2011 Ving Tsun Update – A year in review

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