My 1000th post! Wow, I can't believe I've wasted so much time on MAP. I was originally going to post something very long, philosophical and quite dramatic; but instead I thought I'd just keep it short and simple (or at least try to). I've had some good times here on MAP. I've been told that my school and instructor had the impression of a cult. I battled the JKDers in their forum like Bruce Lee battled the karateka in their dojo in Fist of Fury, chicken screeching all the way with every post. I dared to suggest that the vertical fist was equal to and maybe even had just a little bit more merit then the horizontal fist; exploring the structural connections between classical western boxing, savate and Wing Chun. And of course I put down pretty much the entire Wing Chun world, fairly, rightly and truly labeling it as total crap, bar a few pockets of outstanding practitioners. I guess I was never the most popular poster, just the Kung Fu geek I guess. I find that a lot of posters when interacting with me simply had a lot of built in assumptions about how I train, what I learn and even what I believe simply because of the fact I do Wing Chun. It was actually quite reassuring to me as I've come to realize now more than ever that there is something very unique about the legacy of Wong Shun-leung. Looking back on it all I don't think most of the arguments (or debates if you like) here on MAP aren't about people finding out the truth. I find that what it usually comes down to is people looking for information that makes themselves feel more comfortable about their current training commitments. Take pretty much any debate here on MAP, I think that's all it comes down to. The never ending almost militant skepticism of Wing Chun as a whole and the Wong Shun-leung method indirectly by proxy has caused me to take my training up a level and is continually inspiring me to take it up several more levels. If it wasn't for places like MAP I would probably remain just a Kung Fu hobbyist happy with mediocrity , but now I'm finding that I'm truly expressing myself more fully. So I am truly and honestly grateful for internet WC skepticism and wouldn't want it to be any other way. I've feel like I've given a hell of a lot more information than I've received (that's just honestly how I feel) to the point where I often suggest to myself that my time would be better spent training at home rather then posting on MAP. However I did take home a few ideas from the mainstream internet Martial Arts community. Reading and posting on MAP has given me increased interest in ground fighting and Gracie Jujitsu, I just recently took a trial class in GJJ and I had a blast, it was very fun. My knowledge of JKD, and by proxy WC has increased significantly from researching in my debates in the JKD forum, I now see new possibilities in my training that I never would have considered before. Although my current school very much has aliveness built into pretty much every aspect of our training I'm finding that having the concept of aliveness in my mind explicitly is helping me make sure I get the most amount of functional skill from my training. I've learnt about all kinds of different perspectives and approaches to combat and the Martial Arts allowing me to appreciate all that I've learnt about Martial Arts so far. I hope my posts proved to be intelligent, interesting and thought provoking; and... thanks for having me! GSR.
Congrats on your 1000th post! Wish I thought of something like this. And good work on evolving your training
