In April Peter and Mark ran the classes whilst I was forced to take a break to have a couple of operations. Peter introduced power bands into the sessions he ran to aid in developing speed and power. I received very positive feedback on his sessions and innovative approach; well done Peter! Congratulations to Mark who stretched everyone with the addition of open drills such as “monkey line”.

The training sessions continued to focus on key Ving Tsun (Wing Chun) fundamentals

• Structure,
• Body unity,
• development of relaxed power & power over a long bridge, and
•  “springy energy”.

When I made a surprise visit to a class I could see that everyone had continued to improve key Ving Tsun attributes. There was a very noticeable increase in the sharpness of the skill execution.

Phase 1 of training for 2012 is now complete. The first four months of training have laid a solid foundation for the training that I will roll out over the remainder of the year, including “Pressure Training” to commence after June.

In May training will focus on Chi Sau, commencing with all the elements of single hand chi sau and building from there. Every aspect of Chi Sau will be drilled in detail until I start pressure Training”. By the end of this year’s “Chi Sau Odyssey” everyone who consistently attends training will have improved their skill level in this aspect of Ving Tsun (Wing Chun) training well beyond where it is now. Make sure you attend training as regularly as you can over the next couple of months in order to take your chi sau to the next level.

This month I continued to emphasise structure, hip/elbow connection and timing. I also included training drills that develop striking power and striking power when your arms are extended (i.e. long-bridge power). In addition, I covered the fundamentals of Chi Sau with the emphasis on relaxed, fast reflexes, “springy-energy” and getting the most out of your stance and footwork during Chi Sau.

This month’s workshop was on the first half of the Wooden Dummy (Muk Yan Jong) form. Once again I included a lot of drills and partner exercises and allowed plenty of time to experiment with application of what I covered. I also covered how the movements apply in the real world.  This meant that the workshop ended up taking two full training sessions to cover the first half of the form.  During the second session I spent a lot of time explaining how to capture someone’s timing and destroy their structure, including various uses of the po pai jeung action. There were a lot of “light-bulb” moments where things clicked and a new understanding of how to apply Ving Tsun concepts took root during these workshops.  I have received a lot of very positive feedback from everyone who attended and requests for more workshops on the forms.

Now I’ve covered all the concepts and forms to take everyone up to the intermediate stage of training. The rest of the year will involve training the concepts covered so far, further deepening your understanding and increasing your ability to apply them.

During February the structures I focussed on in January were worked on under higher levels of pressure and in more varied sets of circumstances.  There was a greater emphasis on timing when applying a structure (or concept) and less on developing the integrity of any particular structure.

“Springy energy” was also a focus during this month with more emphasis on it being a natural by-product of how you approach your forms and training drills as opposed to something brought about by a forceful effort (this is a good definition of relaxed energy to keep in mind when working on being relaxed yet having the intention to hit).

As promised, this month I ran a workshop on Cham Kiu.  I included a lot of drills and partner exercises and allowed plenty of time to experiment with the application of what was covered. I also covered how the actions in the form applied to the chi sau environment and how they could be applied in the “real world” outside of the training environment.

This meant that the workshop ended up taking two full training sessions to cover the entire form.  The workshop covered various aspects of Cham Kiu:

• Body unity with an emphasis on developing a hip/elbow connection;
• How to use each of the different bong sau actions in the form;
• The form not being applied in a rigid, inflexible manner  such as;
  • The bong sau action can be applied in a manner that includes a combination of the yi bong and paau bong actions; and
  • Pai Jaang (hacking elbow) can be applied in more than one plane i.e. vertical as well as horizontal.
• Long bridge power;
• Developing power from a position where you don’t have a stance; and
• All kicking actions in the form; including an introduction of how to perform the side kick (waang geuk) in the Wooden Dummy form and how to apply it against a person.

Everyone improved their understanding of the form and the connections between the first two empty hand forms. It was great to see the improvements that regular class participants were able to make in their ability to use WSLVT structures and concepts.  Next month I will bring together everything I have covered so far this year and go through the wooden dummy form in detail up to the end of the fourth section.

Welcome to my first post for 2012. This year the blog will have a different format. It will focus more closely on training that’s been happening at the club and be more of a reference tool for you and your training. This means that the blog will include a new feature; video content with an explanation of drills relevant to the training being done in the club at the time of the post.

If you want to improve your skills in relation to something we’ve worked on during the year you will be able to view it on the blog and refresh your memory. Be sure to check the blog at least once a month for additional content that you can use to help you with your training.

