Choy lay fut., then on to a couple of different styles of  karate which turned out to basically be the same. I found myself losing interest quite quickly.

The reasons for this were the constant kata routines, no actual contact and that sparring had very minimal if any contact. I realised that without more realistic training I wouldn’t know if the systems I was learning would work in a real situation for me. I found myself getting bored and disenchanted with martial arts training. I felt having trained on and off for years not feeling as if I was getting anywhere that I may aswell just give up with martial arts.

This was when a friend introduced me to a martial art called Wing Chun which I recall from martial art documentary I had seen in my younger days, finding myself being very curious I started training. The class I found was “Advanced Fighting Systems” in the centre of Newcastle under Paul O’Neill. I found it very friendly and relaxed, the classes were normally the same routine starting with the forms then on to chi sau finishing with wing chun drills and maybe some padwork. Although the classes stuck to a routine the difference was that unlike the Karate and CLF before there was a lot more contact. I found the chi sau very interesting as I hadn't done anything like it before. Also padwork I enjoyed. After over 15 months of training I suffered a shoulder injury at work then shortly after I started a family and once again I drifted away from martial arts.

After 7-8 years of not expecting to train again I discovered the Cyclone Chu Sau Lei Wing Chun website. I could see straight away that this style was going to have much more to offer than anything that I had seen so far. Having enjoyed training in the Wing Chun system before, what I was reading was really interesting me. My first session I have to say I found so different to what I’ve been used to, but soon found out that I had found a martial art that was actually going to teach me how to fight not just go through routines that I struggled to find meaning or use for. I had the boxing gloves on from the very first day something that I never did anywhere else I’ve trained. Right from the first session I did the boxing sparring, speed combinations, also padwork punches and the kicking. If that wasn't enough then came the clinch work which I never trained in any of the other systems I’d trained in, which I now know is a very important part of a martial art and integral to Wing Chun.

At first being new to this system I found it hard to see the Wing Chun, but after doing the Thursday night technical sessions it suddenly came clear. How the wing Chun system and body structure is used in every part of our training. Having trained now for about 5 months in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere where questions are encouraged I feel my martial arts has really improved after a short period of time. With regards to Cyclone Wing Chun I only have one regret which is I didn't find this club earlier. Thankfully now I can lose some of the bad training habits I had learned before and now improve my Wing Chun to my full potential with many more years of training.

If I hadn’t seen the Cyclone Wing Chun website I doubt I would have ever started training again but there was something different about what it seemed to offer than what I’d seen before. After my first training session I was hooked, there was no way I could train anywhere else or return to AFS. Cyclone Wing Chun seemed to cover every aspect of a martial art and more, my questions answered in a way that made me look at everything I had done before and question that also.

Recently I attended a seminar by Sifu Alan Orr the head of the Chu Sau Lei System in the UK and the teacher of my Sifu Alex. He took us through the whole first level of the Chu Sau Lei system making sure everyone understood. I was very impressed with what I was shown and the way in which it was explained. My favourite part I have to say was regarding the development of power in our punches and the demonstration Sifu gave everyone. I witness Sifu Orr’s  chi sau at the end which left me gobsmacked! I had never seen Chi Sau performed at that level before by anyone!.

This was the first seminar I’d attended but can't wait till the next, it's totally inspired me and has made me want to improve more than ever before.

Steve Nixon