Winning without Fighting

Recently I had an event happen to me that made me glad I do WingTsun as regulary as I do again and it gave me something to think about. Thats why I want to share this on the blog:

I was on a night out with a few people I know and after having had a few drinks, the smaller Bars started to close down. Walking around the streets, looking for a club to go to we passed through a "dark" under-passage.
While in the middle of the conversation, I notice that a bit further behind, one of my friends was being pushed around by some stranger.
I went straight over to them to try and calm them down, but when I got closer I noticed that this could be more serious than what I had thought. The stranger was being very aggressive, holding my buddies jacket while pushing him around and screaming in his face. I also noticed two other people that seamed to belong to the stranger, but they were just standing there for now.
Having had a few drinks I did not fully take the situation serious and got in the middle trying to pull them apart so that we could be on our way. When I got there the two other bystanders joined us and for a few moments everybody was jelling at the each other. When I touched the iniciators chest to push him away from my buddy, he let go and grabbed both my wrists and concentrated his insults into my direction.

In that moment, I remember thinking "That's JUST the sort of thing we learn in WingTsun."
So I was thinking if I should really go into my program or not? Should I try the Combat-Drill by Sifu Victor Gutierrez that we have been practicing all week? No, I better stick to what I can do best.
Free my hands while doing a step-kick on one of his joints (knee or hip) and then just blast a barrage of chain punches to his face, keeping the other two in front of me and then we'll see. Classic WingTsun.
While I was thinking about my options, we kept looking at each other and I believe he was expecting some sort of reaction from me. I don't know if I looked brain dead or if I had half a smile on my lips because shortly after this brief moment of silence he let go and went off cursing... and that was it.

After sharing this with a few of my WingTsun people, they all agreed. Similar things have happened to them too.
You react differently when you know what you can do, what your options are and when you are not scared.
No, not being scared is the wrong phrasing. Of course you are scared, and you should be, but you are in control of it and in a weird way you enjoy it. (Maybe a little like bungee jumping.)
This changes your role from victim to opponent, and usually people on the street look for victims. Not for serious opponents.

In that way, the stories of warriors who win their fights just with a blink of an eye are true to some degree.

拜拜

About Me

Ever since I was little, Martial Arts had me interested.
When I was very young, I was impressed by Kung-Fu movies and Ninjas (and yes, Turtle-Ninjas were just as great).
I don't particularly remember a specific scene but I guess I did some jumping and rolling on the floor re-enactments of them too.

With about 5 years I build myself some Nun chuck with witch I remember defeating a huge teddy-bear that, at that time, was as tall as I was. In that manner, it was a fair fight.

In our circle of family friends, we had some people who practiced martial arts and I always been shown a few moves. Including Tai-Chi Chuan, Taekwon-Do, Bo-Staff, Kenjutsu, Boxing etc. However, I didn't take regular lessons or anything similar to that.

When I started going to school, I was a fairly shy boy. Having moved to Germany and not speaking the language that well yet, probably did its part with that too. Because of that, my mother, smart as she is, decided to offer me to take Taekwon-Do lessons. Obviously I accepted.

The following years I went to my TKD lessons and learned a lot about self awareness, body control and balance as well as subconsciously being influenced, making me more self-secure. It sure did help in my development. At least I like think it did.

When we moved away from Germany to go to Spain, I stopped doing TKD.
For some reason, Taekwon-Do was more of a street fighting style in Spain and thus the complete opposite of my prior Instructors teachings. I also tried Ju Jutsu in Spain but that didn't do much for me. Eventually, there was a small WingTsun demo in a local fitness studio which I went and watched. First I thought to myself that its some Chinese acrobatics like many other Kung Fu styles you see in movies, but after a short while watching the demo, I was proven very wrong. I think I liked it straight away...
The efficient, straight forward system that could handle many different situation was something different from TKD. With WingTsun I noticed that TKD was a good sport, but it was just that: A tournament sport.

Thats how I started doing WingTsun for the first time with 13 years.

The demo had been held because a Sifu (Instructor) started to give classes in that area and tried to attract new students. This way, when I started, I was the only student aside from his wife. Unfortunately for my Sifu, it stayed like this for a year, fortunately for me however, I practically had private lessons including a sparring partner. However, after one year my teacher decided to just teach at his other school he had. With no way to get there every time, I stopped doing WT just when I was getting started.

Fast forwarding 10 years.

I've moved back to Germany with my girlfriend this time. After some time with the everyday job, I felt like I should do some sort of sport.

(I work the office so I just sit all day)

I did try a regular fitness studio but that just teached me not to subscribe to a fitness-studio again. Its just not my thing and to be honest, I didn't really notice much of a physical change.

After the subscription was over, I started looking for something different. Something I knew was good for me.

There I remembered WingTsun.

I started doing some research on the web and found a few promising schools. I contacted them, some I visited, but somehow I was not happy with any of them. Either with the teacher, the school itself, the times or the journey I had to take to get there.

At some point I had decided to go to yet another school and check it out.

After only 30 minutes I was glad I had found this school and signed up right after my trial class.

The instructors aren't some sadistic street fighters who want to show you how to kill as many people as possible. They teach a well being with your body and your mind with efficient skills and technique. I know this because I notice the difference it does and if you ever did some sort of martial art with an instructor like this, you know what I'm talking about.

I did a fresh start to learn everything from the beginning again. Good thing I did because it seams like a lot of things have changed in the constantly developed system of Wing Tsun in the past 10 years.

My Sifu, Rudi Hoffmann, is doing a great job as well as his apprentices. If you live in Germany - Hannover, you should definitely check out his School.

Now I go there 3 times a week and if my times allow me to, even more than 3 times.

That's how I found myself doing WingTsun.