How Good Is Your Wing Chun?

Leave Your Comfort Zone to Find Out.

- Martin Murphy

MANY OF US HAVE BEEN TRAINING IN WING CHUN FOR A LONG TIME. FOR OTHERS, IT MAY BE JUST A FEW MONTHS OR A FEW YEARS. REGARDLESS OF LENGTH, YOU’VE MOST LIKELY BEEN DOING YOUR FORMS, DRILLS AND CHI SAU WITH THE SAME SIFU AND GROUP OF STUDENTS THROUGHOUT YOUR TRAINING.

So, how do you know how good your Wing Chun really is? How well do your forms stack up against the standard? And has your Chi Sau become so routine you and your classmates all know each other’s tricks? How is your Wing Chun progressing absent outside reference points, agreed standards and the force of competition, or are you training in a bubble?

A group of Sifus in Hong Kong and Europe has been trying to help students answer these questions. Sifu Donald Mak, head of the International Wing Chun Organization (IWCO), with some of his colleagues of the World Wing Chun Union (WWCU) and the Russian Wing Chun Federation in Hong Kong and Russia, respectively, have been holding several regular, almost annual, Wing Chun competitions since 2010. Held in Hong Kong, Mainland China and Russia, the competitions are open to all Wing Chun practitioners from any country and any lineage. In the most recent competition, held in October in Hong Kong, over 300 people from 15 countries and regions participated.

Based in Hong Kong, with branches around the world, the WWCU was established in 2009, hoping to set aside the differences among Wing Chun schools and lineages and uniting fellow practitioners from around the world by providing a platform for Wing Chun’s development and communication to the public. One of its main activities has been organising Wing Chun competitions, including setting rules and standards and training judges and referees.

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