Should Wing Chun have competitions?
Why would it help a Wing Chun practitioner’s development?

Lets look into these questions.

Wing Chun has always been known as an effective street self-defence. But how do you know if your Wing Chun works? Not everyone has had 300 street fights, as most self-defence teachers will tell you they have had. Anyway even if they have had, how’s that going to help you? You need to know that YOU can use it yourself. Going out and having street fights to test your Wing Chun would get you into trouble and maybe badly hurt.

This has been the problem that most martial arts have had. How to test their martial art skills without killing each other, in a way that improves ones level of understanding of dealing with the pressures of a real fight in a safe manner.

That’s why competitions started in the first place.

Wrestling has a long history of competition; if YOU were a bad wrestler then you would know about it. You may spend a lot of time being pinned to death eating mat.

Judo has a long history of competition; if YOU were a bad Judo player then you would know about it. You may spend a lot of time in the air or on your back.

Karate has a long history of competition; if YOU were a bad Karate guy then you would know about it. You may spend a lot of time being punched in the chest or kicked in the head.

BJJ has a long history of competition; if YOU were a bad BJJ player then you would know about it. You may spend a lot of time being tapped out.

Thai Boxing has a long history of competition, if YOU were a bad Thai Boxer then you would know about it. Some one will tell you when you come back around.

I’m making a big point about YOU because in the end it’s all about your level and your skills no matter what art you train.

Now what these arts test in competition is the ‘core skills’ they must have in order to be classed as skilled practitioners of their chosen disciplines.

You may be great in training, but under pressure you may make mistakes. You may not do that well in training, but when you compete you may bring you game up and improve. Win or Lose you always learn. In fact most people will tell you that they learnt more when they did lose! It makes you think more.

Core Skills

This is what its all about. Each art takes its core skills and tests them in a competition that challenges opponents to display control of the ‘Core skills’ of that art.

If you want to fully test your skills then NHB/ MMA is the way to go. But then you are testing many different areas of martial skill. Most people do not want to test themselves in an environment, which is out of that they usually train. Therefore if you only train Judo then fighting a boxer doesn’t tell you what is wrong or right with your Judo. It may tell you who applied their art well. But going up against someone in your own art does tell you if you are applying your own art well or not. That is the first step to knowing if you have ‘core skills’ within the art you train.

Do you have a good wrestling clinch? Do you have a good flow and positional control when you roll in BJJ?
Does your Wing Chun ‘Chi Sao Roll’ help you deal with pressure and allow you to control a strong opponent? You will find out.

That is what these types of competitions are good for. If you train in BJJ you may love to get on the mat and compete and test your Gi Game. You may never want to try MMA and have somebody striking you. Does that mean the Gi Competition doesn’t hold value? Of course not. We all know that things change with less rules. But we can all still gain from controlled competitions. In the end your opponent has the same rules as you, so you will find out at that level of pressure who’s game is on.

Many teachers will tell you Wing Chun is a street art so competitions should not be a part of Wing Chun. Wing Chun Chi Sao (Our method of rolling) is for development of skills not fighting. Striking with power to the head in Chi Sao is dangerous. Some of the strikes in Wing Chun are dangerous. I am sure more could be added and they are all true. So, does that mean we can’t test our core skills? Of course not, in BJJ you cannot neck crank or heal hook because they are hard to control and do a lot of damage. Therefore you don’t allow them. That’s no problem as long as both opponents can’t use them. You in fact get closer to testing the ‘core skills’ when you limit some of the easier to apply locks or in Wing Chun’s case strikes.

Some people think Wing Chun should have an open sparring event wearing lots of protective gear, rather that a Chi Sao event. To me this seems to have no point it terms of testing and developing pure Wing Chun core skills. If you what to spar then having a body protector and headgear will really end up like bad kickboxing. I think you should in that case use normal kickboxing rules with normal kickboxing protection.

Another point to make is of late many Wing Chun schools have appeared with instructors that in all honesty should not be teaching any martial art never mind Wing Chun! In the Wing Chun world most people who have been training long enough will know who’s got real skills and who’s not. But we still have a lot of charlatans in Wing Chun. If they tried opening a BJJ or Thai Boxing school I don’t think they would last that long at all! I hope this competition will help set a few standards.

Chi Sao competitions are not new to Wing Chun, but in the pasted they have even been either no contact, which in my mind doesn’t test your core skills to control an opponent or full contact with lots of protective head and body gear which then means you don’t know if your strike would have worked or if you can take a strike.

A balance has to be between striking hard and testing control of ‘core skills’ under pressure. My students have tested our Chu Sau Lei Wing Chun in Amateur MMA, Pro MMA, Boxing and Kickboxing. I will say that in terms of core skills of our Chi Sao that Amateur MMA is a great test of your art with a control amount of full power striking. With this in mind we have put together a Chi Sao event based on Full contact Amateur MMA with a ‘Chi Sao rolling’ platform instead of a ‘Grappling rolling platform’ to test Wing Chun’s ‘Core Skills’.

Confidence

Confidence! This is what belief in your ‘core skills’ gives you. Confidence in your art is key to your success. Do you truly have confidence in your application of your art? If you’re talking about self-defence then without it you will be doomed. I have heard a lot of Wing Chun teachers that will tell students that Wing Chun is for self defence its not a sport therefore you do not need to be competitive. Please let me welcome you to the real world! An attacker is not playing by your rules and being nice. You have to be able to use your core skills with great confidence to take control of an aggressive opponent. Pressure testing is a must.

