A hit is only a hit once it has landed!

But what really annoys teachers, and is a real obstacle to effective learning, is the student who outwardly or inwardly jubilates "Got you!!" before his hand has actually touched the teacher. Students like this often out themselves with a particularly self-satisfied facial expression, after they have broken off their attack before it actually contacts its target. They imagine they have been able to hit the teacher, and are triumphant in their victory. Of course they did not want to "follow through" as well, as one must show respect for one’s teacher …

These dear souls need to be told that a hit is only a hit when it has already landed on its target. Even if your punch only has another centimetre to travel before it contacts the teacher’s face, it is not necessarily a hit yet. Some masters will allow the attack to advance until the opponent’s arm is at full-stretch without hampering it. Instead they will minimally withdraw the area of the body under attack, in the frequently justified expectation that the attacker will then have to lean forward, falling into the counter-attack without being able to regain his balance.

To this end, and untypically for WingTsun, I tend to hold my head well forward – offering it to the opponent as a target as an agent provocateur using the "goalkeeper method". In short, a hit is only a hit if it has already hit something. But quite apart from this, it is not the aim in Chi-Sao to land punches – or it should not be – as the purpose is to develop the tactile sense.

"I am dangerous: I don’t want to injure you, SiFu!"

It happened during a seminar somewhere abroad: the master wanted to demonstrate something from the training programme with his local representative, but the latter declined: "It would be better if you chose somebody else, as I don’t want to injure you. Because when it comes to the crunch, I become a real animal and can’t vouch for your safety."

The master was immensely strong and experienced, while the student who considered himself so dangerous was a puny show-off. Naturally the master picked up the gauntlet and invited the cocky student outside, and the show-off equally naturally refused. Incidentally, this incident did not occur in WingTsun, but in a weapon system.

There is much more to be felt than the student feels!

A student wanted me to examine him for a higher grade, and I was checking out his tactile sensitivity. Unfortunately he consistently confused tactile response, i.e. "feeling", with visual response: he did not perform Bong-Sao etc. because his hand was pressed downwards, but because he saw something coming towards him at an angle of attack which might lead to Bong-Sao – if his opponent did not change course, which he could do consciously or unconsciously at any time. In short, his tactile sense was far from well developed, but he thought he possessed it*. I was unable to pass him, as he lacked all the preconditions such as suppleness, sensitivity, balance and timing. He could not accept this, as after all, he was feeling something. But he could not believe that beyond what he could feel, there was much more he could not feel. He lacked at least 70 percent of the sensitivity I thought he should have for the grade he aspired to. That’s just the way it is: a sense – in this case the tactile sense – can only ever tell us what we are perceiving, but not what we fail to perceive. Or to put it in a nutshell: the student does not feel that he is not feeling what he cannot feel.

The situation is similar with the so-called blind-spot. We can demonstrate that everybody has one. What we cannot explain is why we are not conscious of not being able to see. Amazingly, we do not see that we are unable to see. It is the same with feeling: no scientist can explain why we do not feel that we are unable to feel.

For many years I have been looking for an experiment with which I can show students that there is much more to be felt than they are feeling.
Later on I describe a number of self-tests that show how well a student is able to feel, and whether his training is having the desired effect.

Don't follow up

The student is not a mind-reader, and therefore does not know what the teacher expects him to do in Chi-Sao. Should he remain passive, is he allowed to defend himself? Can he even launch an attack himself, or counterattack? The excitement and nervousness of the student only adds to the uncertainty unless these aspects are made clear.

The teacher has a certain goal in his mind, for example he wants to improve the student's Bong-Sao, but instead of working on his Bong-Sao, the student – after he has already been hit – attacks the teacher with a Fak-Sao to the neck. This is known as following-up, and quite obviously the teacher will not be very pleased. Almost certainly he will now increase the speed of his own attack, or deliver two attacks in succession, to discourage the student from following up once and for all.

But there are also teaching programmes where the whole point is to follow up. In this case it is the teacher himself who does the following-up, not because he is more equal than the student, but so that the student learns that although he may have already landed a blow, he must always be ready in case the opponent strikes back.

This is a further extract from my book "Fightlogic 3!" published by EWTO-Verlag in June 2011, which is now available in its 2nd, extended edition with 441 pages.

Your SiFu/SiGung
Keith R. Kernspecht
 

* The use of visual recognition (graduation of the senses) is correct in Lat-Sao, when the visual sense
   must be switched off, as in a Chi-Sao exercise only the stimulus provided by the tactile sense may
   be used.