January Training

Training has been going very well this year so far. We have a few new members who have made a great start, whilst longer term members have progressed in their understanding and ability.

The focus of training during the month of January could be summed up as “structure”. We spent considerable time working on mobility and integrating the whole body into every action. I refer to this as the “hip/elbow connection”. This connection develops the ability to maintain structure when someone attempts to break it down and to develop power from any position as well as Ving Tsun’s unique “springy energy”.

On the last Thursday of this month I ran a workshop on Siu Nim Tau (SNT).  This workshop covered various aspects of the form;

• developing structure and waist power,
• applications of the actions in the second section of the form,
• development of relaxed power & power over a long bridge, &
• applications of the actions in the last section of the form

It is possible to improve your understanding of fundamental WSLVT concepts when you take the time to examine the forms at different stages of your training and a number of you picked up new insights into this form that some of you have been practising for a few years.

The workshop was so successful and well received that I am going to run a workshop on one of the forms on the last Thursday of each month in February and March. I will do another round of workshops on the forms later in the second half of this year. Stay tuned for Cham Kiu in February.

What we achieved

What a year 2011 has been for us at Ving Tsun Combat Science! Our organisation officially launched as Ving Tsun Combat Science in January and the rest of the year was packed with a number of firsts for the club and exciting events, including:

• Mannie De Matos’ seminar on his knife defence system;
• Blitz Magazine’s publication of 3 “technique workshop” articles featuring myself showcasing the WSL approach to Ving Tsun/Wing Chun with David Peterson;
• An invitation to contribute to a special edition of Blitz “Masters techniques” resulting in a two page article on WSL Ving Tsun for the first time in the 25 year history of “Blitz”;
• Monthly training sessions with Enzo Verratti’s club “Brunswick Wing Chun Chinese Boxing Club”;
• An invitation to demonstrate at the AKWF Kung Fu Spectacular held at the Melbourne Sports & Aquatic Centre in May. Our demonstration was one of only two performed at the event by an Australian martial arts organisation and the only Ving Tsun/Wing Chun demonstration. There were a number of high profile people in the audience including the Chinese Consul General. It was an incredible honour to be asked to perform at such an event and in front of such distinguished guests and those involved did the club and themselves proud

In terms of training this year, the recurring theme was relaxation and the generation of relaxed power.  Everyone that was able to train regularly has made great progress in practising Chi Sau with “Hong Kong” hands and made inroads to generating relaxed power and power over a “long bridge” and I would like to say well done and keep up the fantastic work!

What we can look forward to in 2012

So what lies ahead for us in 2012? I have been working on a structured training progression to further advance everyone’s development of key WSLVT attributes in relation to chi sau and open drills. I will also launch the next phase of the club’s online presence, more information on that will be posted at the appropriate time.

As you know, the club’s website was also updated throughout 2011 with a user centred approach and new features. The update of the website is still a work in progress with additional features and content to be added in 2012 – so watch this space!

Another area in which we’ll be expanding in 2012 is in our use of equipment. New equipment has been purchased for the next round of pressure training and additional weapons  are available for expanding the scope of weapons training in the future, so that’s something to look forward to in the new year.

Many of you also attended the Border Incident in October. I am proud to say that this was the largest gathering of the Australian WSLVT clan held to date and it was held at our club. I’d also like to make mention of the work put in by John Smith to get the Border Incident off the ground, John was the one who instigated it and put in considerable work to make it happen.  The event was a huge success in terms of the amount and quality of information shared and training undertaken, and the enduring friendships which were formed over two days.

The exciting news is that we will be doing this again in 2013 and in the meantime there will be a worldwide gathering of WSLVT devotees in Malaysia during October 2012.

In the meantime enjoy the break over the festive season. Training resumes on January 10th and I’m looking forward to seeing you all there ready to tackle an exciting new year for Ving Tsun Combat Science.

Darren Elvey

Welcome to the 5th update for 2011

In this update:

• Re-cap of the first half year at Ving Tsun Combat Science
• Outline of next 6 months training
• 12 Weeks to Border Incident II

Re-cap of the year so far

Seminars
Mannie De Matos ran a seminar on his knife defence system at the club earlier in the year. He returned to Melbourne In June and invited members of our club to attend another seminar held in Ferntree Gully.  Both sessions were great experiences, providing participants an opportunity to meet with practitioners of other styles and to see the way that they deal with edged weapons.