Wing Chun International Chi Sao Open

Amateur Full Contact NHB Wing Chun Chi Sao Rules and Instructions
Open to all Wing Chun Branches

Weight Categories

Men Women

Below 60 kg
Below 65 Kg                                                Below 55 Kg
Below 70 Kg                                                Below 60 Kg
Below 75 Kg                                                Below 65 Kg
Below 80 Kg                                                Below 70 Kg
Below 85 Kg                                                Open Weight
Below 90 kg
Below 100 kg
Open Weight

8 Fighters per weight: 4 fights - 2 fights - Final

Fights will be:

2 x2 Minute Rounds 1 Minute Between Rounds
2 Minute overtime if a draw

And then

3 x 2 Minute Rounds for Championships fights 1 Minute Between Rounds

The competition area will be a square space measuring 10' x 10'.
(This may change slightly).
All fighters must wear a groin protector, gum shield, shin protectors

Rules

Start in Chi Sao Roll Position – Referee starts the round after 3 rolls
Full Contact strikes below the neck and touch contact above the neck
You can touch contact hit the above the neck with open hand strikes.
i.e. palm or chop, but not to the nose. (You can not strike at the Triangle of the face – Eyes, Nose, mouth)
You can Push / Press / Pull / Grab / Hold the head, but no closed fist striking
to the head
You can strike the body full contact using the forearm, but not the elbow
You can Punch / Palm / Chop / Knee / Kick below the neck
If the roll is broken the fight can continue for 5 seconds before the referee restarts the from the roll position.
You can kick from distance if roll breaks, but you can only punch with bridge contact.
Fighters can clinch, but will be restarted after 5 seconds
A fighter may apply a submission, but this must be either standing or with only one knee down
You can throw and trip, but you cannot shoot a takedown from distance
If one fighter is on the ground and the other is in a one knee down position then the referee will restart both fighters after 5 seconds. Example would be a fighter throws down and the other fighter holds them down with a knee on the body
If both fighters go to the ground then the referee will restart the fighters in the Roll Position
You can grab pressure points

Forbidden Strikes

No Closed fist Strikes above the shoulder level
No finger Striking
No Hard strikes above the shoulders (touch contact only)
No Elbows (you can use the forearms below the neck)
No Strikes to Joints
No Small joint locks (Fingers)
No Stamping kicks
No Groin Strikes
No strikes to the nose, eyes or mouth
No eye gouging or fish hooking
No grabbing the ears
No hair pulling, biting
No thumbing
No scratching and pinching
No slippery substances allowed on body or clothing
No Products on hands that can
No kicking a downed opponent

During the match the Referee can stop the fight during the match when

Heavy head contact is made to give a Warning or Disqualification
A competitor is aiming at or hits an illegal area
One or both competitors go to the floor together
At opponent has been held on the floor for 5 seconds
Needs to stop action to prevent injury.
To restart after a 5 second break in Chi Sao or either or both fighters are
out of bounds
Any other action not covered by the rules in which safety is an issue.

Judging Guidelines

Gain Points judged for

Control of the Ring
Holding stance i.e. not being backed up
Control opponents balance
Clean Striking to the head or body - Structure and technique (stance and movements) / Timing and speed /Control of power and distance
Proactive Aggression i.e. Coming to fight not stall
Sensitivity/Reaction Skills

Loose Points for

Not being able to keep control of your stance or balance
Holding without controlling or striking
Being hit without any defence of blow or counter
Being thrown
Lack of Proactive Aggression i.e. Stalling
Contact to any illegal target area
Attacking the opponent after the Referee has stopped the action
Running out of the ring area or deliberately disengaging and stalling
Forward pressure with no control ie just rushing into your opponent
without bridge control
A warning from the Referee

Disqualification

A competitor shall be disqualified immediately upon a second Warning or
if the foul was deliberate.
Competitors who are disqualified in a match shall be considered to have
lost the match
Deliberate or serious violations of the rules means a fighter can be disqualified without having previously received any warnings. (Please note if a fighter tries
to deliberate hurt an opponent outside the rules then they are leaving themselves open to civil action).
Disqualification over a warning will be issued by the Referee and will then need
to be agreed with by the judges.
Rude behaviour / Language to opponent or Referee / Judges / Staff

Ways to Win

KO – An opponent cannot continue
TKO – Referee stops the Fight if the opponent is not defending or trying to counter
Submission – An opponent Taps Out
Points – Judges decision – The majority of votes of the Scoring Judges determines the winner in each match.
Overall performance. The judges will determine the winner by the 10 /9 system
10 to the Winner the round, 9 to the Loser of the round
If the Round is won very strongly then it may be awarded as a 10 /8 round
Judges will have to log key points for each round based on the guidelines of points gain or lose criteria in order to show why they gave the round.

Seni 2008 April 26th - 27th

We have been fortunate enough to have the event held at Seni 2008 show. The Seni Show has grown and grown over the years and has now become the premier martial arts show in the UK.

The event will be on the 26th April 2008.

Robert Chu will be teaching his first open UK seminar on body structure methods of the Chu Sau Lei Wing Chun System on 27th April 2008 at Seni. To book go to www.seni.tv

To book to fight at the Chi Sao event please go to www.alanorr.com for more details and an application form.

Pagoda Imports who make the best Wooden Dummy’s I have seen will be the official sponsors for the event. www.pagoda-imports.com

We will be holding a dates for the officials and fighters over 2008 to go over rules and event protocols.

Remember: It’s not about whether you win or lose. It’s about having the skills to be able to play in the first place! Just by competing you are already a winner!
Information on how to book coming soon!

For further information Tel: 07958 908 196 or email info@alanorr.co.uk