What 3-4 wing chun techniques have you found to be effective/work in a real fight situation?

Recently I asked people who followed my FB page and blog to pose questions and I hope to answer as honest and best as I could. So the question raised was “What 3-4 wing chun techniques have you found to be effective/work in a real fight situation on a skilled/trained person not just an untrained/lower level person?” The full context of the question can be found on my VT FB page. https://www.facebook.com/VTMarkWong/

First we need to break it down into context. Many have brought up the issue that VT is only effective against untrained people and the shown techniques does not work on resistant opponents. For this I have to agree and disagree to a certain extent based on my own personal experience.

I have to agree to a certain extent because there were techniques such as the Saak Geng Sau (which I have performed in training and during Gwoh Sau WITH control) but have not actually used it in a real fight. Why? because I was not in a situation where I was physically threaten to a point where I needed to seriously injure my opponent with that technique. If I did, certain result were bound to happen, either A.) I would probably be in jail and not able to write this blog or B.) I would incur a serious legal issue which also may result in me not being here. Have I seen the result of what would happen if this technique was performed and contact was made? The answer is yes and the result was that the person on the receiving end was in the ER with injuries to his throat which also affected his ability to train with us forever. I was also aware that Sifu Wong Shun Leung used it once during his “Beimo” days and he was extremely worried after using it since he saw his opponent’s eyes rolled back and he thought the guy died. So yes there are techniques which I have never used in an altercation, but I don’t question the validity of the it because it’s simple, take your own hand and chop your own neck real fast with power and you will understand why.

As for the part which I disagree with is that Ving Tsun is more of a concept based than a technique based martial arts. Meaning, yes there are skills such as the Paak Da, Laap Da, Po Pai Sau which works but they are situational. If the opportunity is not there, there is no need to use it or forced to use just to make it look like Ving Tsun. Fighting is fighting, you have 2 arms and 2 legs (usually) and in the end is my straight punch different than your straight jab just because I punch with a vertical fist and you fight with a horizontal fist? My front kick may be executed differently than your front kick but it is still just a kick in the end. They all performed what we needed them to do, which is to affect our opponent’s mental and physical aspect.

As for the question of using the technique against high level fighters, this is where it gets complicated. In a street altercation, I don’t get to choose who I end up being in a situation with (to a limited degree), meaning I don’t know the person’s background and I don’t know how skilled he is. For all I know, he could have been completely untrained or he could be very well trained. But in my experience, perhaps I was lucky, my unfortunate experiences were against your average person and I came out standing, which meant my VT techniques which were Stance, Distance Management, Understanding my personal space and Straight Punch worked. Would the result be different if he was well trained? Perhaps yes, perhaps no. I will never know because I don’t go out to look for random people to challenge on the street. (As for videos, there weren’t any, if there was, you may not be reading this now. All I could say was there were bystanders helping to end the conflict rather than cheering and taking videos)

In terms of competition setting, I was in an amateur full contact competition. Just like everyone else, to reach professional I would need to dedicate my life towards that, which unfortunately wasn’t my goal in life to go Pro as I needed to feed my family. At the same time, my opponent was probably my level which was amateur at best (I guess since I didn’t get to choose nor did I research his background) I only found out who I was fighting the day of the fight. So in that sense perhaps it’s fair to assume he was of equal level. So did Ving Tsun worked for me in the competition, it sure did. It was the same thing that helped me win, Stance, Distance Management, understand my personal space, front kick and straight punch. Why didn’t I use Paak Da, Laap Da or my Po Pai Sau? Well the situation didn’t ask for it. My straight punch and kicks were enough for me to win by points and do what I needed to do. People need to understand, all the Ving Tsun techniques you learn are tools in a tool box. You don’t need to use all the tools to perform a simple job. That’s complicating things and trying to attract crowds. You can do that if you are way more experience than your opponent in which case we would be viewed as making them effective against lesser trained opponents. To compare myself to a professional MMA fighter, that’s like saying my Slap Shot scored goals in my beer league Ice Hockey game, but will it score goals in a Professional game? Heck no. It’s 2 completely different level. This however doesn’t mean I don’t train as hard as I could, but it just means I can only make Ving Tsun effective to the best of my knowledge and ability and that ability may be amateur to some or a master to some depending on who’s is looking in.

So to answer the initial question, the Chi Sau (Gwoh Sau) drill helped me understand my personal space/reactions and distance management. The centerline theory helped developed the effectiveness of my straight punch and kick. The VT stance helped developed my ability to remain on my feet. So I would say these techniques were the most valuable and effective against trained or untrained opponents to me.