Articles
Three articles written by myself and David were published in consecutive issues of Blitz Magazine. I also wrote an article for a special collector’s edition “Blitz Instructors’ Special 2011”  “Instructors Fighting Techniques” which went on sale in late June. Apparently its hard to get a copy; I’ll keep a copy at the club for a while for anyone that’s interested in taking a look.

Joint training on Saturdays
This year saw the commencement of regular Joint training sessions with Enzo Verratti and some of his students. On the first Saturday of each month Enzo and some of his guys visit the club for joint training sessions. This provides everyone involved with the opportunity to train with someone different and make new friends in the WSL Ving Tsun way.  This has been a very rewarding and positive experience for all involved.

WSL Ving Tsun demonstration at MSAC on Saturday May 28th
Peter, Brenton, Mike, Regan, Sara and I performed a 5 minute demonstration as part of an Australian Kung Fu Wushu Federation (AKWF) event: “Kung Fu Wushu Spectacular” at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre in Albert Park.  During the evening there were a number of demonstrations performed by the Chinese National Wushu team. Our demonstration was one of only two demonstrations performed by an Australian school.  It’s no exaggeration to say that it was a considerable honour to be the only non Wushu/tai chi organisation invited to perform. It was the first time that we have been asked to participate in an event of this type. Our demonstration was well received; a great effort by everyone involved on the night and behind the scenes in helping with the preparations. Thank you to everyone involved. If you want to see how it looked I have a recording of it that I will bring to the club over the next couple of weeks.

Training
The training plan for the first half of the year can be summed up in one word; “Relaxation”. This has involved working on a number of aspects of training to give you as many ways as possible to feel the difference that being relaxed makes to your speed, power and mobility. The emphasis has been on the use of stance and mobility to reduce the effort and tension in the upper body and arm actions. It has been both challenging and rewarding. Many of you have had some difficulty along the way in making the change but there has been some great progress in this aspect of training. The ability to generate relaxed power through the dropping-palm drills have exposed everyone to just how much power can be generated with the right kind of relaxation.

In May the emphasis shifted to Chi Sau skills. Throughout May and June we focused on a lighter and faster expression of Chi Sau.  It has been great to see the change in everyone’s skill, everyone who has been able to make it to training consistently has made significant progress in this aspect of their training. There is more emphasis on light hands with relaxed, springy energy and using the structures to “take the line” rather than using strength or tense muscle actions. This has laid the foundation for the development of excellent Chi Sau skills as you progress further in your Ving Tsun training. Ving Tsun’s forms are the source of everything we do and a great way to practise your skills when you don’t have a training partner. The forms are also inextricably linked to your chi sau skills and are key markers in your progress through the system. Therefore I spent some time in June taking a number of you through your forms practise and introducing you to the next form in the system. The first two forms in the system are two of Ving Tsun’s most important building blocks:

• Siu Nim Tau (SNT) introduces you to the most important concepts within the system and all the tools for single hand chi sau,
• Chum Kiu shows you how to apply those concepts to movement and how to apply them in two handed chi sau.

The first half of the Wooden Dummy form brings it all together; it is very important for you to practise these forms accurately and frequently. The forms will embed the correct reflexes into your muscle memory and inform your actions in chi sau and the other skills drills we will work on during the second half of 2011.

Training Agenda for the Second half of 2011

• Pressure Training
• Chi sau
• Forms

Pressure Training commences every July and this year will be no exception, however, this year the structure will be slightly different. Starting classes at 7:00pm means that I can fit more into these sessions: we will continue to work on Chi Sau skills to ensure that the skills you have acquired in the last two months continue to improve. We will also spend time correcting forms and relating the forms to chi sau and pressure training.  The pressure training itself will be a graduated progression through a number of aspects of applying your skills in various situations.

The goals for the rest of 2011 are to:

• Improve your understanding of the forms and how they relate to Ving Tsun skills.
• Progress you onto the next form in the syllabus in order to continue your progress through the system.
• Increase the level of your chi sau skills
• Improve your ability to apply your skills in “out of contact” situations

Border Incident II

Only a little over 12 weeks to go until Border Incident II; it’s time to ramp up your preparation. This event promises to be the biggest event WSL Ving Tsun in Australia has ever seen; If you train 3 times each week until then you have 38 training sessions until that massive weekend in October. That’s not really a great deal of time; many of you have been asking about the event and have expressed a desire to have your Ving Tsun at a standard that enables you to participate well in the training and absorb what is covered by each presenter (not to mention that some of you have stated that you want to provide a real challenge to the training partners you’ll meet).  Making the most of the available time between now and October is an important part of your preparation. The training agenda for the second half of the year will prepare you well for various possible seminar topics. I encourage you to make your way to the club for a good session and prepare yourself for what’s to come at the Border Incident II.

