The Chi Sau Day attracted students from all over the UK and so over 40 eager students gathered together. We began by training with people we were familiar with to loosen and relax ourselves. Then Grandmaster Tse encouraged everyone to train with people they did not know or did not regularly train with. I we train with the same people all the time, we get accustomed to their way of attacking and defending and so we limit our skill. We need to train with people we are not familiar with as they will do things we may not be used to. Everyone had the opportunity to train with seniors and juniors and benefit. At certain points during the day, Grandmaster Tse fielded question from students who asked about certain hands they could not deal with. He answered all the questions with ease and allowed everyone to try the techniques for themselves.
All to quickly time passed by and the end of the day drew closer and so Grandmaster Tse invited anyone to Chi Sau with him. It was good to see many students who had never experienced Sifu’s hands come forward and try and I am sure they gained a lot and will think about what they have learnt.
Learning is the most important thing. Some people can easily get caught up with try to hit their partner and miss what is going on. To learn we need to observe what is happening and try and recognize where we were open, where we missed an opportunity, when we used the wrong energy and when we became tense, etc. We can learn these things from everyone, even if our partner is junior and less skilled. When training with a more skilled partner, it is a mistake to just try and hit them. As they are more skilled, they can defeat you almost at will. If you just keep attacking and struggling, then you will not see how they deal with your attack. Instead, you should see how they handle you and instead of trying harder to hit them, understand and try and remember it so you can copy it and add it to your own techniques. On the other hand, seniors are quite happy to explain how to overcome what they are doing, but not if you are just trying to fight them. They don’t actually mind if you want to fight them, but as Grandmaster Tse said many years ago, “You can try, but don’t cry.” It is better to follow another quote from Sifu, “Think!” Think about the situation, think about what you are doing, think about what your partner is doing and think about how to overcome it and gain the advantage.
All to quickly the Chi Sau Day came to an end, but we were able to continue to enjoy each other’s company at a local Chinese restaurant. If you missed it, then you missed a very good day, but don’t worry, we will be having another Chi Sau Day on the 7 October 2023 – Don’t Miss It!
by Darryl Moy
Student Comments
Fantastic chi sau day, so good to meet up again and train together and learn more. Wing Chin is an amazing skill, thank you for sharing it with us Sifu. The Chinese meal afterwards was great too!
Peter A
Thx
Isaac
I wanted to thank Sifu for another amazing Chi Sau day and for the opportunity to continue improving our skills. It’s been a great day! Alex K
Was really great to practice Chi Sau with so many people at the Chi Sau day. It was a hot day and it reminded me of the trips to China and Hong Kong! Was good to have time to practice some techniques too. The day went fast and the dinner afterwards was so good. Thank you Sigong for helping us continue on our Wing Chun journey. Christine
Another enlightening day, plenty of new diverse hands and significant enhancements and differences to hands previously felt, all pleasant surprises. Plenty of really useful details highlighted by Si Gong, Sifu ,and all the Seniors. I look forward to working on these and discovering new situations for next time. Thank you very much Si Gong for such invaluable opportunities.
Jordan
Thankyou Taisigong for organising chi sau day, it was great to be there and touch hands. These days are so important, and so nice to meet up and see everyone. The hall was great, a nice size and of course lots of nice tea! Thanks, Rod.
What a great chi sau day!Thank you Sigong! Touching hands with brothers and sisters in the humid air brought memories from Hong Kong. Practice with so many hands is so useful, Sigong showed many techniques and everyone at the end had a big smile on their face! And a great ending with acdinner afterwards! Michalis A.
Sifu
Thank you for organising Chi Sau day. After all these years, I am still amazed how much there still is to learn. You really can teach an old dog (me) new tricks!
I cannot wait until the next Chi Sau day!
Peter W
It was a very good day practicing Chi Sau with all the Centre students. Lots of learning and fun. Thank you Sifu for organising it!
-Radu
It was a very warm and humid day, a wonderful reminder of that exciting feeling of Chi Sau on our China trips. Meeting up with our Wing Chun family is always fun, and a great opportunity to Chi Sau with new brothers and sisters. The time flew by so fast though, we couldn’t get round to everybody, a good thing there will be a “part 2” in October, I’m certainly looking forward to it already. And of course the meal was just a perfect way to finish; thank you Sigong and everybody else for such a great day. Sam
Going to chi sau day was very helpful because I was able to experience a range of different hands and techniques and I’m starting to feel more comfortable when rolling now.
It was very inspiring learning from Sigong and the senior students because of their years of experience and also they were all happy to share their techniques and advice.
Ben Lee