Welcome to the 4th update for 2011

In this update:

• WSL Ving Tsun demonstration at MSAC this Saturday May 28th
• May and June training

WSL Ving Tsun demonstration at MSAC this Saturday May 28th

The club has been asked to do a 5 minute demonstration this Saturday during a “Kung Fu Spectacular” at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre in Albert Park. Peter, Brenton, Mike, Regan Sara and I will do a short demo in the evening. The only seats left are Reserve class C at a cost of $20. If you intend to come along and enjoy the show you will need to purchase your ticket from the event organiser.

May Training

Attendance has been consistent over the last two months with absences due to injury, illness, study and work commitments keeping some of our regulars away.

Its been great to see the change in everyone’s single hand chi sau, everyone who has been able to make it to training as has improved their single hand chi sau. There is more emphasis on light hands with relaxed, springy energy and using the structures to “take the line” rather than using strength or tense muscle actions. This has laid the foundation for good two handed Chi Sau.

June Training

In June I’ll progress through more of the fundamentals of Chi Sau continuing to keep the emphasis on relaxed, fast reflexes and “springy-energy” and getting the most out of your stance and footwork during Chi Sau.

Blitz Articles

All of the articles David and I wrote last year have been published. The last article is in the current issue of Blitz. I have also written an article for a special edition of the Magazine that is due to be published very soon.

Welcome to the 3rd update for 2011

In this update:

• Easter training,
• Change in training times
• Training themes for the next two months

April Training

Attendance has been impacted on by injuries, illnesses and study workloads. Some sessions have been fairly quiet and others have been very busy. There has been a noticeable improvement in everyone’s ability to execute fundamental Ving Tsun skills. I have continued to focus on a few key aspects of Ving Tsun:

• having a strong but mobile stance with footwork that enables you to respond to pressure with the minimum adjustment necessary,
• light and fast hands,
• Chi sau,
• Forms, and
• Relaxed power

It has been very rewarding to watch you all improve your ability to develop “relaxed” power over the last two weeks. I will continue to include this in training right up to and including when I reintroduce pressure training later in the year.

For the rest April the focus will be on hip & elbow connection, chi sau and hitting with relaxed power. The recent emphasis on relaxed hitting and power generation is preparation for the chi sau training to follow in May and June.

The focus during May and June will shift to an emphasis on Chi Sau skills.

All aspects of chi sau will be covered over the next few weeks with the emphasis this time around being on relaxation, fast reflexes and “springy-energy”

Easter Break: The school will be closed for Easter Saturday, training will resume on Easter Tuesday.

Change in training times after Easter:

From Tuesday April 26 training will commence at 7:00pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Saturday training will continue to start at 1:00pm.

Blitz Articles

Two of the articles David and I wrote last year have been published. The second article is in the current issue of Blitz with the last article to come out in the next issue. I have also written an article for a special edition of the Magazine that is due to be published in May.

Joint training on Saturdays

Saturday training has been going well lately. Attendance has been good and the intensity of training has been high also. Hong Kong training on Saturdays makes it possible to spend time focussing on what you want to work on. It also provides seniors with an opportunity to work with the weapons.

An additional attraction to Saturday training is regular visits by Enzo Verratti and some of his students. They visited us recently and had such a good time that we’ve decided to make it a regular event on the first Saturday of each month. This provides everyone involved with the opportunity to train with someone unfamiliar and deal with the challenges that provides; the outcome being that students from both schools benefit and improve their skills in the longer term. There is also the possibility of some exciting cross training with Enzo. I will provide more on that later.

Border Incident 2 Date set (Friday September 30^th – October 2^nd)

Update regarding the Border Incident:

Venue; Melbourne University

Dates; Saturday October 1 and Sunday October 2^nd.

Times; Saturday 9:00am to 4pm, Sunday at 10am until 2pm.

This is a short update to share information regarding:

• Easter training,
• Change in training times
• Fee due dates
• Training themes for the next three months

Training so far this year

The busy schedule hasn’t eased up. Mannie De Matos ran a Tudik Raan (Knife Response System) seminar at the club on Friday March 18^th. The seminar ran for over 2 hours and was attended by martial artists from a number of different systems.  Mannie was as usual, very entertaining and informative. It was very interesting to spend a couple of hours doing training exercises with someone trying to stab you.

David was in Melbourne for a few days last week and managed to drop by the club for a few minutes on Tuesday night. He’ll be back in Melbourne again later in the year.

Attendance has been good and there has been noticeable improvement in everyone’s ability to execute fundamental Ving Tsun skills.

I have continued to focus on a few key aspects of Ving Tsun:

• having a strong but mobile stance with footwork that enables you to respond to pressure with the minimum adjustment necessary,
• light and fast hands,
• Chi sau, and
• Forms

For the rest April Ving Tsun fundamentals will continue to be the focus; core concepts (footwork, kicking, paak sau, hip & elbow connection), forms and chi sau.

This is in preparation for the training to follow in May and June and pressure training from July onwards.

The focus during May and June will shift to an emphasis on Chi Sau skills. I’ll provide more detail as we get closer to May

Key Dates for Semester 1

Fee due dates: April 12, May 10, and June 7

Easter Break: The school will be open over Easter; Except for Easter Saturday when the school will be closed.

Change in training times after Easter:

From Tuesday April 26 training will commence at 7:00pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Saturday training will continue to start at 1:00pm.

Border Incident 2 Date set (Friday September 30^th – October 2^nd)

Update regarding the Border Incident:

Venue; Melbourne University

Dates; Saturday October 1 and Sunday October 2^nd.

Times; Saturday 9:00am to 4pm, Sunday at 10am until 2pm.

Cost; $120 for the entire weekend if you pay by the announced cut off time,

$150 if you pay after that date

At the moment we have five presenters lined up.

The weekend will kick off at Studio B on Friday evening for a get to know you chat and chi sau etc, progressing to dinner somewhere for those who are interested.

If you are on Facebook and have not joined the Border Incident 2 Group I suggest you do so you can keep up to date with what is being planned.

Social Saturday after training

Saturday training has been going well lately. Attendance has been good and the intensity of training has been high also. In addition we’ve been spoilt with tasty Portuguese tarts and more recently lemon tart. The fence on the rooftop will put a stop to any training outside of class time but I encourage you to come to Saturday training, get in a good session of Hong Kong style training and enjoy the camaraderie.

It has been quite a busy year so far with the commencement of training and quite a few new starters joining the club, David and Intan’s wedding and a flying visit from our favourite Illawarra native; John Smith.

Training so far this year

Training commenced on January 11. The focus has been on a few key aspects of Ving Tsun:

• having a strong but mobile stance with footwork that enables you to respond to pressure with the minimum adjustment necessary,
• light and fast hands,
• Chi sau, and
• Forms

The strong stance and mobile footwork encourages you to avoid using strength. It also provides you with the basis to use ground power and enables you to redirect an attack and counter from very close range with very fast hand techniques. For the rest of this month and April also the focus will be on a number of Ving Tsun fundamentals; core concepts, forms and chi sau. How this impacts on you will depend on your level of experience:

• Newer students will get exposure to the most important aspects of the system
• More experienced students will deepen their understanding and gain a new appreciation of the varied ways they can apply Ving Tsun’s core concepts

Later in the semester the emphasis will shift to chi sau for a while before we head into pressure training in July.

Key Dates for Semester 1

Tudik Raan seminar: March 18

Fee due dates: March 15, April 12, May 10, and June 7

Special event on Friday March 18^th

Mannie De Matos will be conducting a Tudik Raan (Knife Response System) seminar at Studio B (our club) on Friday March 18^th commencing at 6:00pm sharp. The seminar has NOT been organised specifically for us. There will be a number of people from various martial arts and security industry backgrounds in attendance. I do not teach knife defence, however, I encourage you to attend with an open mind and have your eyes opened to various aspects of facing an edged weapon. Mannie has visited the MCMAC in the past and his seminars are always entertaining and eye opening events. See the attached document for more information and get back to me quickly if you want to attend.

Border Incident 2 Date set (Friday September 30^th – October 2^nd)

The date has been set for Saturday October 1 and Sunday October 2^nd. The venue has yet to be finalised. We expect a fairly large gathering of in the vicinity of 100 WSL Ving Tsun practitioners from around Australia and overseas to attend. Training will commence at 9am on the Saturday and go until 4pm, recommencing on the Sunday at 10am until 2pm. At the moment we have five presenters lined up. The weekend will kick off at Studio B on Friday evening for a get to know you chat and chi sau etc, progressing to dinner somewhere for those who are interested. If you are on Facebook and have not joined the Border Incident 2 Group I suggest you do so you can keep up to date with what is being planned.

Social Saturday after training

While the weather is still good enough we are going to do a little of our training on Saturday on the roof top and finish up with some food and maybe a little liquid refreshment.